Will CT's healthcare workforce be there?

Connecticut Association for Healthcare at Home Homecare workers provide many services including helping older clients stay active through exercise and other activities. At right is Terri Briscoe, physical therapist and rehabilitation supervisor for Masonicare Home Health.

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By Matt Pilon

The healthcare and social assistance sectors provide 16 percent of Connecticut's total jobs, according to the state Department of Labor.

One area of concern, however, is how the state and providers will deal with a projected increase in demand for certain healthcare jobs.

The American Geriatrics Society, assuming that doctors can care for 700 or fewer elderly patients, estimates that Connecticut will need to more than double its current number of certified geriatricians to meet the demand expected by 2030. Connecticut already has only 54 percent of the geriatricians it needs, according to the society.

“As I tell the medical students: If you are a physician today, and you are not a pediatrician, you will be taking care of the elderly,” said Dr. George Kuchel, a geriatrician, UConn Health Center professor and director of its Center on Aging.

Geriatrics generally pays less than other specialties because of the high prevalence of Medicare and Medicaid patients. Unless that changes, Dr. Lisa Walke, associate chief for clinical affairs in the geriatrics section at Yale School of Medicine, thinks students will continue to shirk geriatric training.

“What we stand to lose is optimal health and wellness for our population overall,” Walke said.

It won't be just doctors in demand. Lower-paying positions — such as aides who help patients cook meals and perform other household tasks — are seen as vital to serving an older population. They, too, face a recruiting challenge.

The Department of Labor predicted last year that the state would need 9,000 more personal care aides by 2022, up nearly 40 percent from 2010 levels. Along with home health aides, which have a similar estimated growth rate, it's expected to be the most in-demand job in the near future.

But relatively low wages for those positions, fueled in part by what many providers decry as meager state reimbursements, have created a turnover struggle for some agencies.

Recognizing the looming problem, the state issued a plan several years ago that calls for timely collection of healthcare job openings, more training opportunities, figuring out ways to equalize pay among similar positions, and creation of a marketing campaign to attract workers to the field.

Deborah Hoyt, president and CEO of the Connecticut Association for Healthcare at Home, said homecare agencies that provide skilled nursing and other services are feeling the pinch too. Certain in-demand roles, such as speech and physical therapists, are particularly tough to fill.

“The workforce issues are going to get really real,” Hoyt said. “They're real now already.”

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