HCAOA Lobbies Florida's AHCA on Medicaid Reimbursement Rates and the Minimum Wage

In 2020, Florida voters approved an initiative to increase the state's minimum wage incrementally until reaching $15 per hour in September 2026. Florida’s home care regulator, the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), is currently in the process of figuring out how and to whom this increase will apply within the home care industry. 

The General Appropriations Act for State Fiscal Year 2022-2023 appropriated funding to the Medicaid program for the sole purpose of raising the minimum wage for direct care workers providing Medicaid work to $15/hour. However, it neglected to say which workers would be included in the wage hike.
 
Last week, AHCA released updated guidance explaining that the wage increase applies to all employees of an agency, not only direct care workers.
 
HCAOA submitted a letter to Secretary Simone Marstiller outlining the reasons that rates for Medicaid work should be increased and how important this type of care is to Floridians. To read this letter, click here.