Health Care Worker Bonus Program Memo
| TO: | BOCES District Superintendents School District Superintendents School District Business Officers Charter School Leaders Religious and Independent School Leaders Preschool Programs for Students with Disabilities |
|---|---|
| FROM: | Phyllis D. Morris, Chief Financial Officer |
| RE: |
Information Needed for Eligible Educational Entities to Submit Claims for
Employee Health Care Worker Bonus Payments
 |
Background
Authorized in the 2022-23 enacted state budget by Part ZZ of Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2022, the Health Care Worker Bonus Program (HWB) allows for the payment of bonuses to "recruit, retain, and reward health care and mental hygiene workers" meeting specified eligibility requirements. Bonus amounts will be commensurate with the number of hours worked by eligible workers during designated vesting periods for up to a total of $3,000 per eligible worker.
The following educational entities are included in the list of eligible employers: nonpublic schools, charter schools, approved preschool programs for students with disabilities, school districts and boards of cooperative educational services. The New York State Department of Health’s (DOH’s) website states that the education portion of the bonus program will roll-out in October 2022, and lists the eligible worker titles.
Information Request and Deadline
For an eligible educational employer to be able to submit claims through DOH’s portal for bonus payments to its eligible employees, the employer must have either an Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) issued Vendor Identification Number on file in the Statewide Financial System (SFS) or must provide to the New York State Education Department (NYSED) information, to be shared with DOH and the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC), to enable DOH to work with OSC to establish a SFS Vendor Identification Number.
Eligible organizations for which NYSED does not have a SFS Vendor Identification Number will be asked to complete a survey in the SED Monitoring and Vendor Performance System to provide the information needed to establish a SFS Vendor Identification Number. Such organizations will receive an e-mail requesting completion of all elements of the survey and will be asked to submit the survey to NYSED by close of business September 1, 2022. The submitted information will be shared with DOH and OSC.
NYSED will provide the SFS Vendor Identification Numbers to DOH for all eligible organizations for which NYSED has this information. If your organization does not receive the survey from NYSED, NYSED already has the necessary information and no further action is needed.
Accessing the Survey
Eligible educational organizations for which NYSED does not have a SFS Vendor Identification Number on file may access the survey in the SED Monitoring and Vendor Reporting System by completing the following steps:
- Go to the Business Portal
- Click on the “Log In” button
- Enter your username and password
- Click on “SED Monitoring and Vendor Performance System” under My Applications
- Select “View Surveys for the Office of ESSA-Funded Programs”
- Find the survey titled “Health Care Worker Bonus Program Survey”
- Click on ‘view’ to begin/continue to input information
Contact Information
The HWB program is being administered by the New York State (NYS) Department of Health (DOH). Information and questions regarding the program and/or eligibility should be directed to the NYS Department of Health at NYSWorkersBonus@health.ny.gov or by calling the HWB Call Center at (866) 682-0077.
Please see DOH’s website for more information:
https://health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/providers/hwb_program/index.htm.