Choices for Care: nursing-home pressures, ARRIS contract and staffing concerns raised

Lawmakers probed specific pressures inside the Choices for Care appropriation and asked how contract and wage negotiations affect direct-care capacity.

DAIL staff reported Choices for Care FY26 base appropriation near $346–347 million and listed several FY27 changes: a nursing home inflationary increase of roughly $5.5 million, nursing-home Medicaid bed-day pressure estimated at $9.6 million, and a home and community-based caseload pressure of a little over $1 million. The total net change for the line was reported at about $14.1 million, bringing the FY27 recommendation to $360,963,717.

Committee members asked about ARRIS, the payroll/payroll-benefit vendor referenced in the packet, and whether the contract or payroll arrangements were being rebid. Speaker 1 stated, "It went out to bid, and they were awarded," and that the new period is starting in the next month. Members also flagged that collective bargaining negotiations for workers paid via ARRIS are ongoing; one committee member said wage levels for direct service workers are important for recruitment and retention and characterized anything below $20 an hour as inadequate.

Members pressed staff for caseload context and capacity, and staff gave utilization numbers and planning context: a home and community-based caseload net growth of about 22 people was cited for the $1 million pressure line, and staff outlined goals to expand community-based care over time. On residential care-home capacity, Speaker 5 offered a facility count: "81 residential care homes and assisted living that accept Medicaid, 21 that do not, a total of 102." Committee members clarified that those numbers refer to facilities rather than beds.

The committee did not take a vote on policy changes; members asked staff to continue monitoring ARRIS negotiations, workforce retention impacts and caseload trends as the budget moves forward.