Workers picketing outside of New York nursing homes makes for good TV but fails to explain the dire situation that facilities find themselves in with low reimbursement rates, a provider advocate emphasized Thursday.
“As a consequence of 16 years of underfunding Medicaid, we are in a situation where the state Medicaid rate does not cover the costs of care for those residents,” Stephen B. Hanse, president and CEO of the New York State Health Facilities Association, told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. “Nursing homes are the only providers on the healthcare continuum in New York that have not returned to pre-COVID staffing levels.”
Workers from 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East picketed Thursday outside of five facilities in upstate New York owned by Centers Health Care. A brief news report from MSN said the employees were “expressing grave concern about a revolving door of staff and its impact on resident care.”
A union media advisory said approximately 375 workers have been without a contract for almost a year at facilities in Schenectady, Glens Falls, Troy, New Paltz and Onondaga.
“Centers Health Care has refused to agree to a contract that would improve wages and benefits and attract and retain workers,” the union said in the advisory.
A spokesman for Centers Health Care told McKnight’s Thursday that they cannot comment on ongoing negotiations.
Hanse explained that long-term care in New York is underfunded by $56 per day. When it comes to hiring, facilities cannot afford to compete against stores like Target and Walmart that offer $22 per hour plus benefits.
“Nursing homes are not able to compete in the labor market,” he said, adding that the association continues its advocacy work with state lawmakers to increase reimbursements but that it often feels as if the sector is allowed to take one step forward but then gets put back one step.
Last year, lawmakers approved $285 million for a one-year rate increase for Medicaid. However, the capital component of the Medicaid rate for nursing homes was cut by 10%.
Many long-term care facilities in downstate New York are in the second year of a three-year contract with SEIU1199, Hanse noted. Workers covered by that contract received a 7.5% wage increase last year and a 6.5% raise this year, and are expected to receive a 5.5% increase next year.
“These are dramatic increases that providers are struggling to figure out how they’re going to pay that,” Hanse said, adding that the labor situation in upstate New York – where the picket against Centers for Care was taking place – is different from other parts of the state. There are fewer facilities, fewer public transportation options, and traditionally lower wages outside of the densely populated cities.
Union protests and picketing are not uncommon sights in New York.
In March, thousands of long-term care workers protested outside of seven long-term care facilities in New York, protesting a proposal from Gov. Kathy Hochul to cut $1 billion from Medicaid. In October 2023, workers who threatened to picket Safire Rehabilitation of Northtowns, NY, canceled their protest after the company promised more than $80,000 in bonuses. In July 2022, approximately 1,200 workers from 12 western New York nonprofit skilled nursing facilities threatened to strike if wage demands were not met.
