Pa.'s independent home care workers get pay raise in state budget but agencies miss out

Pennsylvania lawmakers granted $21 million in additional funding to a sliver of in-home caregivers in the state budget passed Wednesday.

Workers directly hired by the people they care for will see their per-hour state payments rise to more than $15 from $13.51, an increase that could make a small dent in addressing Pennsylvania’s home care staffing crisis.

The rate applies only to personal care, a category distinct from medical care that can range from simple companionship to extensive help with daily tasks.

Matthew Yarnell, president of Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania, said the funding is a “critical step” toward livable wages for participant-hired workers.

Advocates for the majority of in-home caregivers, who work for agencies, say they’ve been hung out to dry. This side of the industry saw no funding boost.

“Pennsylvania’s legislature had the opportunity to address the state’s home care crisis but instead chose politics over people,” Mia Haney, CEO of the Pennsylvania Homecare Association, said in a statement. “This is not how you stabilize a collapsing system; this is how you deepen a crisis.”

The Homecare Association, representing agencies, says more than 112,000 at-home personal care shifts are missed each month because of short staffing.

TribLive reported in September how agencies are struggling to provide competitive wages at current funding levels, leading to a workforce crisis and care recipients left to fend for themselves.

Agencies are reimbursed $20.63 an hour for personal care, which goes toward not only wages but administrative costs, insurance and other expenses. That’s lower than every surrounding state.

Yarnell noted one benefit of participant-hired caregivers is there’s no overhead involved, though he supports more funding across the board.

In Southwestern Pennsylvania, most agencies offer starting wages between $12 and $14 an hour, rates eclipsed by many food service and retail jobs.

A study released in February by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services found it would take an additional $800 million to bring payments to $25 an hour, which agencies say would allow them to raise wages and close the labor shortfall.

The Homecare Association was asking for $370 million this year, enough to raise the rate to just below $23 an hour. Their requested was not granted, even in draft budgets from Gov. Josh Shapiro, the Democrat-led House or the Republican-led Senate.

Haney called the inaction a “devastating failure of leadership” by Shapiro and lawmakers, even in a tough budget year.

The Shapiro administration previously told TribLive it was prioritizing participant-directed caregivers because pandemic relief funding did not support them as much as agencies.

The governor’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.