DOH Posts Home Care Minimum Wage Survey
The Department of Health (DOH) just posted the Minimum Wage survey for Home Care providers in response to the Minimum Wage Act that was recently enacted. LeadingAge NY provided feedback to DOH and other stakeholders in developing this survey. The purpose of the survey is to help inform DOH of the financial impact of the minimum wage increase for state fiscal year (SFY) 2017-18 (and forward). This survey will assist DOH in "developing a reimbursement methodology that will respond to the benchmarks of the Minimum Wage statute."
There is a short turnaround for completing the survey, March 3rd.
The survey can be found here. We recommend printing the PDF version and working from that before entering the information into the online survey.
DOH clarified that all home care providers should complete the survey, unless the provider agency contracts out all personal care and home health services. In that case, the subcontractor should complete the survey. This was the case in the FLSA survey, and we asked DOH to clarify this point in this survey.
The survey asks for the number of employees that:
- work in the five counties of New York City, the number of employees at each hourly wage band, and the percentage of wages currently spent on payroll taxes, statutorily required benefits, and other benefits;
- work in Long Island and/or Westchester, the number of employees at each hourly wage band, and the percentage of wages currently spent on payroll taxes, statutorily required benefits, and other benefits.;
- work outside of NYC, Westchester, and Long Island; the number of employees at each hourly wage band; and the percentage of wages currently spent on payroll taxes, statutorily required benefits, and other benefits.
DOH has clarified that those who are Fiscal Intermediaries (FI) under the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Services (CDPAS) program should complete a separate survey to capture the hourly wage bands determinations for Personal Assistants in the CDPAS program.
DOH advises home care providers that if they do not respond to the survey, this may impact the minimum wage rate adjustment on behalf of their agency.
After completing the survey, providers need to submit a signed attestation statement and attach it with the survey.
Questions about the survey should be sent to mltcrsmw@health.ny.gov.
After the survey is completed, the next step in calculating the costs includes DOH developing a formal cost report. We will be working with DOH and other stakeholders in developing this report.
LeadingAge NY will contact DOH on the status of our other recommendations, including conducting a webinar, and the status of developing a cost report.
Contact: Cheryl Udell, cudell@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871