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Public Policy

The goal of the Disability Policy Collaboration is to impact national public policy for people with developmental disabilities, including those with cerebral palsy and intellectual disability, and their friends, families and loved ones.

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Direct Care Personnel

Maryland Wage Parity

On April 20, Maryland Governor Parris Glendening signed into law Senate Bill 432, which requires the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) to increase the rate of reimbursement that is paid to community provider agencies each year over a five-year period until the wages and benefits of direct support workers are equal to the wages of state facility personnel performing comparable duties.

The first stage of the wage parity process is to begin in FY 2002. The new legislation also requires DHMH to determine annually a "disparity amount" -- the difference between the wages and benefits of community direct service workers versus state direct service personnel -- in order to calculate the provider rate increase necessary to carry out the provisions of the law.

The law mandates that on or before July 1, 2002, DHMH must reduce the existing estimated mean wage disparity of 55 percent and benefit disparity of 12.6 percent between state and private direct services workers by an amount sufficient to reduce the original disparity level to 80 percent.

The disparity will be reduced each fiscal year thereafter by 20 percent until full parity is achieved at the start of fiscal year 2006 (i.e., wages/benefits will be at 60% of parity in FY 2003, 40% of parity in FY 2004, 20% of parity in FY 2005 and at full parity in FY 2006).

The legislation estimates that the five year cost of achieving parity between state and private wages/benefits will run the state an estimated $234.8 million. The federal government will absorb 31 percent of the increase (or $72.8 million), while state general revenues will cover the balance ($16.0 million).

These expenditure estimates are based on an informal wage survey completed in 2000. This Wage Rate Survey was conducted by the Community Services Reimbursement Rate Commission (CSRRC). DHMH is required under the terms of SB 432 to complete another, more formal wage survey to solidify the existing wage disparity estimates.

For more information contact Diane Coughlin, Director, Developmental Disabilities Administration, Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, 201 West Preston Street, 4th Floor, Room 422C, Baltimore, MD 21201.

Source: National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disability Services (NASDDDS)