The direct care workforce includes many categories of health care workers who provide long-term care services and supports (LTSS). This workforce is estimated to add more than 1.3 million jobs between 2018-2028. However, it is not clear that this job growth will be sufficient to meet the demand. It is likely that growth of the direct care workforce will occur unevenly across geographic areas.

This brief describes a conceptual approach to constructing a long-term care workforce shortage designation, similar in scope to existing Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) health professional shortage area (HPSA) designations.