Low wages and poor benefits are driving a workforce crisis in Iowa, according to the organizations behind a 2025 survey of direct caregivers there. The Iowa Health Care Association, however, maintains that the survey was “deeply flawed.”
The wage information reported in a report on the survey results, IHCA President and CEO Brent Willett told the McKnight’s Business Daily, doesn’t jibe with what the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services shows in its reports.
Direct caregiver support organization Iowa CareGivers and Iowa Workforce Development, a state agency serving job-seekers and employers, said they conducted the 2025 Direct Care Worker Wage and Benefit Survey because “the ability to recruit and retain Certified Nursing Assistants, Home Care, Hospice, and Hospital Aides, Personal Care Aides, Direct Support Professionals, and other direct care workers is one of the most compelling problems we face as a state and as a society.”…