Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Survey Posted
Last week, the Department of Health (DOH) posted the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) survey. The purpose of the survey is to obtain the actual costs to home care providers of complying with the recent FLSA ruling, including paying for overtime at time and a half of the worker’s regular wage, paying for travel between patients' homes, costs of live-in cases, and other issues. LeadingAge NY and other home care associations worked with DOH and Mercer to draft the survey and attestation forms. We had expected the FLSA survey and attestation forms to be posted in June, that DOH would release the survey through the Health Commerce System (HCS), and that a DOH/Mercer recorded webinar would be held for home care providers prior to any survey being completed.
Some important information from the DOH posting on the FLSA survey:
- Survey link: http://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign/fair_labor_standards_act.htm
- Questions on the survey should be sent to NY.FLSA@mercer.com by this Friday, Aug. 5th;
- DOH expects an FAQ document to be posted by the following Friday, Aug. 12th; and
- DOH has requested that all completed surveys be submitted two weeks from the posting of the FAQ document, or Friday, Aug. 26th.
DOH has stated that the results of this survey will be instrumental in determining whether the FLSA funding add-ons need to be adjusted up or down.
The 36-question survey includes the time periods of CY 2014 and then October 2015-March 2016 on total hours for aides for all Medicaid programs, number of overtime hours, amount paid to aides, number of unduplicated Medicaid clients, information on Live-In cases, 17 questions on travel expenses, and other administrative costs.
LeadingAge NY sent an email to DOH expressing several concerns, such as the link to the survey not working and extending the dates to allow for time to review the document and submit questions to Mercer or DOH rather than provider associations. We also requested an update on the status of the suggested recorded webinar.
LeadingAge NY will keep members posted on FLSA survey developments.
Contact: Cheryl Udell, cudell@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871