Those who provide caregiving services to others, whether it is after surgery, an illness or fall, or due to aging, occasionally need professional help along the way.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates about 815,000 people nationally are employed in the home health care field, covering numerous areas such as home health care services, individual and family services, continuing care retirement communities, skilled nursing facilities and more.
You may already have used Next Day Access, a leading provider of home accessibility solutions, for the installation of devices that are helpful in patient care – stair lifts, portable showers, grab bars. Sometimes, though, the patient needs more, and more than your assistance as well.
So here are some things you need to know about workers in the home health care field:
*Compensation is not high. Hiring through agencies will inflate your costs but here is what the workers get paid: The median hourly wage is $10.87, or $22,600 yearly. The hourly wage bottoms at $8.65 and peaks near $15. Much of the difference is attributable to geography.
Alaska, which has only 1,370 home health care workers, pays the highest wages ($16 an hour, $33,290 a year). North Dakota, which also is in short supply with 1,420 workers, is second in cost ($15.95, $33,170). The New York City metropolitan area employs the most workers nationally, with about 160,000, who earn an hourly mean of $11.38, or $23,680 annually.
While those wages are not astronomical to the person receiving them, they can be a devastating expense to folks who must pay them. Medicare may cover certain costs but the complexities are endless. Long-term care policies can be a blessing, but many insurers do not write them anymore because they’re so costly to sustain as life expectancy grows and costs skyrocket.
Get the help you need with the home’s physical structure from Next Day Access. Get all the information you can on home health care – how aides are trained, what they will do and what they will cost – before you make critical decisions about the care of your loved one.
