Aetna, National Alliance for Care at Home, and MissionCare Collective Partner to Strengthen the Direct Care Workforce in Illinois, Louisiana, and North Carolina
In a bold and strategic move to address critical workforce shortages in the home health care sector, Aetna Medicaid, a division of CVS Health® (NYSE: CVS), has announced a new collaboration with two influential national organizations: the National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) and MissionCare Collective. This initiative is designed to improve access to home-based health care for aging adults and people living with disabilities, while simultaneously supporting and expanding the capacity of the direct care workforce in three key pilot states: Illinois, Louisiana, and North Carolina.
The need for such a collaboration could not be more urgent. As medical advances extend life expectancy, the proportion of life spent in good health has declined, according to recent public health data. This shift places a heavier burden on long-term care systems and home-based care providers. For millions of Americans, remaining in their homes as they age or manage chronic disabilities is the preferred — and often medically recommended — option. However, the growing shortage of direct care workers is making this increasingly difficult to achieve.
A Mounting Crisis in Home-Based Care
Direct care workers — including home health aides, personal care assistants, and nursing aides — are the backbone of the nation’s long-term services and supports (LTSS) system. These professionals provide hands-on care, companionship, and daily living assistance to people with physical, cognitive, or developmental disabilities and to older adults. Despite their indispensable role in the health care ecosystem, the profession continues to suffer from low wages, minimal benefits, inconsistent hours, and poor retention.
As a result, turnover rates remain alarmingly high across the industry, further exacerbating access gaps for patients and straining Medicaid programs designed to provide LTSS. State Medicaid agencies face challenges in meeting the demand for home- and community-based services due to these workforce constraints — a challenge that this collaboration aims to directly confront.
Launching a New Model for Collaboration
The newly announced partnership brings together three organizations uniquely positioned to drive meaningful change:
- Aetna Medicaid, with its deep understanding of the Medicaid population and commitment to innovative care delivery.
- The National Alliance for Care at Home, an organization that advocates for a range of home-based services, including home care, hospice, and palliative care.
- MissionCare Collective, a workforce innovation leader that builds digital tools and programs to support, train, and retain direct care workers at scale.
Together, these organizations are spearheading a pilot program designed to strengthen the caregiving infrastructure in Illinois, Louisiana, and North Carolina. The initiative aims to expand workforce capacity, improve caregiver retention rates, and ensure individuals in need have consistent access to high-quality, home-based care.
Central to this initiative is CoachUp Care, a proprietary platform developed by MissionCare Collective. This data-driven workforce solution offers tools to improve caregiver engagement, surface actionable workforce trends, and proactively address systemic issues such as burnout, job dissatisfaction, and attrition.
CoachUp Care is not simply a digital solution — it’s part of a comprehensive strategy to build long-term workforce stability. Providers using CoachUp Care will be equipped to gather insights into the lived experiences of their caregiving staff, allowing leadership to act on specific pain points, foster resilience, and offer meaningful career development.
Supporting the Workforce — Not Just the Patients
Dr. Chris Jagmin, Aetna’s Chief Medical Officer for Medicaid, emphasized the urgency of this partnership.
“Americans are living longer, and the persistent shortage of direct care workers is creating a significant health care gap for those that need it most,” said Jagmin. “By bringing Aetna, the Alliance and MissionCare together, we can better identify actionable solutions to make a difference in the lives of older adults and those with disabilities.”
One of the most critical aspects of this initiative is its focus on the well-being of the caregivers themselves. According to MissionCare Collective, nearly one-third of direct care workers (32%) are enrolled in Medicaid, despite working full time to care for Medicaid beneficiaries. This highlights a glaring paradox: many of the very workers who make independent living possible for vulnerable individuals are struggling to achieve financial and health care stability in their own lives.
The partnership aims to better understand the social care needs of these workers and provide interventions that improve economic security, expand benefits access, and build sustainable career pathways for Medicaid-eligible individuals entering or working within the direct care profession.
A Provider’s Perspective
From the provider side, the need for scalable, long-term solutions to support the workforce is pressing. Lisa King, Senior Vice President of Operations at All Ways Caring HomeCare, which is participating in the pilot program across all three states, shared her organization’s challenges and hopes for the initiative.
“We are always looking for ways to improve employee retention,” said King. “Our caregivers are the heart of what we do, but too often, they can earn more money in other industries. We need innovative ideas and a scalable solution to retain home care workers.”
This tension — between the moral imperative to provide compassionate care and the economic realities that lead workers to leave the field — lies at the center of the caregiving crisis. The new pilot aims to offer both pragmatic tools and policy-shifting insights to help employers support and retain their staff.
Systemic Change Through Strategic Alignment
For Brandi Kurtyka, CEO of MissionCare Collective, the initiative represents a rare opportunity to unite stakeholders around a common goal: reshaping the caregiving landscape in a way that’s sustainable, human-centered, and data-informed.
“We’re honored to have a seat at the table for the hard conversations that need to happen if we’re going to solve one of the biggest challenges in our care economy,” said Kurtyka. “This effort goes far beyond implementing technology — it’s about bringing the right people together, people with both the heart and the power to drive real, lasting change.”
The Alliance’s CEO, Dr. Steve Landers, echoed this sentiment, reinforcing that any real solution must also address the precarious economic position of the workers on whom the system depends.
“The direct care workforce is not only struggling to meet the rising demand for care but also to make ends meet,” said Landers. “Through partnerships like this, we can start to close that gap.”
A Blueprint for Expansion
While the program is initially limited to three states, the partners view this as a scalable model for national replication. By monitoring data trends, testing interventions, and sharing lessons learned, they hope to create a roadmap for workforce innovation that other states — and sectors — can follow.
The ultimate goal is clear: to ensure every older adult and person with a disability has access to high-quality, consistent, and compassionate care in the setting they prefer — their own home.
But achieving this goal requires more than vision — it demands collaboration, innovation, and investment in the very people who make care possible.
