Illinois is committing $54 million in increased rates for over 400 of its at-home care providers, a move that will “strengthen the state’s social safety net,” the governor’s office announced Tuesday.
There are plenty of examples of lawmakers vying for home-based care at the state and federal levels. But this direct and tangible support has to be extremely pleasing for the providers that stand to benefit from it in Illinois.
The Illinois Department on Aging (IDoA) and Department of Human Services (IDHS) will also issue retroactive, one-time bonus payments to agencies for services provided between Jan. 1 and March 31 of this year to make up for the then-frozen reimbursement rates.
Otherwise, the increased rates — up to $23.40 per hour for in-home care services — technically were enacted on April 1.
An additional rate increase will take place on Jan. 1 of 2022. In theory, that bump will be sufficient enough to increase workers’ wages to at least $15 per hour, according to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office.
“One of the best ways we can recognize the workers who support our most vulnerable residents is by ensuring they can support themselves and their families,” Pritzker said in a statement. “I’m proud to deliver additional compensation — including retroactive pay for the early months of 2021 — to the providers who bravely did their jobs as physical and mental caretakers during the pandemic.”
The increased rates will benefit providers serving the over 70,000 seniors that are part of the IDoA’s Community Care Program (CCP).
The CCP was established in Illinois in 1979 to help senior citizens — who otherwise may need nursing home care — age in their homes with the help of home- and community-based services.
“A strong social safety net begets a strong state, and Illinois is investing in the people who make in-home care for our seniors possible.,” Pritzker said.
The goal of the rate increase is to stabilize the state’s at-home care workforce. As is the case in other parts of the country, Illinois’ “safety net” is threatened by the lack of proper staffing and retention in home-based care.
It will also keep seniors from prematurely entering facility-based care, according to the state’s announcement.
“I would like to thank Gov. Pritzker and the Illinois General Assembly for truly respecting yesterday, supporting today and planning for tomorrow by raising the in-home service providers rates for the CCP,” Paula Basta, the director of IDoA, said in a statement. “The CCP supports some of our state’s most vulnerable residents.”
A win-win situation
The rate increases are good for the workers providing in-home care in Illinois, and it’s unlikely that providers will suffer with added payment support.
After all, most providers want to be able to pay their workers more anyway — but need the reimbursement to match. Now, at least some of them have that.
Workers are guaranteed a certain percentage of the reimbursement providers are given.
The increase is specifically aligned to make sure that they receive at least a $15 per hour wage in 2022, Jaqueline Rodriguez, acting director of the Illinois and Indiana home care division at Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare, told Home Health Care News in an email.
That increase will ideally help providers more easily recruit and retain workers as well.
“We are hopeful that this rate increase will help create a more stable workforce for Illinois seniors,” Rodriguez said. “Improving pay and benefits is how we can recruit and retain the home care workforce that our state needs. The 65-plus population has increased in Illinois by 27% between 2008-2018, and nationwide we will need to fill 4.7 million home care jobs by 2028. We’ll never meet that need if we maintain the status quo.”
SEIU members, specifically, will likely try to negotiate a $15 wage floor for agencies that employ them, also with increased wages with seniority.
The workforce crisis in home-based care is drastic, so solutions to the problem will likely have to be drastic as well. Rodriguez sees this rate increase as a start.
“Home care workers in Illinois and across the country have been calling for $15 per hour for years and this victory is testament to the action taken by tens of thousands of caregivers united in our union,” she said.
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