Wages and salaries went up for hospice workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, ranging from 3% to 6%, with admission liaisons, nurses, aides and IT staff seeing the largest increases. This according to a 2021-2022 Hospice Salary & Benefits Report from research firm Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Service (HCS) and the National Association of Home Care & Hospice (NAHC).
The scarcity of labor has contributed to the size of the increases, according to Rosanne Zabka, director of reports at HCS. Research indicates that supply of a hospice and palliative care specialized workforce will be outpaced by demand, with shortages expected to worsen during the next 25 years. The pandemic has only exacerbated the problem.
“The jobs that saw the highest increases were those positions that were crucial to providing care (Admission Liaison, RNs, and Hospice Aide III) and those key to keeping things running remotely during the pandemic” CIO Director and Systems Support Specialist Zabka told Hospice News in an email. “With the ongoing workforce shortage in health care we saw higher increases in wages and salaries, with increases ranging from 3% – 6%”
The report takes into account base pay only and does not include bonuses or benefits. About 734 hospice providers submitted data on nearly 25,000 employees nationwide via electronic and printed questionnaires that included summary job descriptions and questions about fringe benefits. About 99.5% were Medicare-certified organizations. HCS began performing salary and benefits studies in 1971. The effective date of this year’s hospice report is July 1, 2021.
The research found that hospice aides who work in hospitals received the highest pay compared to workers in other settings at $17.62- per-hour. This was followed by visiting nurse associations at $17.53.
CNAs who work for nonprofits received an average $16.34-per-hour compared to $15.46 at for-profit companies.
Geographically, the highest paid CNAs work in California ($19.80) and Massachusetts ($18.91). Alabama and Mississippi saw the lowest pay for those employees, at $13.17 and 13.10, respectively.
The national turnover rate for hospice aides was 26.60%, up from 25.72% the prior year, according to the report.
Hospices have seen rising turnover across the board during the pandemic, as has much of the health care sector. Slightly more than 20% of health care workers have thought about leaving the field due to stress brought on by the pandemic, while 30% have considered reducing their hours, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
Providers face unique challenges when it comes to recruiting medical, social work and nursing students, largely due to limited exposure to hospice and palliative care during training. Most students in clinical disciplines do not feel prepared to provide end-of-life care, according to a 2018 study.
Companies featured in this article:
Hospital & Health Care Compensation Services, National Association for Home Care and Hospice
