Report: Advancing the Home Care Workforce

6.2.5. Key Stakeholders

 The IMPART Alliance: In Michigan, the Integrated Model for Personal Assistant Research and Training (IMPART) Alliance represents a unique partnership between academic researchers, state agencies (MDHHS Aging and Adult Services agency), and advocacy groups (PHI) for developing standardized direct care workforce training programs. 86 The Alliance continues the work done under Building Training...Building Quality (BTBQ), which began in 2010 as a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant (Personal Home Care Assistant State Training [PHCAST]). BTBQ is a 77-hour curriculum that emphasizes person-centeredness, uses interactive, adult-learner instructional strategies, and includes content related specifically to home care. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, BTBQ turned into a completely virtual training program. Upon successful completion of training, certifications are issued by BTBQ, which are considered as ‘industry endorsed’ (but not state-endorsed). Along with training development, the IMPART Alliance, working with the Michigan Statewide Direct Care Workforce Advisory Committee, is also working to establish a 3-level, stackable ‘Universal Home Care Worker’ credential and related competencies for the direct care workforce (personal communication, March 19, 2021). Currently, the committee is reviewing competencies from multiple sources such as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and direct-support organizations. The aim is to finalize a competency list that can be adopted at the state level. In the future, the IMPART alliance hopes to continue making progress on multiple fronts. It is working within multiple state-level coalitions, creating a registry of HCWs, and bringing in untapped populations into direct care work by delivering training. To scale up its BTBQ training, it is actively working to increase the number of trainers by adopting a ‘train the trainer’ approach. It has also produced a list of multiple funding options to pay for direct care workforce training.  Essential Jobs, Essential Care: To address multiple issues related to Michigan’s direct care workforce, IMPART Alliance and PHI launched a multi-year statewide advocacy initiative with support from W. K. Kellogg Foundation. 87 This initiative will collaborate with diverse stakeholders and focus on three policy areas – improving compensation, workforce innovations, and strengthening data collection.  DCW Advisory Committee: To coordinate efforts to address the direct care workforce in Michigan, a Direct Care Workforce Advisory Committee was created. The DCW Advisory Committee provided input to the State Plan on Aging 2021-23. 85 It is also slated to collaborate with Michigan’s Aging and Adult Services Agency (AASA) to develop a media campaign plan

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