Bloomberg Health Law Reporter has written about a new bill signed into law that would create flexibility in the assignment of home health aides for an expanded set of tasks.
The law creates a new designation called an “Advanced Home Health Aide.” HCA has led similar proposals to allow for flexible assignment of home health aides, under the discretion and oversight of nurses. We support the intent of the new law, but, as HCA told Bloomberg, ‘‘the implementation phase still requires additional work. Among many issues still unaddressed are the need for funds to train and compensate advanced home health aides under the state Medicaid program and other payers, as well as the need to address the cost of new oversight duties for home care agencies.”
‘‘These cost factors are all the more important in the context of a new statewide minimum wage hike set to go into effect on Dec. 31,” HCA added.
You can read the article here.