Health Affairs Publishes Age-Friendly Health Paper in January Issue
An Age-Friendly Health series paper has been published in the January 2024 issue of Health Affairs.
The Age-Friendly Health series aims to inform health policies and covers new issues related to building more equitable, high-quality health systems for older adults.
Nursing Home Staffing: Share Of Immigrant Certified Nursing Assistants Grew As US-Born Staff Numbers Fell, 2010–21
Hankyung Jun and David C. Grabowski
Nursing homes have long faced a shortage of direct care workers, a problem that was magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using nationally representative data from three sources, the researchers found that much of the certified nursing assistant (CNA) workforce in US nursing homes is filled by immigrant labor. However, the share of foreign-born CNAs varied considerably across states, from less than 1 percent in West Virginia to more than 70 percent in Hawaii.
In an analysis of prepandemic data, the authors found that nursing homes in regions with a higher share of immigrant CNAs were associated with more direct care staff hours per resident day and better nursing home quality performance. With the growing demand for long-term care, creating pathways for job-seeking immigrants to fill the gaps in direct care will be crucial to meeting future staffing needs.
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