Guidance on Minimum Wage for MLTC

Region 1 Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) plans should have received notification from the Department of Health (DOH) of the total dollar amount attributable to minimum wage funding that will be included in their rate for the period of October 2016 through March 2017. Total Region 1 funding of $77.2 million is based on an increase of $1.33 per personal care aide/home health aide hour and is allocated to each plan based on projected member months for that plan.

Along with that information, DOH included supplemental guidance on distributing the funding which reaffirms prior guidance that the added funds may only be used to pay providers to meet their minimum wage obligations and that unused funding must be returned to the state. DOH urges plans to finalize contract amendments reflecting minimum wage funding as soon as possible and is requiring plans to submit a list of providers with which revised agreements are not reached by Dec. 7, 2016.

DOH intends to convene a stakeholder meeting to discuss plan and provider cost reporting changes to better capture information regarding minimum wage and provide information on audit protocols developed by DOH, the Department of Labor, and the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General.

Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841