The Mosaic Collaborative

Publications and White Papers

The Mosaic Collaborative seeks to contribute quality, evidence-based recommendations and information to the field of disabilities. This can be gleaned from recent findings, identification of best practices, or evaluation of demonstration projects. The Mosaic Collaborative wants to go beyond shedding light on issues; we are also seeking realistic solutions.

Primarily, the purpose of creating these publications is to arm organizations with credible and reliable information so they can better educate and prepare policymakers for the tough decisions ahead of them -- ones that often have a significant impact on the lives of people with disabilities and their families.

Check back frequently for new releases of publications and white papers produced by the Mosaic Collaborative for Disabilities Public Policy and Practice.

ANCOR releases the second annual national direct support wage survey!

ANCOR has released the results of a national survey that clearly illustrates the growing need for increased federal funding for direct support workers who provide supports to people with disabilities. The 2009 Direct Support Professionals Wage Study, which was conducted in partnership between ANCOR and the Mosaic Collaborative for Disabilities Public Policy and Practice, continues to support the need for solutions to the national health care workforce crisis.   

Analysis of survey results compared wages among Direct Support  DSPs employed by private providers with those who work for state-run programs, and also included expanded demographics on the size of the community, rural/urban, and the size of the agencies.
 
A key finding of the report shows the national average starting wage for private provider direct service professionals (DSPs) in community programs is $9.37 per hour, compared to the average starting wage of $12.57 for state-employed DSPs. This represents a 34 percent difference.  Annualized, the average entry wage for a private provider DSP is just slightly higher than the federal poverty level - the private DSP entry wage is $19,498 compared to the federal baseline (for a family of three) at $18,454.
 
Renee Pietrangelo, CEO of ANCOR stated that, "This impressive study marks further tangible progress toward the ANCOR National Advocacy Campaign's mission to enhance the lives of people with disabilities by obtaining the resources to recruit, train and retain a highly qualified and sustainable direct support workforce."

By 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that one million new DSP positions will be in demand.  Of those, 38% (388,538) will be for personal and home care aide positions, which is the category under which the DSP are most often included.
 
Facing a current national turnover rate of 38.2% for DSP positions, the private-operated provider must make a difficult decision -- raise wages to ensure people with disabilities continue to receive quality care from people they have grown to know and trust, or spend approximately $4,800 per DSP in total costs to recruit, hire and train a replacement. 
 
Legislation was introduced in the 111th Congress addressing the workforce wage issue. Our legislative champions, Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) and Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE), have sponsored H.R. 868, a bill to amend the Social Security Act to provide funds to states to enable them to increase the wages paid to targeted direct support professionals who are providing services to individuals with disabilities under Medicaid. There is no federal mandate for participation, but states that choose to participate will realize pay parity between private and public direct support professionals. 
 
Click here to read the 2009 Direct Support Professionals Wage Study.