[Cdpaanys] The High Cost of Low Wages report + press conference, coverage

Tue May 5 13:08:02 EDT 2020

Please find attached a copy of CDPAANYS' report, *The High Cost of Low
Wages*. Thank you to Kendra Scalia/Pax Ratio for overseeing the survey,
data analysis and production of the report.

*Link to recording of the press conference on this report (April 27):*
https://zoom.us/rec/share/_stNBanByEBJEoX18USOaO0wGZrbT6a80HVNr_VezR5lZhkuRBhKtke0tDvBn5uV
*Access Password:* 3i=%0P?u

*POLITICO article
<https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2020/04/30/home-care-advocates-warn-of-perfect-storm-amid-pandemic-1281616>
(paywall, text below)*
*Storm Amid Pandemic*
BY SHANNON YOUNG
05/04/2020 05:04 AM EDT

*When the coronavirus outbreak hit New York, home care worker Julia Roye
was faced with two options: Stay home with her family and ride out the
pandemic, or move in with her client.Roye primarily relied on public
transportation to commute from Queens to the Oyster Bay home of her client,
Sandra Lamb. She decided to hunker down with Lamb so she could continue
working without putting her or her client’s health at risk.“Sandra deserves
the best,” she said in an interview. “How could I not be here?”Lamb, who
requires 24-hour care, told POLITICO that without Roye and a second aide
who is also staying with her, she would likely be forced to enter a nursing
home — a terrifying prospect as the coronavirus sweeps through those
facilities, killing thousands.“I can’t even explain the stress,” she
said.In Brooklyn, Jose Hernandez also has been confronted with the prospect
of receiving services at a nursing home or hospital setting, following the
recent death of a long-time personal care assistant from complications
related to Covid-19.“If I don’t have coverage, I’ll end up in an
institution or burdening the hospital system, which is completely
overloaded right now — putting myself at risk of contracting coronavirus,
and I am a high-risk individual: a high-level quadriplegic with compromised
lungs,” he said.These scenarios are playing out across the state as many
home health aides exit the workforce amid the pandemic to care for sick
relatives, watch after children now out of school or quarantine themselves
after Covid-19 exposure, leaving people who depend on such care with few
options.Industry advocates argue that the coronavirus outbreak has
exacerbated issues posed by low wages and recent budget changes to programs
like the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, creating a “perfect
storm” of sorts in home care.A Home Care Association of New York State
survey from early April found that many home care and hospice agencies were
experiencing “worrisome workforce capacity issues," with high percentages
of staff in quarantine or skipping work due to fear of exposure to the
coronavirus. Nearly three-quarters of respondents reported decreases of 1
to 10 percent in their home health workforce capacity.HCANYS spokesperson
Roger Noyes said that while the findings reflect “a snapshot in time,” they
also highlight how the lack of support on issues like transportation and
child care affects home health workers.“This crisis, in so many ways, has
put into stark relief issues that have been long-standing needs and
shortcomings,” he said in an interview.A study released last week,
meanwhile, found that while home care workforce recruitment is growing
rapidly, it isn't keeping up with demand, and retention has been issue. The
pandemic has exacerbated those issues.“It was a difficult scenario prior to
this virus that has just gotten harder,” said Bryan O’Malley, executive
director of the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Association of New
York State, which commissioned the study.The association has asked state
Medicaid Director Donna Frescatore to suspend requirements that newly hired
personal assistants undergo health assessments, provide documentation of
up-to-date vaccinations and a test for tuberculosis during the emergency —
screenings which, the group argued, aren’t being prioritized due to
Covid-19 testing.Department of Health spokesperson Jonah Bruno said
guidance issued in March and early April waived annual health reassessments
for personal assistants. The regulation, however, remains in place for
personal assistants who have not previously been screened.“The Department
is available to work with consumers and fiscal intermediaries to ensure
services are available to persons in the CDPAP,” he said in an email.Bruno
added that DOH is “committed to providing [personal assistants] with the
supplies and equipment they need, from hand sanitizer to face masks, gloves
and gowns” during the pandemic.Hernandez, who is “juggling” aides and
sharing staff with friends in CDPAP, said that enhanced unemployment
benefits and the exposure risks presented by home care are also making it
more difficult than normal to recruit home care workers.“You have the
federal government and New York state talking about ‘hazard pay’ for
doctors and hospitals, nurses, police officers,” he said. “My aide died and
the only thing he has gotten is a cremation and a bill for his
family.”O’Malley, who has opposed Medicaid budget changes, said he
understands the state’s current “financial perils.” But, he argued, the
Cuomo administration must restore $45 million in recent cuts to the Home
Care Workforce Recruitment and Retention fund, as well as raise and
maintain the wage of personal assistants statewide.“There is no
justification to cutting our frontline health care workers — workers that
we are celebrating nightly at 7 o’clock by going out on our balconies,
going out on our front stoops and applauding,” he said at a news conference
last week.Home care advocates have further contended that CDPAP, which has
been on the state’s chopping block for months, could take on a greater role
in the wake of the pandemic.“No one could have predicted that we would be
facing this pandemic when we went into this budget,” said Emina Poricanin,
a lawyer who represents fiscal intermediaries across the state. “The
personal assistance program has been the most stable form of care in this
pandemic."Lamb said while she’s been able to retain her home care services
for now, the lack of emergency planning for home care — including no hazard
pay to encourage personal care assistants to not leave their jobs — makes
it seem “like the situation was set up to fail.”She said it was critical to
recognize the "vital role" of home care. “We cannot keep on being the one
budget line that they look to to cut when trying to balance their sheets,"
she said.*

-- 
*Laura Cardwell*
Director of Operations & Events
Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Association of New York State
518-813-9537
laura at cdpaanys.org
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