Contracted Staff Survey Due Oct. 26th
The Department of Health (DOH) has issued a supplemental minimum wage survey to collect information on nursing home contracted staff. Minimum wage costs associated with these individuals were not collected on the previous survey that only focused on direct employees of the facility. LeadingAge NY advocated for minimum wage adjustments to include contracted staff and is pleased that DOH is taking this approach to help ensure more accurate rate adjustments.
The survey must be completed online by close of business on Thurs., Oct. 26th. Homes that do not have contracted staff impacted by the increase in minimum wage need only complete the opt-out question and submit the survey.
The Dear Administrator Letter that DOH distributed is available here, and a print copy of the survey to assist in preparing to complete the online version is here. The link to the online survey is here.
Please note that the DAL defines contracted staff as “individuals who are delivering direct care services under the direction and supervision of your facility, who are employed through a staffing contract, as opposed to being directly employed by your agency/facility. Payment of these staffing services would be at an hourly wage, or per diem, and should not be confused with general service contracts whereby external entities are contracted for ancillary deliverables (e.g., housekeeping, food services, transportation).”
The survey is designed to facilitate Medicaid rate adjustments for 2018 to reflect the additional cost of bringing the hourly wage of staff whose rate is below the minimum wage to the new minimum wage that becomes effective at the end of this year. The data will also help the state project the funding needed to cover this cost for future years as the wage continues to increase.
Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841