Healthy Outcomes: Direct-care workers in the post-acute care sector – challenges and opportunities

On this episode of Healthy Outcomes, our host Mark Ross interviews Robert Espinoza, Executive Vice President of Policy at PHI. Together, they discuss various topics related to direct-care workers in the post-acute care sector, including ways to approach the challenge of recruiting and retaining those employees.

Topics of discussion include:

• The mission of PHI and ways in which PHI advances its mission
• The definition of direct care workers and common misconceptions about direct care workers
• The concept of wages being both competitive and commensurate
• The primary reasons direct care workers leave the post-acute care sector
• The importance of advancing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as they relate to post-acute care providers and the direct care workforce
• Initiatives that PHI is working on with healthcare related associations and governmental agencies

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Robert Espinoza

Robert Espinoza is the Executive Vice President of Policy at PHI, where he oversees its national advocacy and public education division on the direct care workforce while shaping PHI’s organizational strategies. In 2020, he was selected for the first-ever CARE 100 list of the most innovative people working to re-imagine how we care in America today and as one of Next Avenue’s 2020 Influencers in Aging. He also serves on the board of directors for the American Society on Aging, the National Academy of Social Insurance, and the FrameWorks Institute.