Employers Increasingly Post “Urgent” Home Health Care Job Openings

Job postings on Indeed qualified as “urgent hires” have increased 50% since January, 2021. Many of the open positions with urgent needs are in the healthcare field. At Direct Care Innovations, we support the managed healthcare and home healthcare providers serving people with intellectual disabilities. This segment, too, feels the weight of the current situation. Moreover, many agree that the staffing shortages they face won’t be changing any time soon.

Pervasive Staff Shortages

Unfortunately, the pandemic only exacerbates the ongoing healthcare staffing shortages experienced in the U.S. Nursing, home health care, and other direct care job postings are among those most included in “urgent” listings. Many employers from various industries are finding it hard to fill open positions. Even worse, people are leaving the field.

Many healthcare workers experience burnout after extended periods of stress and long hours. Clearly, COVID-19 delivered both of those. Just as many places started to catch a breath and lighten restrictions, positive cases surged again. Heavy caseloads combined with a politicized pandemic have taken an emotional toll. Moreover, there is a percentage of healthcare workers who may leave due to vaccination mandates. In either case, some people are leaving the field altogether.

Home Health Care Workers

In-home health care providers aren’t immune to staffing shortages either. We previously covered how the American Jobs Plan includes funding for in-home direct care services for those with disabilities, including intellectual disabilities. While the funding helps, employers need to offer incentives that appeal to prospective candidates. 

Historically, some of these positions pay an hourly rate that current prospects may not find attractive. To address this issue, employers are getting creative. For instance, hiring managers leverage hiring bonuses to woo candidates. Indeed, the number of job postings enticing home health care workers with bonuses have recently increased. That being said, hiring bonuses alone don’t provide a full solution. 

Salaries and Benefits

Home health care companies and managed healthcare providers now face economic challenges. First, they know they’ll need to offer salaries and benefits incentivizing workers to apply and stick around. At the same time, every employer must ensure their revenue adequately covers expenses. Second, Medicare and Medicaid can only increase their employee payouts if their payouts increase. Otherwise, they’ll operate at a deficit, and no organization can sustain that. 

Clearly, the healthcare field needs workers to address the ongoing demands of the people they serve. Challenges abound as organizations endeavor to meet the demands of both their employees and those for whom they provide direct care. At the same time, don’t lose sight of the fact that the field is also made up of heroes, including those who wake up every day and give their all. Successful health care and home health care providers are the ones who manage the situation and their business to the best of their ability, and ride out the storm. 

Direct Care Innovations provides business management software solutions for providers and government agencies in the Managed Care, Medicaid, and Medicare markets. It’s our mission to help you optimize your operations so that you can focus on providing care. We do this through an integrated platform that can be customized to meet your specific business needs. Providers in all 50 states benefit from our software for EVV, billing, scheduling, training, compliance, payroll, and more. Call us at (480) 605-4856 to learn more.