New legislation that would establish the first minimum wage requirement for health care workers advanced in the California State Assembly earlier this month.
Although the news will be greeted warmly by caregivers in the Golden State, experts in the home-based care space are worried the minimum wage increase will have adverse effects on providers.
“It certainly seems like it’s set up backward,” Angelo Spinola, the home health, home care, and hospice chair at the law firm Polsinelli, told Home Health Care News. “What should be happening with our health care system is we should be looking at what reimbursements rates are, looking at the amount of money coming in, what overhead costs are and determining from there what wages should be paid.”
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The legislation passed despite the objection from providers, hospitals and a large nurses union in California.
The bill would set an inflation-adjusted rate of $25 an hour for all health care workers in the state by 2025, which Spinola pointed to as a rather quick turnaround.
Another major challenge a bill like this could potentially pose for providers is that the minimum wage would be for all workers in the health care space, not just caregivers.
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“The legislation would apply to everyone who works at a facility: the person who works at a gift shop, your janitors, everybody,” Spinola said. “This will create a disparity in wages and could create problems. If I’m a janitor at a restaurant or a school district, I...
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