|
• Home
• HSQA
Home
• File a Complaint
− Complaint Form
− Informe de Denuncias
• Change your contact
information
— MD
& PA only
• Background Check/Fingerprint
Requirements
• Prescribing Authority
• Search by Topic
• HSQA Publications
• Health Professions Mandatory
Reporting
• Medical
Commission
• Nursing Commission
Agency Resources
• DOH
Newsroom
• DOH
Web (A-Z)
• DOH Rules
Website
• Hearings
Office
• Sanctions
• Hearings Office
• How
you can Improve
Patient Safety
• Public
Record Disclosure
• Impaired
Practitioner
Programs
www.doh.wa.gov
a healthy dose of
information
|
|
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
When does certification begin?
January 7, 2012. Initiative I-1163 takes effect 60 days from its enactment by the people.
Who must be certified as a home care aide?
The law defines the following individuals as long term care workers. They must be certified as home care aides:
- Individual providers of home care services, an individual who contracts with the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) to provide personal care or respite services to functionally disabled persons.
- Direct care employees of home care agencies.
- Providers of home care services to persons with developmental disabilities.
- All direct care workers in state licensed boarding homes.
- All direct care workers in state licensed adult family homes.
- Respite care providers.
- Community residential service providers who fall under DSHS’s definition of a supported living provider are long-term care workers but are not required to obtain training until January 1, 2016 and are exempt from certification (see next question.) These are providers or entities certified under WAC Chapter 388-101.
- Any other direct care worker providing home or community-based services to the elderly or persons with functional or developmental disabilities.
Back to top
Which long term care workers do not have to be certified as home care aides?
The following groups are not required to be certified as a home care aide but can apply for certification if they choose.
Exemptions based on prior work experience:
- A person employed as a long term care worker between January 1, 2011 and January 6, 2012 who completes all of his or her training requirements in effect as of the date he or she was hired.
- A person who begins work on or after September 9, 2011 is exempt if he or she completes training within 120 days of hire. Although 120 days from the date of hire will be after January 7, 2011, they continue to be exempt as long as they complete the training during that time-frame.
- Exemptions based on prior work experience status expire if the person does not work as a long-term care worker for three years or more.
Exemptions based on Department of Health license or certification
Other exemptions from certification:
- An individual employed by a supported living provider. Supported living provider is a person or entity that provides instruction and support services to meet the needs of persons receiving services under chapter 71A RCW and chapter 74.15 RCW. These providers include persons or entities certified under WAC Chapter 388-101, group training homes, alternative living providers, companion home providers, licensed staff residential programs, and group care facilities and staffed residential homes licensed to care for children under WAC chapter 388-148
- Individual providers, reimbursed by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), and caring for a biological, step or adoptive child or parent.
- An individual provider, reimbursed by the DSHS, who provides 20 hours or less of care for one person in any calendar month. They must be hired before June 30, 2014.
- A home health aide who is employed by a Medicare certified home health agency and has met the requirements of 42 CFR Part 484.36.
Persons not required to obtain certification because they are not
defined as a long-term care worker:
- Direct care employees working in or for:
- Nursing homes
- Hospitals
- Hospice agencies
- Adult day care or adult day health care centers
- Residential habilitation centers
- Direct care employees not paid by the state, or a private agency or facility licensed by the state to provide personal care services. Persons who work directly for and are paid by a client or client’s family are not defined as long-term care workers and do not require certification.
If I work only for private pay clients through a home care agency, boarding home or adult family home, do I need to be certified as a home care aide? I thought these requirements were only for workers of agencies and facilities who have Medicare/Medicaid clients.
The law requires employees of private pay home care agencies, boarding homes and adult family home who are hired on or after January 7, 2012 to obtain training and certification. Initiative-1163 requires all persons paid by any state licensed agency or facility to be certified as a home care aide. It does not exclude private pay agencies or facilities.
Back to top
What are the requirements for the home care aide certification?
- Seventy-five hours of training for those who must become certified. The Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) must approve training curriculum and programs. Please
contact DSHS for more information.
- Successful completion of the certification exam administered or approved by the department.
- An application, submitted with required documentation and fee, for certification directly to the department.
- Submit to a state and fingerprint-based federal background check through DSHS. DSHS will share background checks with the Department of
Health. We will review background checks to decide whether the credential should be issued. You must still undergo a background check through your employer.
When can I apply for the home care aide certification?
We have posted the application. Due to the dates set in law we cannot issue any certifications until after January 7, 2012. You can submit an application any time after we post it.
Can I use the 75 hours of training I completed in 2011 to become a certified home care aide on or after January 7, 2012?
Yes. However, if you worked during 2011, you can be certified without meeting the 75 hour training requirement. If you completed a DSHS approved 75 hour course in 2011 but did not work between January 1, 2011 and January 7, 2012, you can use your training toward certification.
Back to top
|
|
|
