Recorded Events

Description: Podcast Introducing Long-term Care, Supports, and Services Competency Model
Posted On: February 25, 2011
File Type: MP3
File Size: 5.66 MB
Speaker(s):

Stuart Werner, Health Care Industry Lead
Employment and Training Administration, Office of Workforce Investment

Janet Sten, Director
Employment and Training Administration, Office of Workforce Investment, Division of Workforce System Support

Rosaly Correa, Deputy Director
Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Disability

Lori Sedlezky, Project Coordinator
Research and Training Center on Community Living (RTC), Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota

Jessica Barker, Associate Director
ANCOR, American Network of Community Options and Resources

Long-term Care, Supports, and Services Podcast Transcript

WERNER: Hello and welcome to this podcast for the Competency Model Clearinghouse. I'm Stu Werner, the health-care industry lead, and I have the privilege of moderating the panel of professionals who will provide you with information on a new resource to support career exploration and workforce program planning while helping to communicate industry needs to your stakeholders. I'm proud to introduce the director of the Division of Workforce Systems Support, who will highlight ETA's competency model initiative as a resource for organizing training and developing career pathways, Ms. Janet Sten.

STEN: Thanks, Stu. Today I'm going to be sharing an overview of the competency models in general, what they are, why we and our partners develop competency models, and how they are used. Through formula funding and through competitive grants, ETA makes investments to state and to local workforce development entities to design and deliver employment and training services. The tools that you will learn about today, they're a resource designed to support those investments.

Through our interagency collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services, we've connected to the Office of Disability, the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, and the Health Resources and Services Administration to reach out to subject matter experts who provided input to the development and to the validation of a competency model that we are going to be introducing today.

A competency model is useful to organize information about what is needed to perform in a particular work setting, such as a job, an occupation, or an industry. Our goal in developing a competency model is to articulate the competencies that are required for success. You will see that the model is designed to show the competencies that, when acquired, form a foundation for the attainment of more specific knowledge and skills. It is a resource for organizing training into a series of stackable credentials, creating a pathway for upward mobility to jobs with higher pay. Industry competency models are resources that can be used to help industry, educational institutions and labor, American Job Centers (formerly One-Stop Career Centers), and the rest of the workforce investment system understand the skills required to enter careers and that open the gateway to higher paying jobs. So competency models are used as a resource to ensure that future workers have the right skills to select appropriate education and training programs.

At the outset of a project to develop industry competency models, ETA seeks the input of industry organizational psychologists who conduct research on the most common knowledge, skills and abilities – or in the trade known as KSAs – required for success in the workplace. The model is represented in a tiered graphic that represents how competencies become more focused and specific as an individual moves from gaining personal and academic competencies to industry and specific occupational competencies, which appear in the upper tiers of the model. Workers can shift roles easier and acquire new skills quicker if the foundational competencies required in one industry are largely the same in another. And this flexibility is necessary in our rapidly changing economy. The model for long-term care, supports, and services was developed using this building blocks framework. So now I'm going to turn this back over to Stu.

WERNER: Thanks so much, Jan. Next, I'm pleased to introduce Dr. Rosaly Correa.

CORREA: Thank you, Stu. The Office on Disability in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services oversees the implementation and the coordination of programs and policies that enhance the health and well-being of people with disabilities across all ages, races, and ethnicities. The office supports the department's mission through numerous initiatives, one of which is very relevant to this long-term care, supports, and services' industry model. The initiative I am talking about is the Community Living Initiative, which is focused on the rights of persons with disabilities to obtain services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.

When we heard about the competency model project, we felt it was critical to become involved with it and we lent our supports to our colleagues at the Department of Labor because it is essential that we have a workforce with the right skills to provide the long-term care services and supports that enable persons with disabilities, many of whom are older adults, to live independent lives.

The current model for long-term care, supports, and services reframes long-term care as not just health care. The model defines the long-term care industry as encompassing not only health services, but also social, community, and human services. The model emphasizes the core competencies required for workers across all sectors in the health and human services industry, institutional settings, group homes, and community and home-based services. It provides a foundation for the development of industry sector models that reflect the more specific competency needs of workers in skilled nursing facilities and assisted living, congregate care, community settings and in-home independent assisted living.

WERNER: Our next speaker is Ms. Lori Sedlezky, Project Coordinator for the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota. Ms. Sedlezky was a participant the model validation process.

SEDLEZKY: The research and training center has many roles related to workforce development and ensuring a good quality of life for people with disabilities. We conduct research. We provide training on best practices and technical assistance to organizations and states who are addressing the workforce development crisis. When I learned about this competency model and was invited to participate, I was excited because I wanted to ensure that the voice of the sector of people with intellectual disabilities was being represented. The aging and physical disabilities sectors were both represented and we do have definitely some commonalities but there are also differences between the sectors and I think it's important that those are recognized.

One of the things that the research and training center does here is we work a lot with training organizations to help them develop training programs and really broader workforce development plans. This model will be helpful to us because it's going to provide a basis for the plan. It's going to help organizations understand what they need to be providing in terms of training. Often there's a perception that training in our workforce is very regulatory driven and in many cases we find that to be true. I think that we have to realize that if we want a workforce that has the skills and competencies in this area, they need to be trained in those areas. So identifying these competencies and then providing training to address those competencies is going to be much more effective in creating a workforce that is highly skilled, and thus can be better paid, and will stay in the field, and will provide us a much more secure future for all individuals in the community.

WERNER: Jessica Barker, the associate director of government relations for public policy initiatives at the American Network of Community Options and Resources will highlight the industry champions plan to advance the model through the public American Job Center (formerly One-Stop Career Center) system. Thank you, Jessica.

BARKER: Thank you, Stu. The long-term care, supports, and services industry model will allow private providers to articulate their industry needs and professionalize the DSP workforce. As an industry champion, ANCOR will help to raise awareness of the profession and the competencies required. Sponsoring agencies, such as the members of ANCOR, have the ability to work with their local American Job Centers (formerly One-Stop Career Centers) to establish a training program to meet their specific needs. The participation of member agencies will help develop, plan, and evaluate curriculum, as well as promote the portability of the credential, thus enhancing access to education and training for DSPs, one of the core goals of the national advocacy campaign. With that, I'll turn it back to you, Stu.

WERNER: Thank you, Jessica. If you'd like to listen to the complete Webinar, the recording is available on the Workforce3one Web site. The Long-term Care, Supports, and Services Competency Model is currently available for viewing and download on the CMC Web site. Thank you very much for joining us for this Competency Model Clearinghouse podcast.