From hidden costs to high returns: Unlocking the potential of the lower-wage workforce. Proscio, Tony. 2010. Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

This report describes the various ways certain employers are strengthening their lower-wage, entry-level workers. One of the employers profiled in the report is the Visiting Nurse Association of Eastern Massachusetts (VNAEM), which has teamed up with a nonprofit workforce organization to create a dedicated recruitment and training program for entry level workers. The program has caused VNAEM's turnover rate to decrease from 50 percent to under 10 percent in a just a few years.

The Edgewood Centre: Aligning values and business strategy. PHI. .

This case study of the Edgewood Centre in New Hampshire is part of PHI's series ''The Business of Caregiving.'' Some of the reasons why Edgewood is identified by PHI as an exemplary employer include its career ladder for licensed nursing assistants, its use of consistent caregiver assignment, and its devotion to culture change and relationship-centered care. Edgewood was one of the organizations chosen by PHI to participate in the PHI Northern New England LEADS Institute.

Ararat Nursing Facility: Sustaining excellence through quality improvement systems, trust, and teamwork. PHI. .

This case study of Ararat Nursing Facility in California is part of PHI's series ''The Business of Caregiving.'' Some of the reasons why Ararat is identified by PHI as an exemplary employer are: its resident-centered care teams; its five-tiered career ladder, which features wage increases at each level; and its innovative Performance Improvement/Quality Improvement (PIQI) program, which helps employees, residents and family members easily identify and fix any problems that may occur within Ararat.

Health reform facts 3: Small business benefits available to eldercare/disability services employers. PHI. July 2010.

This fact sheet details several ways that national health reform, passed into law in March 2010, will help small businesses provide health insurance to their employees. For example, the law includes numerous tax credits that small businesses can take advantage of, as well as a federal grant program that will reward employers for establishing employee wellness programs.

Health reform facts 2: Pre-existing condition insurance plan. PHI. July 2010.

This fact sheet explains the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP), a featured component of the federal health reform legislation signed into law in 2010. Uninsured Americans who have pre-existing health conditions will be able to more easily obtaining health coverage through the PCIP. Direct-care workers who have chronic health conditions, illnesses, or suffer from work-related injuries will especially benefit from the program.

Fighting their way to patients: Home care continuity in an emergency event. Yarkony, Lisa. May 2010. Caring National Association for Home Care & Hospice.

This feature article describes the Visiting Nurse Service of New York's efforts to deliver home care to New Yorkers during the 2005 transit-worker strike. The article emphasizes that good communication among workers and a well-defined emergency plan were crucial in getting home care workers out to clients' homes for their regularly scheduled visits.

The impact of worker health on long term care: Implications for nursing managers. Letvak, Susan, and Christopher J. Ruhm. May/June 2010. Geriatric Nursing, Vol. 31 No. 3. Elsevier.

This article affirms that that direct-care worker ''presenteeism'' -- when a worker is sick or has a chronic health condition, yet still goes to work -- is a greater drain on productivity than absenteeism. Direct-care workers are especially prone to presenteeism, since they have little to no health benefits, and are often given no paid sick days. The article suggests numerous ways that supervisors of direct-care workers can support their employees, thereby reducing presenteeism.

Strengthening the direct care workforce: Preliminary recommendations from a national panel of experts in long-term care. Noelker, Linda S., et al.. Winter/Spring 2010. Public Policy & Aging Report, Vol. 20 No. 1. National Academy on an Aging Society.

This article outlines the preliminary recommendations made by a panel of long-term care experts convened by the Benjamin Rose Institute on behalf of the Institute of Medicine. The panel was tasked with devising ways to strengthen the direct-care workforce. Some of the recommendations include: increasing the supply of direct-care workers by bolstering recruiting efforts; advocating for more intensive federal and state training requirements; and instituting higher standards of evaluation for direct-care workers.

Health reform facts 1: Workforce development and training opportunities for direct-care workers. PHI. June 2010.

This fact sheet describes numerous ways that that 2010 health reform law may have a positive impact on the direct-care workforce. It describes several new workforce commissions, federal training grants, and workforce-development programs that will be created as a result of health reform. The fact sheet is the first in a planned series, published by PHI, detailing health reform's effect on the direct-care workforce.