Minimum Wage Increase Update
Date: 10/14/22
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
As you are likely aware, the Freedom First budget for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2022-2023 included funding to the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) for the purpose of raising the minimum wage for employees of Medicaid providers to at least $15 an hour.
Sunshine Health is implementing the following actions in order to ensure that our network providers are able to meet the statutory requirements.
Most of the additional funding for providers will come through increases to the Medicaid fee schedules. For the providers who are reimbursed based on one of the AHCA adjusted fee schedules, Sunshine Health is loading and will apply the fee schedule increases retro-active to the date listed on the Medicaid Fee Schedules page on the AHCA website. Claims that have already been adjudicated after that date will be reprocessed. For most fee schedules listed, this date is July 1, 2022. Nursing Facility, Federally Qualified Health Clinics, and Rural Health Clinic fee schedules will be increased retro-actively to October 1, 2022.
For some other providers with reimbursement terms that are not based on the AHCA fee schedules, Sunshine Health is currently sending and implementing unilateral contractual amendments with rate increase adjustments to be retro-actively effective to October 1, 2022. This includes some Assisted Living Facility, Adult Day Care, and Home Health providers serving Long-Term Care members, and some Home Health and other providers that serve members in Sunshine Health’s other Medicaid programs.
As a reminder, many providers were required to enter into a supplemental wage agreement by October 1, 2022, with AHCA. The agreement will require providers to attest to paying each employee at least $15 per hour. Please refer to the AHCA website to determine if this requirement applies to you.
For more information, please visit AHCA’s website where you can submit a question.
If you have questions about this notice, please contact your Provider Engagement Representative or call Sunshine Health Provider Services at 1-844-477-8313. Stay up to date on Sunshine Health provider notices by reviewing and bookmarking Provider News.
SH_5234