According to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, state Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and managed care providers are having difficulty recruiting and retaining staff for home and community-based long-term support services (LTSS).

Relatively low wages and difficult work conditions were cited as the primary factors preventing LTSS programs from being fully staffed, reported HealthPayerIntelligence‘s Thomas Beaton, even though Medicaid pays an estimated $167 billion a year — approximately a third of its budget — for them.

LTSS’ labor shortages are most acutely felt in rural areas, because in-home care providers typically are not reimbursed for long travel times to and from clients who may require only a few hours of paid care per day.

Several states, including Montana, and some managed care plans have recently taken action to raise wages and develop incentives that would keep excellent providers working with their home health programs.

Read about it here, on HealthPayerIntelligence.