Wage Parity Guidance to Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Service (CDPAS) Fiscal Intermediaries (FI)

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June 14, 2017

Subject: Home Care Worker Wage Parity Guidance to Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Service (COPAS) Fiscal Intermediaries (Fl)

Dear Administrator:

The purpose of this letter is to provide information and guidance on the recent addition to the Public Health Law of § 3614–c, Home Care Worker Wage Parity. This section established a minimum wage for home care aides who perform Medicaid reimbursed work for certified home health agencies (CHHAs), long term home health care programs (LTHHCPs) and managed care organizations (MCOs) within New York City and within the counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester. MCOs include mainstream plans, as well as all forms of managed long term care plans. This section also affects licensed home care services agencies (LHCSAs), including limited licensed home care agencies (LLHCSAs), to the extent that they contract with a CHHA, LTHHCP or MCO to provide services to clients of those entities in the specified locations.

Effective July 1, 2017, this section will apply to Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Service (COPAS) Fiscal Intermediaries (Fl) that have signed Administrative Agreements with MCOs.

On a quarterly basis, COPAS FIS must provide the MCOs with the attached certification that the Fl is in compliance with this provision. To help ensure compliance, MCOs should submit to the Department a list of all the FIS they have signed agreements with and an indication as to whether the FIS have completed a certification.

Failure to fully comply with the terms of the Home Care Worker Wage Parity requirements will result in non-payment of services rendered, as required by Public Health Law § 3614–c(2). Included in this notice is a document that further explains what is included in the rates for the upcoming Home Care Worker Wage Parity compliance period. If you have any questions regarding this information, please email to the following address: HCWorkerParity@health.ny.gov.

Sincerely,

Andrew Segal, Director
Division of Long Term Care
Office of Health Insurance Programs

Enclosure

cc: Jason Helgerson
     Jonathan Bick