News Release

December 9, 2010

NC DHHS Partners In Three-Year Direct Care Training Program Include UNC Institute on Aging

North Carolina was one of six states chosen as a grantee to develop a Personal and Home Care Aide State Training Program (PHCAST) for direct care workers in long term care settings. The proposal was led by the NC Department of Health and Human Services and will be managed in collaboration with the NC Foundation for Advanced Health Programs. UNC Institute on Aging investigators, Dr. Jennifer Craft Morgan, Associate Director for Research, and Dr. Thomas R. Konrad, Senior Research Scientist, will lead the evaluation team.

The state has assembled a broad-based partner team of stakeholders to implement the PHCAST program. The partners will develop, pilot test, implement, and evaluate a four-phase comprehensive training and competency development program for direct care workers in long term care settings over a three year period.

The Institute on Aging (IOA) will assess the impacts of training on trainees' knowledge, competencies, supervisor-rated performance, and quality of care. Additionally, the IOA will identify implementation barriers and system changes required for sustainability.

Dr. Morgan notes, "we are very excited to be involved in this important training program. We have a chance to put what we've learned from the evaluation of the Jobs to Careers: Transforming the Frontlines of Care National Program to good use for the State of North Carolina." Drs. Morgan and Konrad are just now completing the data collection for the National Evaluation of the Jobs to Careers Initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in collaboration with the Hitachi Foundation and the U.S. Department of Labor.

The PHCAST Program was created as part of the Affordable Care Act. It is a three-year demonstration program to develop core competencies, pilot training curricula, and establish certification programs for personal and home care aides.

A total of $4.2 million was awarded to California, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, and North Carolina. The project is 100% federally funded. Year one of North Carolina's grant award is $578,745 with projected funding of an additional $1.4 million over the following two years.

The six states that are participating in the three-year PHCAST Program are expected to train over 5,100 personal home care aides by 2013.