Weekly $300 stipend renewed to retain nursing home workers

CONCORD — A $300 weekly stipend will again be given to front-line workers at Medicaid-funded nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in an effort to retain people in important but difficult and potentially risky jobs.

Gov. Chris Sununu approved an emergency order Monday to put the stipend back in place through December 31. It was originally instituted in April and discontinued at the end of July.

"Due to the rise in cases in New Hampshire, there remains an acute need to retain our health care workforce, and today’s announcement will help make sure we continue to have the system in place for those who rely on this care,” he said.

Part-time workers can get a $150 weekly stipend.

The state spent $67.6 million on stipends for workers at Medicaid facilities through the earlier Long Term Care Stabilization program.

Providers participating in the stipend program in the past will receive an email from the state informing them of the program’s reactivation.

COVID-19 case numbers have gone up dramatically in New Hampshire. At some points during the summer only about 20 new cases were being reported daily.

On Sunday, the state Health and Human Services Department announced 361 new positive test results for the virus, including 33 in Belknap County. The rate of positive tests was 2.2 percent after hovering around 1 percent over the summer.

There are currently 69 people hospitalized with COVID-19. In New Hampshire since the start of the pandemic, there have been a total of 14,671 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed with 814 (6%) of those having been hospitalized. A total of 499 people have died of the virus.