Bill to help human service providers moves forward

A legislative committee has approved a bill that is aimed at regularly adjusting rates for state funds paid to social service providers.

The Legislature's committee on children, families and disabled persons gave a favorable report for the bill with a voice vote on Tuesday. The next destination for the bill is unclear, although it will likely need to pass through at least one more legislative committee before it heads to a floor vote.

The bill would require the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy to adjust rates every two years on state contracts with social services providers to reflect inflation. Under the current system that has been in place for two decades, rates for the contracts can be fixed for as long as 11 years.

"We need it to be passed so we can get paid market value for the services we provide," said Jimmy Cawley, a spokesman for Work Inc., a provider of rehabilitation and work services for disabled people in Quincy. "It still has several steps to go, but the first hurdle has been cleared."

The social services industry, which largely consists of nonprofit organizations, employs as many as 185,000 people in the state, but many of the workers earn less than $30,000 a year.

Gary Blumenthal, executive director of the Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers in Waltham, said he's hopeful about the bill's prospects given the understanding that legislative leaders have shown about the issues that social service providers face.

"It's been a difficult period the last two decades without having a mechanism for rate increases," Blumenthal said. "Providers are very creative They often pull rabbits out of a hat. But not only do we not have rabbits, we're losing our hats, too."

Jon Chesto may be reached at jchesto@ledger.com.