By Molly Carpenter
The LTSS Center’s director of workforce strategy and development is feeling overjoyed and encouraged by a new workforce study. Find out why.
As we head into the new year, it’s natural to reflect on the year gone by. But this year, I encourage you not only to reflect but also to respond and plan for a better 2026. The encouraging results of a new workforce study may help with that planning.
Let me take a moment to introduce you to the Initiative on Home Care Work at the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations. This initiative, led by Dr. Ariel Avgar, Dr. Madeline Sterling, and Dr. Nicki Dell, focuses on improving working conditions for home care aides and enhancing patient outcomes through research and community engagement.
Through her clinical work as a geriatrician, Dr. Sterling has seen how direct care professionals can significantly impact aging adults. This experience inspired her to focus her research on heart failure patients. Dr. Sterling knows that heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization among Medicare beneficiaries. However, she has also observed the value that home health aides can provide when trained to recognize symptoms and potentially prevent hospitalizations.
Dr. Sterling’s randomized controlled trial—the “gold standard” of research—assessed the effects of a 90-minute virtual training module that teaches home health aides to recognize and manage heart failure symptoms and to use various techniques to motivate patients. The knowledge and confidence of the study’s 102 participating home care aides improved after the training.
An interesting secondary finding also emerged from the study. One group of aides used an app to message their supervisor with questions about the person they were caring for during their shift. This communication between aides and their supervisors was associated with a reduction in 911 calls about patients—calls that could have led to costly emergency department visits and perhaps unnecessary hospitalizations. The results highlight the integral role that aides play in the care of home-based older adults, the need for better communication between aides and nurse supervisors, and the benefits of building aides into clinical care teams.
As a professional in the homecare sector for 16 years, I am overjoyed, encouraged, hopeful, and excited about these results.
All providers recognize the value of direct care professionals and the vital work they perform each day. We understand that these professional caregivers are our eyes and ears in the home setting. They are often the first to notice key symptoms or signs that could lead to hospitalization, a change in condition, or a rapid decline in health. We also know that these caregiving roles require physical effort as well as cognitive, emotional, and psychological resilience.
Now, thanks to this research and future work by the Initiative on Home Care Work and others—including the LeadingAge LTSS Center research team—health practitioners, policymakers, and the public will know what we know. I hope this knowledge will lead to a future in which the value of home health aides—and all direct care professionals—will be recognized and ultimately reflected in the wages and benefits they receive.
As the New Year begins, I encourage you to let the results of this study inspire you to take three actions:
First, read and share this study, which is available online at no cost. Check in regularly with the Initiative on Homecare Work to stay informed about upcoming research.
Second, consider developing and delivering training on chronic conditions for your direct care professionals. Focus on the conditions Medicare targets for readmission risk.
Third, establish a feedback loop within your organization. Over the years, the LTSS Center has conducted numerous focus groups and surveys with direct care professionals. We consistently hear one concern: aides often feel uncertain about what happens after they report an issue to their nurse supervisor. Was that issue addressed? Did the next aide receive the instructions? Did the family get the information?
The feedback loop is essential for developing meaningful relationships between direct care professionals and their supervisors. It builds trust and encourages a sense of belonging. When the “eyes and ears” of residential or home care settings are recognized as part of the care team, job satisfaction increases, according to this research.
I hope you’re as excited as I am about this groundbreaking study and that you will incorporate these three recommendations into your 2026 workforce strategy. It’s the best way to ensure that we all have a Happy New Year.
Molly Carpenter is the Director of Workforce Strategy and Development in the Washington, DC office of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston.
Carpenter works across LeadingAge teams to advance strategies that improve the recruitment, retention, work experiences, and sustainability of a diverse, quality aging services caregiving workforce. She began her career as a direct care professional and most recently served as a workforce consultant at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Carpenter has also led workforce research and training initiatives for a global home care company.
Carpenter holds two master’s degrees from the University of Nebraska-Omaha: one in education with a gerontology specialization and the other in social gerontology.