Several states are looking at raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour to help attract more employees to home care and other post-acute and long-term care settings. However, some facilities in these states are pushing back, saying that the rate hike will make it difficult—if not impossible—to hire all of the direct care staff they need. In some areas, pay rates have gone up naturally as providers seek to attract and retain good people. However, in states like Massachusetts, wages have been stagnant for over 10 years; and despite this, many organizations claim to be struggling to stay open. While officials in Massachusetts have agreed to include an additional $50 million in the budget for Medicaid funding, providers are still seeing a Medicaid shortfall of more the $300 million, which they say has kept them from increasing wages. Read the full article.
