Nursing Home 2025 Minimum Wage Survey Now Open
(Sept. 3, 2024) On Thurs., Aug. 29th, the Department of Health (DOH) sent a message notifying nursing homes that the online minimum wage survey for rate year 2025 is now open. The survey, due Sept. 25th, collects staff counts and hours paid by wage band for lower-paid workers.
For upstate areas, where the minimum wage will increase from $15 to $15.50 on Jan. 1, 2025, the survey asks for staff counts and hours for those whose wages were between $15 and $16 in 2024. Data is requested in 25-cent bands (i.e., $15.00-$15.24, $15.25-$15.49, etc.).
For NYC, Long Island, and Westchester County, where the minimum wage will increase from $16 to $16.50 on Jan. 1, 2025, the survey asks for staff counts and hours for those whose wages were between $16 and $17 in 2024.
The data collected will be used to update Medicaid rate minimum wage add-ons for rate year 2025. As always, only those costs incurred to bring wages up to the new minimum wage are counted when rate add-ons are calculated. If a facility had no staff whose wages in 2024 were below the upcoming 2025 minimum wage, it may opt out of the survey by completing the first three questions and uploading a signed attestation.
Those who have workers whose wages are below the upcoming 2025 minimum wage for their region are urged to review the instructions and submit complete information by the Sept. 25th deadline. The associated materials can be accessed here: Dear Administrator Letter, Survey Instructions, and a print preview copy of the survey. Please note that the survey asks for wage data covering April 1, 2024 through June 30, 2024 and must be completed online here.
Two things to note:
- Providers who had low-wage, vacant positions during the second quarter of calendar year 2024 should enter the staff counts and hours of budgeted vacant positions, by wage band, using the hiring rate of the position.
- Once a provider has begun completing the online survey, they have the option to save and return to complete it at a later time. As detailed in the instructions, clicking the Save and continue later link found in the lower right-hand corner of the page will generate a unique link that will be sent by email. The user must use the link provided to access the saved survey.
Please reach out with questions or contact nfrates@health.ny.gov.
LeadingAge NY Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841