Providers and public health officials said Tuesday that they are pursuing contingency plans to replace up to 2,500 nursing home workers who have threatened to strike at 20 facilities in less than two weeks.
Authorities are reviewing and approving credentials for replacement workers who might be hired, with costs potentially reaching “millions” of dollars, according to the leader of a Connecticut nursing home association.
Up to 3,000 nursing home residents could be affected if members of the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199 SEIU, go through with a threat to strike May 1. Union leaders are calling for 4% raises in each of the next two years. They said that the state and federal Medicaid sources can split the estimated $40 million annual tab.
The union sent warning notices to facilities over the weekend, setting off a flurry of preparations to line up out-of-state agency workers, find housing for them and fund security needs, said Matthew Barrett, president and CEO of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities.
“There’s a tremendous amount of work going on in the 20 facilities to prepare for a strike, including the costs of downpayments to staffing agencies,” Barrett told McKnight’s on Thursday. “As we get closer to the deadline, those advance payments increase into the millions across the system, without regard to whether there’s an actual labor stoppage or not.”
The “tragedy,” he added, is that such strike-related costs are reimbursable under Connecticut’s Medicaid program, meaning taxpayers could wind up footing a bigger bill, one way or another.
Medicaid pays for about 70% of Connecticut nursing home residents.
