Dear Adult Family Home Providers,
March 8, 2023 was the cutoff for legislative bills to be passed out of their house of origin and referred to the opposite chamber. We are excited to tell you that all three HCA bills addressing the HCA certification process and testing have met the deadline. The Adult family Home Council is encouraging all providers to submit “pro” testimonies for all three HCA bills when necessary. To do so, there will be a button below each bill to submit remote testimony if the bill has a public hearing. Scroll below to learn more about what each bill does.
SB 5278: Home Care Aide Certification
- Requires the exam to be provided in a series and administered throughout training, on the last day of training, or after a student’s formal training.
- Expands who can administer the exam by including all approved DSHS instructors.
- Removes the requirement that DOH must establish a set amount of time an individual can retake the exam.
- Integrates testing into training to allow applicants to test at the same location where they train.
- Allows applicants to schedule tests during training to facilitate testing shortly after completing training.
- Directs DOH in consultation with DSHS to determine the benefits and costs of having home care aide testing programs authorize applicants to test instead of DOH.
- Establishes performance based contracts for vendors who administer the test.
- Directs DOH in consultation with DSHS to examine existing challenges related to lack of testing sites and develop a plan that would expand the number of testing sites in WA state.
- Requires the exam be conducted at local testing sites around the state and administered in the preferred langugage of the applicant taking the exam.
- Allows remote testing within the HCA training programs immidately or shortly after completion of the training program.
- Establishes accountability mechanism for the overall training to testing process.
HB 1694: Home Care Workforce Shortage
- Defines long-term care worker’s date of hire as the first day that the long-term care worker is employed by any employer.
- Allows long term care workers not currently certified or eligible to reactivate an expired credential to receive a new date of hire when beinging work with a new employer or returning to a former employer.
- Exempts former certified nursing assistants and home care aides whose certifcations have been expired between six months and two years from the payment penalties and fees if they return to certified status by July 1, 2025
- Allows home care aides whose certificates have expired for more than 2 years but less than five years to become recertified by paying all applicable fees.
- Allows the skill demonstration and the knowledge test portions of the home care aide certification exam be administered during or after a long-term care worker’s formal training.
- Expands who can administer the HCA exam
- Directs DOH to examine and authorize innovative ways to reduce barriers to home care aide certification and testing such as remote proctoring, signing up for testing upon registering for training and expanding the number and type of testing locations.
- Expands the timelines and testing opportunies for long-term care workers seeking certification as a home care aide
- Directs the Departments of Social and Health Services to report annually on long-term care workforce data trends.
HB 1568: Credentialing of Long-Term Care Professionals
- Gives long-term care professionals an additional 100 days to get certified if they completed their 75 hours of training.
- Exempts former certified nursing assistants and home care aides whose certifcations have been expired between six months and two years from the payment penalties and fees
- Exempts HCAs whose certificates have been expired for more than six months and less than two years from any continuing education requirements imposed as a precondition for returning to active status.
- Allows home care aides whose certificates have expired for more than 2 years but less than five years to become recertified by paying all applicable fees.
- Requires the home care aide exam be offered on different times and days of the week in order to accommodate the variable work schedules of long-term care workers seeking to complete the examination.
- Requires long-term care workers to be offered at least three options for test dates and times, at different times and on different days of the week.
- Extends who can administer the exam to include registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, nursing assistants, community instructors, or any other individual the DOH deems qualified to administer the exam.
- Extends the renewal cycle for HCAs from one year to two years.
- Expands the timelines and testing opportunies for long-term care workers seeking certification as a home care aides
