Round Two of Health Care Worker Bonuses Coming Soon
Members who are Medicaid providers should see funding for the second round of Health Care Worker Bonuses (HWB) in Medicaid payment cycle 2366, which is scheduled for release on Jan. 11th. These payments are tied to the second claim submission period that started Oct. 1st and ended Nov. 30th. They represent payments for the second vesting period (April 1st through Sept. 30, 2022) but will also reflect any payments from the first vesting period for providers who used the one-time “grace period” flexibility to submit claims from the first vesting period during the October to November claim submission window.
The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document on the Department of Health (DOH) HWB webpage has been updated to reflect this and seems to suggest that all employer participants of the HWB should expect payments. However, some members are uncertain of their claims status based on the indicators in their portal. Medicaid providers seeking to verify whether they are scheduled to receive the funding can call ahead for their Medicaid check amount (866-307-5549). The HWB webpage also indicates that non-Medicaid providers receiving bonus payments through the Statewide Financial System (SFS) should expect to receive the funding on Jan. 11th as well.
As before, the Medicaid remit statement should identify bonus payment dollars under code “HWB” and reimbursement of employer Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes as “FTX.” No further information is available yet regarding the special claim submission period related to the expansion of the program to include additional titles and eligible provider types.
Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841