The “vast majority” of nursing home operators who received a 10% boost in Medicaid funding from the state used most of the money to boost the wages for frontline workers who feed, bathe and change the frail and elderly residents, Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman said Wednesday.
But for those few who failed to give their certified nursing assistants a raise, as required by a 2020 law inspired by the pandemic, the state will take back the money, Adelman said in testimony before the Assembly Budget Committee.
“There are some facilities who have not so we are working with them, recouping the funds and correcting this issue going forward,” Adelman testified.
Of the 366 nursing facilities that received funding increases to be passed on for certified nursing assistant wages, 52 used some but not all of the amount required by the law and eight did not report the necessary data to the department, state spokeswoman Tom Hester told NJ Advance Media after the hearing. This accounted for $5 million of the $130 million appropriated for the raises, he said.
The law was intended to improve wages for CNAs, who prior to the 2020 earned about $13 an hour, and whose work is essential to residents’ well-being. Many quit their jobs or got sick and couldn’t work, making it harder for nursing homes to fill these critical jobs. CNAs often work at multiple facilities to cobble together a livable wage, and experts believe this is how the coronavirus spread so swiftly during the onset of...
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