ABSTRACT
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes a number of provisions designed to radically transform the way in which services and supports for older people are paid for and delivered. Successful implementation of these reforms will require a substantially different health and long-term care workforce than exists today. This elder care workforce includes the full range of health professionals who provide elder care: physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, therapists, and other allied health professionals. It also includes direct care workers-nursing assistants, home health care aides, home care/personal care aides-who, next to family members, provide the lion’s share of long-term care to older adults who are disabled and chronically ill.
