As the primary funder of long-term services and supports (LTSS) under the Medicaid program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Servicers (CMS) maintains a vital interest in the paid and informal direct service community workforce. In the past 10 years, CMS has committed substantial resources to improving the recruitment and retention of direct service workers (DSW) through its Real Choice Systems Change grants, Direct Care Community Workforce Demonstration grants and national evaluations of them, and the National Direct Service Workforce Resource Center. The Direct Service Workforce Resource Center, under the guidance of CMS, developed many resources related to workforce development including:
- PHI State Data Center - provides data and statistics about the DSW in every state.
- Coverage of Direct Service Workforce Continuing Education and Training within Medicaid Policy and Rate Setting - A Toolkit was developed to help states better understand and utilize the CMS guidance provided in a July 13, 2011 bulletin.