LeadingAge has released a new tool for members that helps outline the myriad technology solutions aimed specifically at workforce needs for aging services providers. Cost implications are included.
The tool, named “Unlocking Workforce Technology Solutions,” is designed to help members with a “map” of the tech market, breaking down solutions by what aspect of staffing a particular tool is aimed at, such as scheduling or workforce training.
With senior living and care operators dealing with ongoing staffing challenges, new technology within healthcare is frequently aimed at addressing workforce issues, either by making existing care more efficient or directly aiding the staff to ease administrative burdens.
The LeadingAge report, which was released earlier this month, covers six categories, detailing how to find and implement various solutions under those umbrellas:
- Recruitment and retention
- Diversity, equity and inclusion
- Education and training
- Workflow efficiencies
- Robotics
- HR tools
The report also is designed to help providers address the cost of implementing certain technologies and how to find funding. Its primary authors were Scott Code, LeadingAge CAST vice president, and Jenna Kellerman, LeadingAge director for workforce strategy and development.
The latter has outlined a “ladders and lattices” approach to training and retaining long-term care employees, arguing that staff needs to be given tools to learn new skills, and opportunities for advancement within an organization.
LeadingAge has been a vocal critic of national nursing home minimum staffing mandates proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. As part of a statement this month on the high cost of implementing such a rule, LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan called the proposal “impossible to implement” due to the lack of available workers. She added that “regulations and enforcement, even with the best intentions, just can’t change the math.”
LeadingAge will be discussing the new tool at its annual meeting next month in Chicago.
