Health care provider vs direct care provider

The differences between health care providers and direct care providers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a health care provider has an average salary of $39,309, which is higher than the $29,470 average annual salary of a direct care provider.

The top three skills for a health care provider include patients, meal prep and mental health. The most important skills for a direct care provider are CPR, developmental disabilities, and mental health.

Health care provider vs direct care provider overview

	Health Care Provider	Direct Care Provider
Yearly salary	$39,309	$29,470
Hourly rate	$18.90	$14.17
Growth rate	36%	36%
Number of jobs	236,098	117,168
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 36%
Average age	50	48
Years of experience	-	-

What does a health care provider do?

A health care provider offers health care services such as the diagnosis of diseases in medical laboratories, imaging centers, or treatment services. Your job responsibility as a health care provider may be to look after the well-being of patients and provide specific medical care to them. Your job is to meet clients at the point of their needs when they have medical challenges and provide a solution to them.

What does a direct care provider do?

A Direct Care Worker specializes in providing care and assistance to patients, typically to the elderly. Their responsibilities include preparing and feeding meals, administering medication and other treatments, and monitoring their conditions, updating the physician or the patients' families regularly. They must also assist patients in various hygienic tasks such as bathing, dressing, brushing teeth, or going to the toilet. There are instances when Direct Care Workers must perform various household tasks such as laundry, washing the dishes, shopping for groceries, and running errands as needed.

Health care provider vs direct care provider salary

Health care providers and direct care providers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Health Care Provider	Direct Care Provider
Average salary	$39,309	$29,470
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $61,000	Between $20,000 And $42,000
Highest paying City	-	Olympia, WA
Highest paying state	-	Alaska
Best paying company	-	Washington State University
Best paying industry	-	Health Care

Differences between health care provider and direct care provider education

There are a few differences between a health care provider and a direct care provider in terms of educational background:

	Health Care Provider	Direct Care Provider
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 36%
Most common major	Business	Psychology
Most common college	-	-

Health care provider vs direct care provider demographics

Here are the differences between health care providers' and direct care providers' demographics:

	Health Care Provider	Direct Care Provider
Average age	50	48
Gender ratio	Male, 20.1% Female, 79.9%	Male, 23.6% Female, 76.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 24.0% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 23.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 35.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%	Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 7.8% White, 61.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%
LGBT Percentage	5%	7%

Differences between health care provider and direct care provider duties and responsibilities

Health care provider example responsibilities.

Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
Provide assistance including administering prescribe oral medications to ADL patients.
Maintain all client confidentiality, licensing and CPR compliance records.
Full personal care attendant, CPR license, documentation, friendly and courteous.
Help with daily activities, transfers, bathing, medical documentation, ordering supplies, and catheter care.
Provide support and aid in problematic situations involving incontinence, cognitive impairment, mobility, and Alzheimer care.

Direct care provider example responsibilities.

Require certification in MANDT and CPR.
Coach and train clients to improve their daily living (ADL), social interaction and job skills.
Provide instruction and assist the consumers with active daily living (ADL) skills such as cooking, bathing, dressing.
Provide caring and companionship to elderly and developmentally disable consumers and provide primary resident care and assistance with daily living activities.
Facilitate exercise, vocational, arts-n-crafts, and daily living skills groups for consumers with DD.

Health care provider vs direct care provider skills

Common health care provider skills

Patients, 27%
Meal Prep, 11%
Mental Health, 9%
Social Work, 8%
Laundry Services, 7%
Home Health, 7%

Common direct care provider skills

CPR, 24%
Developmental Disabilities, 23%
Mental Health, 5%
Direct Care, 4%
Intellectual Disabilities, 4%
Home Health, 4%

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Healthcare Support Industry
Health Care Provider
Health Care Provider vs Direct Care Provider

Updated January 8, 2025

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