This past April, as part of this year’s New York state budget, Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State legislature allocated $1.2 billion in funding to introducing a “New York State Health Care and Mental Hygiene Worker Bonus (HWB) Program.” The HWB Program provides for the payment of bonuses of up to $3,000 to certain frontline health care and mental hygiene workers in order to retain existing health care workers who were on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic and to attract new frontline workers to the health care field.1
While the HWB Program offers critical funding to the health care workforce during a time of severe workforce strain, it requires certain health care providers to undertake a somewhat complicated analysis to determine whether their employees (and, in some cases, contractors) qualify for payments under the HWB Program and then submit claims to the State in order to fund these bonuses. Additionally, based on this determination, these providers face certain legal considerations and audit risks when participating in this program.
To help guide health care this determination, the following Alert provides an overview of key aspects of the HWB Program, identifies ambiguities and risks providers must navigate, and offers some best practices for providers who are qualified employers to consider when seeking payments under this important but time-limited program.
The HWB Program requires health care providers who are “...
Alex Murdaugh's defense team and state prosecutors are engaged in a contentious dispute over evidence ahead of his murder retrial. The defense claims prosecutors are withholding complete cell pho...