This multifaceted workforce initiative, developed by and funded to HCA E&R for 2024-25 by the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, seeks to pilot workforce development strategies for cultivating a pipeline of qualified and diverse new entrants into nursing practice in the home care setting, as well as impactful methods for recruiting and retaining top-notch talent amidst a competitive marketplace.

HCA’s objective is to ensure access to home health care services for vulnerable individuals by building and strengthening home care agencies’ abilities to recruit and retain nurses specialized in the delivery of care at home.

The goal of the pilot is to develop a model 'blueprint' for implementation by home health care agencies to increase their capacity to serve as a clinical rotation site for nursing students. Providers interested in learning more about hosting BSN students can contact the Clinical RN Rotation Coordinator at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

At the academic preparatory level, there is a lack of exposure to the home care practice setting, limiting setting-specific curricula in nursing programs and a prevalence of clinical rotations in acute or facility-based settings. These educational conditions exacerbate the challenges to cultivating a robust and qualified pool of practice-ready nurse graduates for the home health setting.

This partnering pilot agency will implement a competency-based Transition to Practice Nurse Residency Program designed to facilitate the transition of new graduate RNs, through enrollment in a training and preceptorship program, into RNs with the requisite clinical competencies for practice in the home care setting. The project will evaluate and report on program effectiveness, distilling best practices for future replication.

Cultivating an effective and replicable method for onboarding novice home care nurses will expand the pool of potential employment candidates beyond those currently recruited with more extensive clinical experience.

The Home Health Care Recruitment & Retention (R&R) pilot program will develop and implement a model for home health care agencies to increase their capacity to recruit and retain a diverse nursing workforce. The R&R program will recruit and engage at least five agencies across NYS, assess their current R&R practices and conduct a comparative analysis against industry and research-based best practices, identifying key gaps that will serve as the targets for evidence-based interventions, along with the provision of technical support to implement them with the goal of strengthening the agency’s capacity to effectively recruit and retain qualified nurses.

The project will conduct a final R&R assessment and convene a roundtable of leaders from piloting agencies to distill lessons learned and develop a final blueprint for building a meaningful and sustainable R&R program. The resulting blueprint will be used to produce a resource guide with tools to support the development of a sustainable R&R program, and will be disseminated to all New York agencies for adoption. Agencies interested in participating in the R&R pilot can contact Celisia Street at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Support for this statewide initiative is made possible through the generous support of the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation

Related Resources

Mission

The implementation of a scholarship program for existing employees to enable home healthcare agencies to provide scholarship funds to engage in career advancing educational programs in the field of nursing is both life changing for the individual and industry changing for the services that can be delivered through the expansion of the capacity to serve additional patients.  

Why?

The biggest workforce challenges facing home healthcare providers are the undersupply and the successful recruitment and retention of caregivers.

The increased demand for healthcare professionals and specifically the need for new HHAs, LPNs, and RNs, illustrates the need for career advancement pathways. Creation of pathways to recruit and retain nursing staff is imperative to stimulate the healthcare workforce pipeline. Career advancement is widely reported as being a key factor in overall job satisfaction and employee retention. Caregiver burnout will be reduced with a balanced workload and subsequently professionals will be retained.  

While home healthcare agencies are eager to provide career development opportunities to advance the skills of proficiency, professional standing, and retention of their current workforce, most lack the financial resources to provide substantial growth opportunities due to current fiscal limitations.

Who Does This Serve?

The HHCNSF will provide financial support for homecare workers who meet one or more of the following criteria: (1) economically disadvantaged or those who could use additional support, (2) an under-represented ethnicity or population, or (3) have a compelling or extenuating circumstance to attain their RN or LPN certification. All organizations who apply will demonstrate that the employee meets the income criteria of the region. Economic-related criteria can vary by region. 

HCANYS will establish and operate the scholarship program with a projected 10-15 participating agencies and at least 50 individual scholarship recipients in the home healthcare field.

What It Does

The impact of the Hearts in Home Care Nurse Scholarship Fund (HHCNSF) will provide support for underrepresented and/or financially disadvantaged home healthcare workers or others who are employed by a home healthcare services agency and may be experiencing extenuating circumstances, to earn an advanced degree in the field of nursing. Attainment of an enhanced credential in nursing will position them to garner an increased wage and level of self-sufficiency; retain critical caregivers and enhance the capacity of the employing agency to deliver needed care to patients in the community and consequently serve to improve transitions of care between the home healthcare agency and other community providers (hospitals, skilled nursing facilities).

Who Can Apply?

All CHHAs, LHCSAs, and Hospice providers in NYS can apply for the HHCNSF to provide scholarship funding to support their employees. Relieving the financial burden will allow more professionals to continue working and continue their education and training without the added financial stress as a barrier. 

Qualifying Expenses

Eligible degrees/programs include, Licensed Practical Nurse , Associate Registered Nurse , Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing , Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing , or Master of Science in Nursing, and other credentialing programs as applicable. 

Agency Responsibilities 

• Ability to demonstrate that each employee receiving a scholarship meets one or more of the recipient criteria.  
• Provides, or supports the collection of, all required data and evaluations for purposes of grant reporting. 
• Facilitates the development of a news story or video that highlights the professional journey in home care for at least one of their scholarship recipients.  

Upcoming Q&A Webinar

Join HCA E&R for a brief question and answer session on the grant and application process. 

When: June 16^th 12:00pm-12:30pm

Register Here

Submit questions ahead of time to Taylor Perre, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Staff Contacts

Questions? 

Celisia Street, Vice President for Workforce Development and Innovation

Taylor Perre, Associate Director of Policy and Advocacy