Key to LeadingAge’s “Aging Services Workforce Now” campaign are investments through the appropriations process. On July 28, 2022, the Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) released the Chairman’s mark of the 12 Senate fiscal year (FY) 2023 appropriations bills. According to the Committee’s summary, the FY 2023 Senate Labor-Health and Human Services (Labor-HHS) and Education Appropriations funding bill includes $216.1 billion in discretionary funding. The bill represents an increase of $21 billion, or 10 percent, over the comparable FY 2022 level.

We were thrilled to see that the Senate FY 2023 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill includes critical investments in programs to recruit direct care workers, expand geriatric workforce academic training, and increase health professions workforce investments. Additionally, the bill allocates significant funding to expand national apprenticeships and worker protection programs.

The following highlights allocations included in the Senate FY 2023 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill, that are of interest to LeadingAge.

Advancing the Direct Support Workforce as a Career. The Committee recommends $10 million for competitive grants, to be awarded to the Department of Labor (DOL), in coordination with the Administration for Community Living (ACL), for the delivery of innovative strategies to significantly expand, stabilize, and retain direct support workers who provide home and community-based services (HCBS) to people with disabilities and older adults.

The Committee’s accompanying report language recognizes the importance of direct care workers and includes report language that reiterates that “support for the need for a stable, well-qualified direct care workforce is essential.” The report language also underscores themes of our campaign – that the grants should be used to develop and implement strategies to recruit, educate, train, retain, and promote career advancement of direct support workers. Strategies for improving the direct support workforce must include a goal to significantly reduce turnover and improve retention of such workers, and to reduce barriers to entry for a diverse and high-quality direct support workforce, including strategies for improving wages and benefits, professional development and other worker supportive services, and advancement opportunities. While this provision focuses on the direct support workforce in HCBS, the same principles and funding are needed across our continuum and LeadingAge will continue to advocate for a holistic approach to the aging services workforce.

The House FY 2023 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill also includes $3 million for ACL to fund a Direct Care Workforce Demonstration project. The direct care workforce provisions included in the Senate and the House FY 2023 Labor-HHS Appropriations bills are modeled after the Direct Care Opportunities Act (H.R. 2999), introduced in May 2021, and the Direct Care Workforce and Family Caregivers Act (S. 2344), introduced in July 2021. These bills would invest more than $1 billion over five years in training and increasing opportunities for our nation’s direct care workers who care for millions of older Americans and people with disabilities. Nonprofit organizations, partnerships of non-governmental entities and State or local governments would develop and implement strategies to recruit, educate, train, retain, and promote career advancement of the direct care workforce.

Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program. The Committee provides $47.2 million for the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program, an increase of $2 million. This program supports training to integrate geriatrics into primary care delivery and develops academic primary care community-based partnerships to address gaps in healthcare for older adults. The House Labor-HHS Appropriations bill provides $3 million above the FY 2022 level for the GWEP program.

Health Professions Workforce Information and Analysis. The Committee provides $5.7 million for the Health Resource and Services Administration (HRSA) to provide health professions workforce information and analysis. The program provides for the collection and analysis of targeted information on the Nation’s healthcare workforce, research on high-priority workforce questions, the development of analytic and research infrastructure, and program evaluation and assessment.

The House Appropriations Committee Bill includes report language that LeadingAge strongly supports, since it directs HRSA to “address the skilled care workforce needs of seniors through existing workforce education and training programs.” Additionally, they include a request for HRSA to report and provide an analysis of technology’s role in the public health workforce.

Nursing Workforce Development Programs. The Committee provides $3.2 billion, an increase of $38 million for Nursing Workforce Development programs. These programs provide funding to address all aspects of nursing workforce demand, including education, practice, recruitment, and retention.

Preventing Burnout in the Healthcare Workforce. The Committee includes $30 million for activities authorized in the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act (Public Law 117–105), to provide comprehensive and evidence-based support to prevent suicide, burnout, and mental and behavioral health conditions among healthcare providers. The House Labor-HHS Appropriations bill includes $25 million for this grant program.

OSHA Susan Harwood Training Grant Program. The Committee includes $12.7 million for the OSHA Susan Harwood Training Grant program, with up to $6.5 million for capacity building development grants, to support the delivery of training and education to help workers and employers identify and prevent workplace safety and health hazards. The Committee urges OSHA to prioritize these funds to support non-profit, community-based groups and other non-profit organizations with the capability to reach vulnerable workers in low-wage industries and workers in dangerous industries. If enacted, LeadingAge would monitor closely the impact of this program on already existing OSHA enforcement for our members.

Apprenticeship Grants. The Committee includes $300 million, an increase of $65 million to expand Registered Apprenticeships, supporting prioritization of funding to expand to new industries, and for underserved or underrepresented populations. The Committee supports the use of apprenticeship grants that provide worker education in in-demand and emerging fields. The Committee encourages higher education institutions to support registered apprenticeships in emerging and nontraditional industries. Further, the Committee encourages DOL to fund apprenticeship opportunities in local communities that have high rates of unemployment.

Next Steps: The House passed H.R. 8294, a package of six fiscal year funding bills. They are expected to consider the FY 2023 Labor-HHS bill after the August Congressional recess. The Senate is also expected to consider its bills after the August recess.

LeadingAge will continue to advocate for its key workforce priorities for older adults as the Senate and House Labor-HHS appropriations bills move through this process; we are pleased to see the progress made in this proposal. Advocates for aging services can continue to ask Congress to fund important priorities for older adults as noted in the LeadingAge FY 2023 Action Alert and more information on our Aging Services Workforce Now Campaign here.