Maine hospitals, nursing homes will get $146M to help fill staff shortages
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Maine hospitals and other health care providers will receive a total of $146 million in state and federal funds to help meet staffing gaps, which have grown worse during the pandemic.
Maine hospitals and long-term care facilities will receive $146 million in state and federal funding to help fill worker shortages driven by the pandemic, the Department of Health and Human Services announced late Wednesday.
The department this month will begin to distribute $123 million in funding, which includes $30 million in General Fund dollars from the current state budget, to nursing facilities, residential care facilities, and adult family care homes.
The facilities can use the funds to help retain current staff or to hire workers who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a news release.
DHHS will also issue $23 million, including $5 million from the General Fund, for one-time supplemental payments to Maine’s hospitals. The funding will be issued beginning this fall and hospitals can use it to address workforce issues.
The department said that among health care providers eligible for the funding, 56% applied for it and 69% of the applicants qualified for payments.
Maine hospitals and other health care providers were struggling to fill jobs long before the pandemic. The current crisis has only aggravated the challenge for front-line organizations.
“Given rapidly changing circumstances due to the Delta variant, the Department is expediting the COVID-19 supplemental payments that Governor Mills signed into law as part of the biennial budget,” said DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew.
“This unprecedented amount of supplemental payments for long-term care facilities will help them cover costs resulting from the pandemic and address longstanding workforce challenges as we continue to pursue our broader plan to expand and strengthen Maine’s health care system.”
The funding comes on top of other financial assistance the state has already channeled to Maine health care providers.
That help has included $25 million in Coronavirus Relief Funds recently awarded to 14 hospitals and 96 long-term care facilities. Early in the pandemic, DHHS also provided immediate support of $10 million to hospitals through supplemental payments and $20 million to congregate care facilities through temporary rate increases.
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