Caregiving Workforce

NC Direct Care Worker Wage & Rate Analysis

Informing NC’s direction towards a supported and sustained direct care workforce.

Introductory Materials

Overview slide deck

Recording coming soon!

Goals of the NC Direct Care Worker Wage & Rate Analysis

In recognition of NC’s current direct care workforce crisis, NC Department of Health and Human Services has commissioned the NC Center on the Workforce for Health to secure a vendor to conduct a comprehensive analysis, the NC Direct Care Worker Wage and Rate Analysis. 

The Department’s recommendation for this Analysis was first published in its 2024 report, Investing in North Carolina’s Caregiving Workforce.

  • Establish and benchmark direct care worker wages, benefits, compensation, and credential requirements
  • Assess workforce capacity, vacancies, and alignment with service demand across regions and populations
  • Evaluate wage alignment with training and service expectations, and develop market-based recommendations to support recruitment and retention
  • Recommend rate and policy changes aligned with workforce cost drivers, including support for informal caregivers, prevention strategies, and innovative service models
  • Develop an integrated, data-driven forecasting model to project workforce needs, service demand, inflationary changes, and fiscal impacts, and support long-term planning aligned with demographic trends
  • Quantify fiscal and economic impacts of proposed wage and rate changes, including future-state scenarios for planning and decision-making

Thank you, Providers for your participation!

Provider Resources Coming Soon!

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About Direct Care Workers in NC

Read PHI National’s profile on North Carolina’s direct care workforce, including employment trends, wage trends, and characteristics of direct care workers.

See PHI's NC Profile

Learn about the Analysis Vendor

Guidehouse is a national consulting firm with extensive experience supporting state Medicaid agencies and health and human services organizations in areas including Medicaid reimbursement, rate setting, workforce analysis, and long-term services and supports. For this project, Guidehouse is supporting the Center by conducting the statewide wage and rate analysis, facilitating stakeholder engagement, analyzing provider and workforce data, and developing recommendations to strengthen North Carolina’s direct care workforce.

Guidehouse

Read Caregiving Workforce Council Recommendations

The Caregiving Workforce Strategic Leadership Council is comprised of state agencies and education systems that set priorities and identified actions to strengthen the nursing, mental health and substance use services, and direct care workforces. The Council’s 2024 report recommended a comprehensive rate and wage analysis for direct care.

Read 2024 Report