Home Care Worker Wage Parity Update

On March 7th, DOH Division of Long Term Care and Finance staff held a conference call with LeadingAge NY and other home care associations along with the MLTC Coalition to discuss the latest numbers for funding the Home Care Worker Wage Parity mandate that had significantly increased as of March 1, 2014.  The numbers that were discussed were similar to what was previously shared in a draft March 6th, Dear Administrator Letter (DAL) that was circled to the associations last week. The numbers that were shared still do not fund the wage parity mandate. We discussed the following in length:

• Base rate;
• Rate adjustments for CHHAs, LTHHCPs and subcontracting with LHCSAs;
• Home care agency Administrative & General (A&G) costs at 15 percent;
• Increase in A&G costs as a result of the Uniform Assessment System–NY (UAS-NY);
• Increase in A&G costs as a result of the numerous contracts;
• Increase in A&G costs as a result of billing problems and submitting “clean claims”;
• The increase pressure with cash-flow problems, as a result of not having a uniform billing system and especially with paying the new wage parity rate without adequate reimbursement; and
• Attesting to paying the wage parity without contracts being re-negotiated or amended – conducting business on “good faith”.

As of Friday, DOH is now proposing $380 million which is well under our estimate of $497 million. DOH shared there will be no MLTC pass-through or mandated rate, they will expect that costs will be fairly negotiated and trust the plans to do the right thing. It was made clear by DOH that wage parity is in law and there must be compliance with the law. To that effect, DOH posted to HCS on March 4th an alert reminding providers to submit their attestations.

In addition, we discussed the draft DAL which outlined the use of Vital Access Program (VAP) funds be used for LHCSAs who were unable to comply with the wage parity mandate. The funds would be available to help LHCSAs transition their patients and staff to another LHCSA as they submit their closure plans to DOH.

There is another meeting this week and we will keep members informed of the latest developments.

Contact: Cheryl Udell, cudell@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871.