IMPART Alliance

A Michigan State University led research team is tackling a problem faced by all of us including our parents, our partners, and ultimately ourselves. The U.S. and Michigan’s populations are rapidly aging which is creating a greater demand for high-quality, lower cost supports and services at home, where most people prefer to live for as long as possible in their later years. Paid direct care assistance beyond what families can provide is often needed but there is a critical shortage of people trained to do this kind of work. Employers are facing serious difficulty in finding, hiring and retaining high-quality direct care workers (DCWs) and the shortage is expected to become worse as the baby boom generation ages. We need more DCWs but we also want competent DCWs who know how to provide support safely and with respect and who like their job and plan to stay in it. Studies clearly show that a stable, trained direct care workforce results in higher worker and client satisfaction and better client health outcomes including fewer falls and emergency department visits. Despite this evidence, no federal DCW competency or training requirements exist. The research project, titled “IMPART” (an Integrated Model for Personal Assistant Research and Training), aims to build and strengthen the DCW workforce through implementation of a new integrated model that will address multiple components of workforce development in a more efficient, systematic, coordinated and cost-effective way. It will build on an evidence-based DCW training program titled “Building Training…Building Quality” and establish a highly diverse statewide coalition of stakeholders who will determine feasible win-win strategies for ensuring access to a high-quality Direct Care workforce. It will also begin to establish a technology and data infrastructure, resources and tools that will support scaling up and sustainability of the program. IMPART is supported by a 500K two-year grant from the Michigan Health.