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Special State Licensure Recognizes Advances in Workforce Culture
August 11, 2006
North Carolina recently became the first state to reward long-term care providers who invest in building a high-quality direct-care workforce.
The North Carolina New Organizational Vision Award (NC NOVA), which will go into effect next January, provides a special licensure designation for nursing homes, adult care homes, and home care agencies that meet voluntary higher standards for workplace culture. Standards fall under four major areas: supportive workplaces, training, career development, and balanced workloads.
Recognizing that direct-care workers are ''essential to the provision of care and an enhanced quality of life for long-term care consumers'' the bill seeks to address North Carolina's shortage of these crucial workers. ''A well-qualified, satisfied, stable, and adequate supply for direct care workers is a shared concern for employers, employees, consumers, families, and private and public payers of long-term care services received in home care agencies, adult care homes, and nursing facilities,'' states the bill.
The Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence, North Carolina's quality improvement organization, will serve as the independent reviewer, determining who is eligible for the license.
NC NOVA was originally established as a demonstration program under North Carolina's Better Jobs Better Care program. A broad-based partner team - including all five of the state's provider associations, direct-care workers, consumers, regulators, and educators - developed the project. In its demonstration phase, NC NOVA was an award that recognized providers who supported and empowered their staff through such means as balanced workloads, training and career development opportunities, and ''appreciation for the essential role of front-line staff in providing quality care.''
''NC NOVA was created to help long-term care employers improve quality by attracting and keeping quality workers to meet current and future demand,'' said Susan Harmuth, project manager for the North Carolina Foundation for Advanced Health Programs, the organization that developed the program. ''The license says this provider meets higher standards to keep a well-trained, effective, and satisfied team of quality caregivers. It's good for consumers when satisfied workers stay on the job longer. Care outcomes are enhanced when there is a consistent care provider.''
The program's developers hope that the state will ultimately increase reimbursement rates to providers with the special licensure.
Hadas Thier
Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute
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