New York’s health care worker bonus program is still in place and qualifying health care workers, including those who are no longer employed by our agency, may be eligible for the current vesting period’s bonus amount of up to $1500.
Here’s what you need to know about the program:
Who’s eligible?
To qualify for the bonus, workers must have been employed as “front line health care and mental hygiene practitioners, technicians, assistants and aides that provide hands on health or care services to individuals.” If the position you held while employed at our agency is deemed qualified and you were employed by our agency during an entire vesting period, you may be eligible for a health care worker bonus.
The state has determined there are five vesting periods for an eligible employee to earn a bonus. The current vesting period started on 10/1/22 and ended on 3/31/23.
If you held full-, part-time or even per diem client-facing positions, working an average of at least 20 hours each week during the entire vesting period, you may be qualified. All eligible employees must also affirm their annual base salary, excluding bonuses or overtime, is $125,000 or less. Any employee suspended or excluded from Medicare is ineligible.
How much are the bonuses?
Workers get $500 if they worked, on average, 20-29 hours a week, $1,000 if they worked on average, 30-34 hours a week, and $1,500 if they worked on average, 35 hours a week or more.
You can only get a bonus for up to two time periods. The maximum anyone can get is $3,000.
How do former workers get their money?
You may claim your bonus by clicking on the link below and completing and signing the on-line Attestation form. The form must be completed and returned to Eileen Reeves at [email protected] by Monday, April 24th to be considered eligible for the bonus.
Failure to return an Attestation form by this deadline may disqualify you for the bonus.
When will I get paid?
We will be submitting claims for Vesting Period III by April 28th. The Health Department doesn’t list a set schedule for payments. The money will start rolling out as the claims get processed by the state and the state then forwards the bonus money back to employers. After we receive the money from the state, we will send your bonus check to the home address we have on file within 30 days.
For further information about the NYS Health Care Workers Bonus click the link below https://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/providers/hwb_program/