SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 9

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

Gerald Ortiz y Pino

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO DIRECT CAREGIVERS COALITION TO CONVENE A TASK FORCE TO STUDY ISSUES RELATING TO THE DIRECT-CARE WORKFORCE IN NEW MEXICO AND TO RECOMMEND MEASURES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS IN THE STATE MEDICAID PROGRAM.

     WHEREAS, seniors and persons with disabilities make up a large and growing proportion of New Mexico residents, with persons over age sixty-five making up fifteen percent of New Mexicans, a number that is expected to double by 2030; and

     WHEREAS, an additional thirteen percent of New Mexicans ages eighteen to sixty-five are persons with disabilities; and

     WHEREAS, many seniors and persons with disabilities require assistance with activities of daily living in order to live independently and participate in their communities; and

     WHEREAS, the assistance of direct-care workers allows those individuals with disabilities to live with dignity, safety and independence in their own homes and communities and in the most integrated settings appropriate to their needs and preferences; and

     WHEREAS, home- and community-based services provided by direct-care workers provide lower-cost alternatives to institutional care and reduce rates of hospitalization for the individuals they serve; and

     WHEREAS, the direct-care workforce is the single most significant factor in delivering quality home-care services; and

     WHEREAS, an increasing number of direct-care workers will be needed to provide home- and community-based services as the demand for these services increases with the growth of the population of seniors and persons with disabilities living in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is currently experiencing a shortage of direct-care workers, and the median caregiver turnover rate has been found in some studies to be as high as sixty percent; and

     WHEREAS, the lack of sufficient caregivers and turnover of caregiver staff are linked to interruptions in continuity of care, reduced quality of care, poorer health outcomes, reduced quality of life and a heavier strain placed on already overburdened family caregivers; and

     WHEREAS, the lack of sufficient caregivers and turnover of caregiver staff are also linked to increased costs for the state due to preventable crises, individuals being forced to enter higher-cost institutional care and the loss to the workforce of family caregivers, especially women, who must make up for the lack of adequate caregiving resources; and

     WHEREAS, family caregivers are often forced to quit their jobs or reduce employment hours to provide needed services; and

     WHEREAS, the direct-care workforce is the fastest-growing employment sector in the state; and

     WHEREAS, the majority of New Mexico's direct-care workers live in poverty and often must rely on public benefits to supplement their salaries; and

     WHEREAS, efforts to extend basic workforce wage and overtime protections are essential to improving the sustainability of the direct-care workforce; and

     WHEREAS, the medicaid program is the single largest payer for long-term services and supports in the state through programs such as the developmental disabilities waiver program and the community benefit program in centennial care; and

     WHEREAS, the United States department of labor has issued new regulations under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that include requirements that most direct-care workers providing assistance in the home be paid at least the federal minimum wage and that they be paid for overtime and travel expenses; and

     WHEREAS, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Olmstead v. L.C. require that state programs must serve individuals with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate for their needs and preferences; and

     WHEREAS, in implementing the new federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 regulations, the state medicaid program must review its policies and programs to ensure that they comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Olmstead decision;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico direct caregivers coalition be requested to convene a task force to study direct-care programs in the state medicaid program and make recommendations for both short- and long-term actions to ensure that the state is in compliance with all applicable federal laws; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be requested to make recommendations to promote a stable and growing workforce to meet the needs of New Mexico's seniors and persons with disabilities who need long-term services and supports to live independently in their communities; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force include, among others, representatives of the medical assistance division of the human services department; the developmental disabilities supports division of the department of health; the aging and long-term services department; the workforce solutions department; organizations and individuals that represent New Mexico direct-care workers and agencies employing caregivers, direct-care workers who have taken leadership roles in improving working conditions; senior and disability rights organizations that represent the interests of consumers of direct-care services; persons with disabilities and seniors who employ or direct the work of a direct-care worker; groups that represent family caregivers; persons who act or have recently acted as family caregivers; and other interested parties; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force in its first report be requested to include recommendations for near-term changes to the state's home- and community-based services medicaid programs to comply with recent federal regulatory provisions; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be requested to include in its second report recommendations to promote long-term stability and expansion of the direct-care workforce to meet the growing needs of New Mexico residents for those services; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be requested to submit its first report to the legislative health and human services committee by October 1, 2017; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be requested to submit its second report to the legislative health and human services committee by October 1, 2018; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the executive director of the New Mexico direct caregivers coalition, the secretary of health, the secretary of human services, the secretary of aging and long-term services and the secretary of workforce solutions.

- 6 -