Feds give partial approval for Arkansas healthcare worker bonuses

The feds have approved part of a plan using Medicaid dollars to pay bonuses to Arkansas healthcare workers, with Gov. Asa Hutchinson eyeing federal funds related to COVID-19 relief to provide bonuses to healthcare workers not covered with Medicaid dollars.

The governor on March 26 announced a $116 million plan that included an additional $1,000 a month for nurses and other healthcare workers and $2,000 a month for those in facilities with COVID-19 patients. The extra pay was estimated to cost $55 million.

The Centers for Medicaid Services, the division of the U.S. Health and Human Services that oversees Medicaid funding, has approved payments to non-physician direct care workers in nursing homes and other types of long-term care facilities. Specifically, the eligible facilities include nursing homes ARChoices providers, personal care providers, Area Agencies on Aging, assisted living facilities, hospice providers, CES waiver providers for supported living services, and agencies in non-institutional settings for people who get care in their homes and communities.

Eligible workers in the approved facilities are licensed practical nurses, certified nurse aides, personal care aides assisting with activities of daily living under the supervision of a nurse or therapist, home health aides assisting with activities of daily living under the supervision of a nurse or therapist, nursing assistive personnel, direct care workers providing services under home and community-based waiver, intermediate care facility direct care staff including those that work for a state-run human development center, assisted living direct care staff members, hospice service direct care workers, and respiratory therapists. Arkansas Health and Human Services Secretary Cindy Gillespie said the initial estimate is that 26,818 workers could qualify for the bonus payments in this category.

Following is the weekly bonus payment schedule.
• $125 for those who work 20-39 hours a week
• $250 for those who work 40+ hours a week
• $250 for those who work a regularly planned split shift schedule that overlap weeks that equal or exceed 150 hours per month, not including overtime

Following is the weekly bonus payment schedule for qualifying healthcare workers in a facility with COVID-19 patients.
• $125 for those who work 1-19 hours a week
• $250 for those who work 20-39 hours a week
• $500 for those who work 40+ hours a week
• $500 for those who work a regularly planned split shift schedule that overlap weeks that equal or exceed 150 hours per month, not including overtime

The payments will be retroactive to April 5 and will expire May 30. If the number of Arkansas COVID-19 cases is above 1,000 after May 30, the bonus payments will continue another 30 days.

Gov. Hutchinson said he is asking Gillespie’s DHS staff to “develop a similar care continuity payment package” for direct care workers in hospitals and for janitors, receptionists and others who work in hospitals and nursing homes in a non-medical capacity. Gillespie said the number of direct care hospital workers who could qualify is around 25,000, and the non-medical workers is around 21,000.

A payment package to direct care and non-direct care workers would be submitted by DHS to Gov. Hutchinson’s medical advisory board he created April 13. Gov. Hutchinson said he hopes to be able to use a portion of the $1.25 billion Arkansas will receive under The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act approved by Congress to provide aid to individuals, businesses and state and local governments in response to the pandemic. The governor estimated $50 million would be needed for bonus payments to those not approved under the Medicaid waiver.

COVID-19 cases in Arkansas totaled 1,569 as of Wednesday afternoon, up from 1,498 on Tuesday. Of the total cases, 1,047 are active, with the remainder accounting for deaths and recoveries. The number of deaths rose from 32 to 33 on Wednesday. The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Arkansas was 83 on Wednesday, up from 81 on Tuesday. As of Wednesday at 1 p.m., there were 613,187 U.S. cases and 26,950 deaths, with 7,905 of those in New York City. Globally, there were 2,016,020 cases and 130,528 deaths.

Of the COVID-19 patients, 26 were on ventilators and the number of healthcare workers with COVID-19 was 215.