The Kansas Alliance for Direct Support Professionals
The Kansas Chapter of the National Alliance for Direct
Support Professionals
Take Action!
Direct Support Professional Wage Bill (H.R. 5197) Introduced in House:
Urge Your Representative to Co-Sponsor Bipartisan Terry-Capps Bill,
October 1, 2004
September 30, 2004: U.S. Representatives Lee Terry (R-NE) and Lois Capps
(D-CA) introduced September 28, 2004, the Direct Support Professional
Fairness and Security Act of 2004 (H.R. 5197). As part of its National
Advocacy Campaign, ANCOR worked directly with Representatives Terry and
Capps to produce bipartisan legislation designed to help ANCOR providers
and other private employers of supports to people with disabilities to
address the crisis in recruitment and retention of direct support professionals
by providing increased federal funding to states for this purpose.
For decades, recruitment and retention issues have been viewed as a provider
issue only. However, the issue of a stable, quality workforce to provide
individualized, long-term supports to people with disabilities and the
elderly is beginning to gain local, state, and national attention.
ANCOR is grateful that Representatives Terry and Capps are taking the
lead in bringing this issue to the forefront. The Direct support Professional
Fairness and Security Act of 2004 is a significant step forward in beginning
the serious national discussion and action that this issue warrants.
Terry-Capps Bipartisan Wage Legislation
ANCOR's
work with these two Congressional champions culminated last week at ANCOR's
2004 Governmental Activities Seminar when they announced plans to introduce
the Direct Support Professional Fairness and Security Act of 2004 within
a week. During that event, representatives from The Arc, United Cerebral
Palsy, and Lutheran Services in America spoke in support of the efforts
of Representatives Terry and Capps and ANCOR in
bringing forward legislation to address this national issue.
H.R. 5197 would amend Title XIX of the Social Security Act (Medicaid
statute) to provide funds to states to enable them to increase the wages
that private providers pay to direct support professionals in supporting
certain individuals with disabilities through specific state Medicaid
services. The legislation is designed to eliminate the wage gap and assure
at least equal wages paid to private employees as those paid to employees
working in local, county, or state operated Medicaid programs. H.R. 5197
would provide temporary Medicaid assistance to states that submit a state
wage enhancement plan.
While acknowledging the recruitment and retention crisis and low wages
of direct support workers across all long-term support options, the Direct
Support Professional Fairness and Security Act of 2004 is designed to
eliminate wage inequities for those who provide private supports to targeted
individuals with disabilities, those individuals, regardless of age, who
are eligible for and receiving Medicaid 1915(c) home and community-based
waiver services, 1115 waiver services, personal care, rehabilitative services,
home health care services, and ICF/MR services.
Highlights of the Direct Support Professional Fairness and Security
Act of 2004 include the following:
State Option: First, H.R. 5197 would be an option to states, that is,
states chose to participate to achieve pay parity between private and
public direct support professionals. Financial Incentive to States: It
would provide a financial incentive (additional temporary federal funding)
to states to reimburse private providers for increased wages and mandated
wage-related costs for specific direct support professionals.
Enhanced FMAP:
States would receive enhanced Federal medical assistance percentage for
five years to increase wages, no additional state dollars to match the
additional federal funds.
Submission of 5-Year Plan and Maintenance of Wage Increase: In order
to receive the enhanced FMAP, states would have to submit a five-year
plan and must assure continuation of the increased wage rate after the
five-year period.
Annual Indexing: The state must provide assurance that at the end of
the 5-year implementation period, it will provide funding to increase
the wages annually by a percentage equal to the Bureau of Labor Statistic's
employment cost index (ECI).
Collaborative Process: The state's plan must be developed with meaningful
participation of private providers, individuals with disabilities and
family members, and direct support professionals, and organizations that
represents these groups.
Funding for State Planning Grants: It would provide $3 million in federal
funding for state planning grants to help states develop their wage enhancement
state plan.
GAO and
Inspector General Requirements: Requires a General Accountability Office
study on recruitment and retention and an Inspector General Audit of
progress in reducing/eliminating wage gap.
Take Action Now: Contact your member of the House of Representatives
immediately and urge that he/she cosponsor the Direct Support Professional
Fairness and Security Act of 2004 (H.R. 5197).
LET'S TREAT DIRECT SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS WITH THE FAIRNESS THEY DESERVE!
LET'S ENSURE THAT THE DEDICATED WORKERS HAVE INCOME SECURITY TO RAISE
THEIR FAMILIES!
LET'S ENSURE THAT PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND THEIR FAMILIES HAVE SECURITY
IN KNOWING THAT A QUALITY, STABLE WORKFORCE IS THERE FOR THEM!
You can contact your Representative by email on ANCOR's Action Center.
Feel free to use the sample letter provided on the Action Center, add
your own personal agency information, add personal stories, or any other
edits.
Or, directly input your own letter on ANCOR's Action Center. In addition,
there is additional background information at the end of this ANCOR Alert
that you may want to use in your letter.
For more information: If you have a question or wish to report on the
response by your Representative on the Direct Support Professional Fairness
and Security Act of 2004, provide your name, agency, state and phone
number in an email to Suellen
Galbraith, ANCOR's
Director for Government Relations.
Additional Background on Recruitment and Retention Crisis:
One of the biggest challenges facing the United States in the 21st Century
is assuring that individuals who have disabilities have the quality supports
they need throughout their lives. There are more than 54 million Americans
of all ages with disabilities, 8 million of whom have mental retardation
and other developmental disabilities with nearly 14 million requiring
long-term supports and services. These supports include assistance to
meet the individual's personal care and hygiene, habilitation, transportation,
employment, meal preparation, housekeeping and other home management needs.
The workers who provide these intimate supports are known by many job
titles, but one thing in common is shared by all of them. They are the
hands, voice and face of long-term supports and the human relationship
established between the individual and the worker is at the very core
of our nation's formal long-term supports system. A majority of these
workers are female and often the sole breadwinner of their household.
Although working and paying taxes, many women in these jobs remain impoverished
and eligible for federal and state public assistance programs.
Medicaid is the nation's primary financing mechanism for health and long-term
supports and services and is the primary source of provider reimbursements.
For most people with significant disabilities, Medicaid is the only source
of coverage available for critical long-term supports and services. Therefore,
the Medicaid program is the lifeline for most people with significant
disabilities.
Yet, private providers who employ these direct support professionals
face turnover rates of between 40 and 100 percent; rely on fixed public
funding to pay wages and benefits; and face a recruitment and retention
crisis that threatens the entire stability and quality of our support
system for people with disabilities.
This crisis is real and it will worsen unless something is done to turn
the tide. It's a real story affecting real people in everyone's community,
and it is likely to affect all of us. This crisis is a result of several
factors, including:
- Increased demand for long-term supports and services.
- A traditional labor supply not able to keep pace with demand.
- Jobs that cannot compete within today's labor market.
Yes, wages matter!
Over the past decade, both the dollar amount and percentage increase
in hourly wage rates for these workers are far below that of comparable
job categories as well as the national minimum wage. For example, wages
for Personal and Home Care Aides, the Department of Labor's occupational
category that is the proxy for direct support professionals, increased
only $0.82 from 1992-2000 versus $3.16 and $4.11 for public direct support
workers and fast food workers respectively.
A 2003 national report found that the overall average wage for direct
support professionals employed by private providers of community services
for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities was
$8.68 per hour, while the average reported wage for state workers was
$11.76 per hour.
Unlike other sectors of the private market, the formal long-term supports
system is almost entirely dependent upon public financing, particularly
Medicaid funding that not only underfunds the true costs of services,
but also varies considerably. Unlike traditional private employers of
goods and services who can pass along labor costs to their customers,
private providers of these publicly financed supports cannot pass along
the cost of increasing the wages and benefits for their direct support
professionals to their customers, people with disabilities. In addition,
states have faced their worst economic conditions in decades, reducing
their ability to add to Medicaid funding.
If these are issues you care about, attend a meeting of the KADSP, become
a charter member, be heard! Contact Kathy
Olson for more information phone: 620.421.6550 extension 1771 or
write her at: 2601 Gabriel Parsons, Kansas 67357
Questions? Feedback about the web site? eMail the webmaster at kolson@ku.edu
The University of Kansas is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
Updated 4/3/07 |
