Amendment #835 to H3600

Nursing Home MassHealth Rates & Wage Pass-Through

Representatives Cahill of Lynn, Benson of Lunenburg, Collins of Boston, Williams of Springfield, Connolly of Cambridge, McGonagle of Everett, Donahue of Worcester, Lewis of Framingham, Khan of Newton, Markey of Dartmouth, Cantwell of Marshfield, Barber of Somerville, Smizik of Brookline, Cabral of New Bedford, Muratore of Plymouth and Chan of Quincy move to amend the bill in section 2, in item 4000-0641, in line 3, by striking out the following: “provided further, that not less than $35,500,000 shall be expended to fund a rate-add on for wages, benefits, and related employee costs of direct care staff of nursing homes; provided further, MassHealth shall adopt all additional regulations and procedures to carry out this section; provided further, that no later than January 30, 2018, MassHealth shall report to the house and senate committees on ways and means an analysis of the impact on the wages for direct care workers at the nursing homes receiving said funds; provided further, that not less than $2,800,000 shall be expended as incentive payments to nursing facilities meeting the criteria determined under the MassHealth Nursing Facility Pay-for-Performance Program and that have established and participated in a cooperative effort in each qualifying nursing facility between representatives of employees and management that is focused on implementing that criteria and improving the quality of services available to MassHealth members and that shall decide jointly how to expend such incentive payments;” and inserting in place thereof the following: “provided further, that not less than $38,300,000 shall be expended to fund a rate add-on for wages, benefits and related employee costs of direct care staff of nursing homes, including certified nurses’ aides and housekeeping, laundry and dietary staff; provided further that such rate add-on shall be utilized to the benefit of such direct care staff on a regular basis, as funds are received by the nursing homes, and in no more than 90 days from receipt of such funds; provided further, that MassHealth shall adopt all additional regulations and procedures to carry out this item; and provided further, that not later than March 1, 2018, MassHealth shall report to the house and senate ways and means committees an analysis of the impact on the wages for direct care workers at the nursing homes receiving said funds;”

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #835 to H3600

Nursing Home MassHealth Rates & Wage Pass-Through