Providers saved from the ‘brink’ as Legislature funds nursing home pay raises

by Zee Johnson

The Minnesota House voted yes on Monday to a bill that would increase nursing home workers’ wages and provide the funding to do so, a year after the nation’s only Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board proposed the same but without any financial backing.

The House agreed to pay raises for nursing home direct caregivers – funding included – unlike a May 2024 proposal that would have left providers on the hook for the increases. 

Those extra costs posed by the Workforce Standards Board would have created a “disastrous impact,” said Toby Pearson, president and CEO of Care Providers of Minnesota. 

Now, the House’s budget doesn’t only stop the bleeding — it also builds a foundation, he said.

“We commend the House of Representatives for advancing a Human Services budget that puts our seniors and their caregivers first,” Pearson said in a statement to McKnight’s Long-Term Care News on Wednesday. “Unlike the Governor’s and Senate budget proposals, which threaten the stability of the state’s long-term care system, the House plan protects critical funding for skilled nursing facilities and ensures that rural nursing homes can remain open to serve their communities.”

Gov. Tim Walz’s (D) January budget proposal was called a “short-sighted slap in the face” by Ben Hansen, director of communications at LeadingAge Minnesota, that recommended cutting nearly $200 million from nursing home payments and capping reimbursement rates.

The 109-25 House vote would set the nursing home worker minimum wage to $19 per hour beginning Jan. 1 2026, but certified nursing assistants would earn a minimum of $22.50 per hour; trained medication aides would make least $24.50 per hour; and licensed practical nurses would be in line for a minimum of $27 an hour, according to the bill. 

On Jan. 1, 2027, all nursing home workers would see another $1.50 bump. 

The bill now has to be approved by Gov. Walz and the Senate. It’s estimated that the increases may cost between $9 million and $15 million, the Minnesota Reformer reported.

The pay increase could help the state move one step closer to building a sustainable long-term care system, Pearson said. 

He still sees problems with the board, however, with the lack of provider input when curating policies being the most glaring.

“The fundamental flaw with the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board continues to be the voting process that allows rules to be created that do not require a provider member to vote in the affirmative for the rules to proceed,” he explained. “Without that voting requirement, it is not a meaningful dialog about improving the health and welfare of workers and how to pay for them, the Unions and the Administration simply pass whatever they want, without actually taking a closer look at the implications of the rules and requirements on the providers.” 

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Providers saved from the ‘brink’ as Legislature funds nursing home pay raises