Guidance on Home Care Worker Wage Parity and CDPAS
On June 14th, the Department of Health (DOH) issued a Dear Administrator Letter (DAL) on the statutory change that will apply to Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Service (CDPAS) Fiscal Intermediaries (FIs) regarding the Home Care Worker Wage Parity law. Effective July 1st, the Home Care Worker Wage Parity law, Public Health Law § 3614-c, includes personal assistants in the downstate counties impacted by wage parity. The counties include New York City, Long Island, and Westchester. This section of law will apply to CDPAS FIs that have signed Administrative Agreements with Managed Care Organizations (MCOs).
Also attached to the DAL was the Quarterly Certification of Compliance with Home Care Worker Wage Parity form, for the FIs to attest to wage parity compliance on a quarterly basis. Much like other wage parity forms, which are prospective, the dates are from July 1, 2017 through Dec. 30, 2017. Unlike other DALs on wage parity, DOH, to ensure compliance, is asking plans to submit a list of all the FIs they have signed agreements with and then indicate which FIs have completed the Quarterly Certification of Compliance with Home Care Worker Wage Parity form.
The second and third parts of the DAL include the 2017 wage parity rates for CDPAS FIs in New York City and Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties. It is our understanding that to date, DOH has not released the $9 million (State share) that was earmarked for this provision.
Any questions may be sent to the BML noted in the DAL: HCWorkerParity@health.ny.gov.
Contact: Cheryl Udell, cudell@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871