It’s often the work that nobody wants to do, but work that is so important to today’s growing senior population. The job of a home health aide requires helping the patient in a wide range of tasks from bathing and grooming to preparing meals, housekeeping and even dressing wounds. These workers help keep elderly people living at home instead of moving into costly assisted living facilities, something these aging patients and their family members desperately want. Patience, a caring spirit, and a sense of humor are also requirements of the job.

Payroll Funding Can Help Increase Wages of Home Health Aides

As more baby boomers gray and reach their 70’s, there’s a shortage of such workers. Because the duties of home health aides are numerous, difficult and emotionally trying, few apply for these jobs. It doesn’t help that wages for these positions tend to be quite low. Recognizing the necessity of these workers and seeing how they can help reduce costs down the road by keeping patients home instead of in nursing homes, wages for these workers are on the rise. Even President Obama has a bill in place that, if approved, would increase the salaries of these employees.

Even without legislation, many private firms and national companies are recognizing the need to increase wages to attract and retain workers in this high demand profession. According to a recent report by the U.S. Labor Department, “Healthcare is one of the few industries in which there are more job openings than unemployed workers.” As the salaries for nurses, physicians, and medical technicians have risen over the past several years, the wages of home health aides have remained somewhat stagnant though this is likely to change.

Improve Aides’ Compensation with Medical Receivables Factoring

The factoring of medical receivables is one-way healthcare agencies can get the lines of credit they need to offer higher salaries to this in-demand profession. Advanced payroll funding can help ensure trained workers will get the compensation they are seeking so that they won’t jump ship and move to a competitor for better salaries. Despite the initial payroll funding involved in increasing wages, this may save money in the long run when considering recruitment and turnover costs.