WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES: Medicaid HCBS Direct Care Workforce Reform and Analysis
Wisconsin’s direct caregiving workforce is the backbone of home and community-based services. However, the direct caregiving industry is in crisis—one in four direct caregiver positions is vacant.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) is actively addressing this crisis to understand what is needed to expand, enhance, and strengthen the direct care workforce. Workforce surveys are providing the data needed to assess the direct care workforce challenges and provide insights to potential improvement opportunities.
Workforce Surveys
Wisconsin has participated in the National Core Indicators Aging and Disabilities (NCI-AD) and the National Core Indicators Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (NCI-IDD) state of the workforce surveys since 2022. Every other year, these surveys collect data about direct support professionals (DSPs) who support adults with IDD and AD. The NCI reports provide reliable data on employment metrics. This includes turnover, wages, benefits, and recruitment. Each survey helps states:
- Examine workforce challenges
- Identify areas for further investigation
- Benchmark the workforce data
- Measure improvements from policy or program changes
States can also create their own questions and can compare their data to other states and national averages. Agencies from all 72 Wisconsin counties participated in the IDD and AD surveys in 2021, while 70 participated in 2023. The most recent findings on all workforce metrics are available at the DHS Workforce Surveys webpage.
To learn more about the NCI-IDD and NCI-AD surveys, visit the DHS Workforce Surveys webpage. You can also read the national reports at NCI-IDD and NCI-AD.
To explore other DHS workforce reform initiatives, see the DHS HCBS Direct Workforce Reform and Analysis webpage.
