The year 2022 is an exciting year for the home health care industry because of new developments and the decrease in caregiver pandemic casualties, but challenges are also looming ahead.
As we move forward into another year, we embrace the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and the return to normalcy. Many states are opening their borders, businesses are back, and life is slowly going back to its old busy, and carefree days, despite the few cases of Omicron variant still threatening, primarily those still unvaccinated.
As far as caregiving and the whole medical community are concerned, this is certainly welcome news as most of our frontliners can breathe a sigh of relief. The last two years have been brutal and dark as caregiver pandemic casualties reached hundreds of thousands. This year, the challenges take on new forms. Though several of them may not be as severe as the one our caregivers had to endure during the height of the pandemic, these are still the hurdles our caregivers and medical frontliners will have to face this year and the years to come.
Homecare is a type of care provided by skilled medical practitioners to patients, mostly seniors and elderly, in their homes under the direction of a licensed physician. It differs from the care provided in hospitals due to the resources and equipment available and the personnel involved. Caregivers and nurses provide many homecare programs with instructions coming directly from a doctor. The chronically ill, those recovering from surgery or having trouble with mobility, are the typical patients who opt for homecare.
One of the glaring issues confronting the caregiving industry, particularly the home care sector, is the lack of qualified personnel to attend to the increasing number of patients.
According to https://www.homecaremag.com/,
“It remains unclear whether the industry is prepared for the volume of workers needed, both during and beyond the pandemic,” read a report produced by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services. The report was titled “COVID-19 Intensifies Home Care Workforce Challenges,” which pretty much sums up the situation.
In just one example, the nonprofit in-home care provider BAYADA reported denying service to an unprecedented number of new referrals due to staffing problems, including 64% in its largest coverage area.
And in a recent study from OnShift, 96% of 2,050 respondents in the senior care industry said they were facing a staffing shortage, and two-thirds expected their challenges to remain the same or get worse in the next three years. In addition, 83% said employee engagement and retention was a “high priority” for them in the coming year.
Aside from the labor shortage, another issue that caregivers face this year is the changing home care delivery models. Covid-19 changed some of the features of homecare and gave rise to new models, including Hospital at Home and Skilled-Nursing-Facility (SNF) at Home. These models come with specific features that caregivers and health care providers must uphold. This means recruiting, training, and retaining qualified personnel who can adjust to schedules, demands, and work-life balance without sacrificing service quality or their own health.
Home care software and other technological developments are essential in elevating the quality of service caregivers provide to patients. As such, caregivers are also expected to adapt to the ever-changing medical technology, covering monitoring, testing, equipment, and even billing processes.
Last but not least, 2022 is expected to be the banner year for home health care. Therefore, caregivers and providers are expected to encounter new policies, regulatory compliance, and other issues concerning operations and guidelines. Caregiving and home health care models have gained increased attention, especially during the pandemic. This year, governments and private sectors are sure to check on home care practices and their potential.
These are just some of the issues, not necessarily challenges, that our caregivers will encounter this year as part of the pursuit to improve elderly care and caregiving in general.
