Humana-owned SeniorBridge closing Long Island home care offices

SeniorBridge, a provider of home health aides to seniors, will close all three of its Long Island offices by early March as it ends operations across the metropolitan area.

The moves will result in the layoff of a total of 1,005 workers in the metro area, the company, owned by Louisville, Kentucky-based health insurance giant Humana, said in a state layoff notice filed last month. Humana did not respond to questions about how many Long Island employees would lose their jobs, or if the company was working to place the workers at other agencies.

The company also would not say how many Long Island clients it had, but said in a statement that it will “ensure proper continuity of care for clients" and that those impacted "are being transferred to other home care providers."

In addition to offices in Mineola, Medford and Riverhead, SeniorBridge has three offices in New York City and one in Westchester.

Humana made the decision to close all SeniorBridge locations nationwide as part of a “$1 billion value creation initiative ... to increase our investment in our Medicare Advantage products and achieve greater organizational efficiencies,” the company said in a statement in late December.

Humana previously announced plans to close offices in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Virginia by Dec. 31.

The closures come at a time when home health agencies in New York State, already beleaguered by a worker shortage, have had to adjust to a higher minimum wage.

On the Island, the minimum hourly rate for aides went up to $17 in October, $2 above the $15 minimum for other industries. The increase was designed to attract more workers to the field, but some industry observers doubt it will have the desired effect.

With the influx of SeniorBridge clients, other Long Island agencies will have to find ways to meet their needs with already low staffing levels and higher overhead, said Mildred Garcia-Gallery, owner of Ageless Companions LLC, a consultancy for home health agencies. As a result, she said, some clients used to working with one aide consistently may find themselves being assisted by a rotating roster of aides.

The Island has around 40,140 home care and personal care aides, and is projected to see openings increase by more than 64% by 2028, according to the state Labor Department.

“The need doesn’t change. It just shifts from one company to the other," Garcia-Gallery said.

Additionally, she said that while many of the SeniorBridge workers who will lose their jobs are likely to find positions at other home health businesses, some may see the layoff as an opportunity to pursue higher-paying jobs in service or retail sectors.

“A lot of them are not going to stay," she said.