Career Pathways Training Program Clarification: A Win for Nursing Homes and Their Staff
(Nov. 4, 2025) LeadingAge NY is pleased to report that nursing homes seeking to participate as service commitment sites in the State’s Career Pathways Training (CPT) Program may satisfy the 30% Medicaid requirement by using the year-end census payer mix on their cost report.
Background
The CPT Program is a Medicaid 1115 waiver initiative that provides tuition assistance for advanced health care training (including nursing, social work, and respiratory therapy) and other supports to individuals who commit to working for three years for a provider in which at least 30% of patients or residents are covered by Medicaid.
Nursing homes have faced challenges qualifying as service commitment sites under the CPT Program, due to how the 30% Medicaid threshold was calculated. The Workforce Investment Organizations (WIOs) administering the program understood that the calculation had to be based on all residents served over the course of a year. This approach disadvantaged facilities with a significant volume of short-stay residents. Such facilities would have been disqualified as service commitment sites, even if the number of residents covered by Medicaid on any given day in their facilities exceeded the number covered by other payers, and even if the percentage of Medicaid days exceeded 30%.
What’s New
DOH has clarified that the attestation to qualify as a service commitment site may be completed using figures from “Part 1-7 Financial Arrangements (as of last day of report period)” on the Residential Health Care Facility (RHCF)-1, RHCF-2, and RHCF-4 cost reports.
This clarification allows a more accurate reflection of Medicaid utilization and removes a significant barrier for nursing homes seeking to participate. Additional details about the CPT Program can be found here.
Contact: Karen Lipson, klipson@leadingageny.org