Eighty-nine percent of home health agencies have had to deny care due to workforce limitations, according to the results of a recent study of 450 small home care agencies nationwide conducted by MissionCare Collective.

The resulting report is “Through the Provider’s Lens: A Study on Workforce Dynamics from the Perspective of an Agency.”

“The implications of this study are profound, highlighting the urgent need to transform our care culture,” MissionCare Collective CEO Brandi Kurtyka said in a press release. “Caregivers need strong community support and effective policies to thrive in their roles and continue their invaluable service to those in need.”

Eighty-two percent of the survey participants were 82% owners, 15% were directors and 3% worked in other positions. Agencies of various sizes participated, including those with less than 50 employees (39%), those with 50-250 employees (52%), and larger agencies with 251 or more employees (9%).

According to the study, “small to medium-sized agencies are turning away an average of 510 hours of care monthly, with a median of turning away 100 hours of care monthly, leaving

individuals that need care without access to services.”

A 2023 report from Home Care Pulse found that 53.5% of home care providers and 60.3% of home health providers consistently have turned down care since January, as McKnight’s previously shared.

“Turning away people that need care is deeply troubling for home care agencies, many of whom were motivated to join this profession due to personal experiences,” Kurtyka said. “People are in care to deliver care, and it’s tough to deliver it without the workforce to support the growing needs of America’s rapidly aging population.”

In the MissionCare Collective study, approximately 75% of respondents said that they believe that the industry has not fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

A significant problem within the home health industry is racial bias, respondents said, and it’s not happening in the agencies themselves. Eighty-one percent of providers indicated that a portion of their clients have race-specific staffing requests and are unwilling to work with a caregiver of a different race. 

Fifty-three percent of respondents said that workforce recruitment and retention issues have worsened in the past six months.

“Although agencies have increased wages over the past year, they are still struggling to compete with other industries,” Kurtyka noted.