ArchCare Workforce Training Serves Industry
and a Higher Calling
17
TODAY
in healthcare, competitors
are collaborating in ways
that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago
as they adapt to new payment models that encourage
providers to work together to manage costs and
drive better care outcomes for the populations and
communities they serve.
To ArchCare, this competitive cooperation is more
than just a way for providers to forge economies of
scale and bring their strategic and financial interests
into alignment along the continuum of care. For the
non-profit continuing care system of the Archdiocese
of New York, it’s an opportunity to bring its resources
and experience to an industry-wide problem: the
critical shortage of trained and qualified long-term
care workers to meet the ever-increasing demand for
long-term care in New York State.
Earlier this year, the New York State Department of
Health (DOH) awarded ArchCare a three-year grant
to deliver a broad curriculum of training programs
focused on enhancing the skills and employment
and advancement opportunities of long-term care
workers in New York City, Long Island and the Hudson
Valley. The grant is part of DOH’s Managed Long Term
Care Workforce Investment Program, a $185 million
statewide initiative to attract and train healthcare
workers. Over the longer term, the investment in
developing more highly skilled workers focused on
keeping people healthier and preventing avoidable
hospitalizations will pay off in lower care costs for
Medicare and other payers and higher reimbursements
for providers.
ArchCare has invested heavily in recent years to
establish a comprehensive professional development
platform for its more than 4,000 Care Members as it
evolved from a provider of traditional nursing home
care into a diverse system of home, community-based
and institutional care. To many people, offering up
these training capabilities to help workers from other
home care agencies and health plans succeed may
seem suspicious. ArchCare sees it differently.
“Sharing our professional development systems and
experience is not only about helping our industry
adapt to new payment models and a changing
landscape,” said Scott LaRue, ArchCare’s president and
chief executive officer. “Our higher calling as a Catholic
ministry is to respond to the needs of society where
we can serve best. Doing everything we can to ensure
that all members of our communities have access to
the highest quality care to us is a privilege and our
responsibility.”
ArchCare’s initial course offerings as a state-
designated Workforce Investment Organization
(WIO) include training in person-centered care, health
literacy, fall prevention, skin and wound
care management,
non-violent
Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Fall 2018