Direct Care Worker Max Pay Rate 2026
Welcome to the 2026 Pay Rate Resource page.
Each Common Law Employer (CLE) and Direct Care Worker (DCW) agree on the hourly pay rate that a DCW can be paid. The maximum DCW hourly pay rate depends on the county where the participant lives and employer costs. The region bill rate established by each Community HealthChoices Managed Care Organization (CHC-MCO) must cover DCW’s pay, employer taxes and Worker’s Compensation insurance.
To determine the maximum DCW hourly pay rate:
- If you are a new CLE, use the “2026 New CLE Maximum DCW Pay Rate Sheet” for your CHC-MCO to find the highest hourly pay rate you can pay a DCW.
- These can be found on the Forms page by clicking the following link: Forms – PA Tempus Unlimited
- If you are an existing CLE, use the “2026 PA CHC Pay Rate Calculator” for your CHC-MCO in the Pay Rate Calculator section below because it uses your personal State Unemployment insurance rate
- CLE’s current State Unemployment insurance rate can be found in Participant Dashboard
The maximum DCW hourly pay rate is the amount the DCW receives after employer taxes and Worker’s Compensation costs are taken out of the region bill rate.
Please check back for more information.
Update on 2026 Pay Rate Retro Pay as of 6/24/2026
- Additional retro payments will be distributed on Thursday and Friday, June 25th & June 26th.
- Check your pay stubs on the ESS portal.
- Individuals who are identified for processing but will not receive a payment at this time will receive a text message notification by Friday 26th advising that they are on the list, but no payment has been issued yet.
- Our teams continue to review and validate all remaining payments to ensure they are calculated and processed accurately.
Update on 2026 Pay Rate Retro Pay as of 6/18/2026
- Additional retro payments will be distributed on Monday, June 22.
- Check your pay stubs on the ESS portal.
- Individuals who are identified for processing but will not receive a payment at this time will receive a text message notification on June 22 advising that they are on the list, but no payment has been issued yet.
- Our teams continue to review and validate all remaining payments to ensure they are calculated and processed accurately.
Update on 2026 Pay Rate Retro Pay as of 6/16/2026
- Tempus has begun distributing retro payments for DCWs with completed pay rate forms submitted by their CLEs.
- Payments began processing on 6/11/2026, with over 80% distributed as of this update.
- Our teams are continuing to review and validate the remaining payments to ensure they are calculated and processed accurately.
- DCWs and CLEs should continue to check this resource page for the latest updates during this distribution period.
Thank you for your patience as this work continues.
Communication
- OLTL ListServ Notification (PDF)
- PA Bulletin Doc. No. 26-310 (PDF)
- 2026 Pay Rate Increase Letter to CLEs and Form (English) & (Spanish) (PDF)