Raising the Bar: Nursing Home Minimum Wages to Increase

Apr. 24—One of the hardest and most overlooked jobs in many communities and care facilities spread throughout Otter Tail County is that of a nursing home or assisted living employee.

Long hours and not enough help is usually the chief complaint that most caregivers say troubles them. However, those issues might be secondary to compensation.

These workers take care of our parents, grandparents and loved ones because they want to, and for most it is a passion.

Wages for these workers may be rising in the future according to LeadingAge Minnesota. They say the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board is moving toward adopting a rule that establishes minimum wages for nursing home employees.

It is a bold, but tiered approach depending on someone's position within a facility.

Although the proposal still needs to be voted on, it soon would require minimum wages of $22.50 for CNAs, $23.50 for TMAs, $27 for LPNs and $19 for all other employees effective Jan. 1, 2026.

In addition, by January of 2027, a further increase of an additional $1.50 could occur.

Also under the proposal, nursing facilities would be required to give eleven holidays where employees who work are paid time and a half.

According to LeadingAge Minnesota, The Department of Human Services analysis was limited to the future impact on Medicaid rates under Value-Based Reimbursement, which they estimate to cost around $11 million to the state.

For those who are unaware, in 2015, the Minnesota legislature enacted major reforms to Medicaid nursing facility reimbursement. This new payment system, was implemented on Jan. 1, 2016. VBR calculates daily payment rates based on costs reported by facilities, and uses a quality score to set care-related spending limits.

LeadingAge Minnesota states that if these standards are approved they would go into effect without upfront funding,and they estimate the actual cost to providers to be well over $100 million for the two years before the increased costs are reflected in rates.

According to minnesotareformer.com, "Nursing homes are funded nearly entirely by the government through Medicare and Medicaid, and Minnesota sets their reimbursement rates based on the average cost of care across the industry. (Nursing homes in Minnesota are not allowed to charge private-pay patients more than the government reimbursement rate.)

Minnesota Reformer also states that, "Under the law, if the board's proposals exceed what nursing homes can reasonably afford based on their payment rates from Medicaid and Medicare, then the increases to wages and benefits will be delayed until the Legislature grants them more funding."

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