Long-term Care Health Care Personnel

Health Care Personnel are defined as all paid and unpaid persons working in health-care settings who have the potential for exposure to patients and/or to infectious materials, including body substances, contaminated medical supplies and equipment, contaminated environmental surfaces, or contaminated air.

Health care personnel (HCP) include (but are not limited to):

Health Care Personnel in Long-term Care

The long-term care (LTC) workforce is diverse and growing. As of 2010, it was reported [156 KB, 2 pages] there are about 2.2 million nursing aides, orderlies, attendants, and home health aides, and an additional 644,850 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses working in nursing homes, assisted living, and home health. All of these individuals are considered health care personnel (HCP) and are recommended to receive annual influenza vaccination.

The National Center for Health Statistics [5.6 MB, 118 pages] estimates that in 2014, long-term HCP served about 9 million people in the United States. The number of people using nursing facilities, alternative residential care places, or home care services is projected to increase from 15 million in 2000 to 27 million in 2050. Health care personnel such as nursing assistants or nursing aides, home health aides, personal care aides provide 70-80% of hands-on LTC and personal assistance to vulnerable populations. They work in a variety of locations, providing assistance to nursing home residents, home health and adult day care clients in bathing, dressing, and other activities of daily living. The number of these HCP in the LTC sector is projected to grow to between 5.7 to 6.6 million by 2050.

An overview of the LTC HCP workforce (as of 2013) from the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI) International

• 89% are female
• Average age is 42 years old
• 47% are employed part-time or full-time part of the year
• 54% have attained a high school education or less
• 45% live in households earning below 200% of the federal poverty level income
  • 49% are eligible for publicly funded services such as Medicaid
  • 28% of people employed in nursing care facilities do not have health insurance; 37% employed in home health care services do not have health insurance
• 21% were born outside of the United States and may face cultural or language barriers in the workplace

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LTC Workforce by Wages, Entry-level Education, and Employment from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Job title with link to U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Health Care	Median wage (2015)	Entry-level education
Home health aides	$21,920/year $10.54/hour	Less than high school
Personal care aides	$20,980/year $10.09/hour	Less than high school
Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants	$25,710/year $12.36/hour	Postsecondary non-degree award
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	$43,170/year $20.76/hour	Postsecondary non-degree award
Registered nurses	$67,490/year $32.45/hour	Associate’s degree

More Information

• HHS: Understanding Direct Care Workers: A Snapshot of Two of America’s Most Important Jobs- Certified Nursing Assistants and Home Health Aides [4.4 MB, 70 pages]
• American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living: 2010 U.S. Long-term Care Workforce at a Glance [156 KB, 2 pages]
• National Center for Health Statistics: Long-Term Care Services in the United States: 2013 Overview [3.5 MB, 105 pages]
• PHI: Overview of America’s Direct-Care Workforce (2013) [1.1 MB, 8 pages]

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