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Gas prices hurting in-home care providers, official says Thursday, Jun 7, 2007 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas may soon have difficulty finding in-home care providers if gas continues to cost $3 or more per gallon, a state health official told lawmakers Wednesday. Personal care aides, who are hired under contracts and are not considered employees of the state, are reimbursed 28 cents per mile by the state Department of Health and Human Services, said Charles McGrew, deputy director and chief operating officer of the state Division of Health. McGrew's comments came during testimony before the legislative Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee. McGrew spoke in answer to questions by Rep. Roy Ragland, R-Marshall, who said he has been contacted by in-home care providers who are concerned about the reimbursement rate, which was set before gas prices reached current levels. "With gas prices being what they are now, that's a real struggle for folks," McGrew acknowledged. He said the Division of Health is looking for a way to increase the rate, but it is limited by the amount of reimbursement it receives from the federal Medicaid program. "We would like to be able to pay these people as regular employees, but we simply don't have the money in the program. We would have to shut down the program if we exceed the amount that we are reimbursed," he said. The state has about 2,000 personal care aides who are paid between $6.25 and $9.92 an hour, McGrew said. They drive private vehicles, many of them older models that do not get good gas mileage, he said. Rep. Keven Anderson, R-Rogers, House chairman of the committee, asked if the state is having trouble meeting the need for aides. "At this point in time we're not," McGrew said. "If we continue to see an increase in gas prices, I can almost guarantee that we will have a problem." Ragland said he believes a problem is imminent. "A lot of the folks tell me they're not going to be able to keep doing this," he said. McGrew said the state does provide aides with more benefits, such as paid holidays and workers' compensation insurance, than their counterparts in most other states receive. |
