The Florida Senate

400.4785  Patients with Alzheimer's disease or other related disorders; staff training requirements; certain disclosures.--

(1)  A home health agency must provide the following staff training:

(a)  Upon beginning employment with the agency, each employee must receive basic written information about interacting with participants who have Alzheimer's disease or dementia-related disorders.

(b)  In addition to the information provided under paragraph (a), newly hired home health agency personnel who will be providing direct care to patients must complete 2 hours of training in Alzheimer's disease and dementia-related disorders within 9 months after beginning employment with the agency. This training must include, but is not limited to, an overview of dementia, a demonstration of basic skills in communicating with persons who have dementia, the management of problem behaviors, information about promoting the client's independence in activities of daily living, and instruction in skills for working with families and caregivers.

(c)  For certified nursing assistants, the required 2 hours of training shall be part of the total hours of training required annually.

(d)  For a health care practitioner as defined in s. 456.001, continuing education hours taken as required by that practitioner's licensing board shall be counted toward the total of 2 hours.

(e)  For an employee who is a licensed health care practitioner as defined in s. 456.001, training that is sanctioned by that practitioner's licensing board shall be considered to be approved by the Department of Elderly Affairs.

(f)  The Department of Elderly Affairs, or its designee, must approve the required training. The department must consider for approval training offered in a variety of formats. The department shall keep a list of current providers who are approved to provide the 2-hour training. The department shall adopt rules to establish standards for the employees who are subject to this training, for the trainers, and for the training required in this section.

(g)  Upon completing the training listed in this section, the employee shall be issued a certificate that states that the training mandated under this section has been received. The certificate shall be dated and signed by the training provider. The certificate is evidence of completion of this training, and the employee is not required to repeat this training if the employee changes employment to a different home health agency.

(h)  An employee who is hired on or after July 1, 2005, must complete the training required by this section.

(i)  A licensed home health agency whose unduplicated census during the most recent calendar year was comprised of at least 90 percent of individuals aged 21 years or younger at the date of admission is exempt from the training requirements in this section.

(2)  An agency licensed under this part which claims that it provides special care for persons who have Alzheimer's disease or other related disorders must disclose in its advertisements or in a separate document those services that distinguish the care as being especially applicable to, or suitable for, such persons. The agency must give a copy of all such advertisements or a copy of the document to each person who requests information about the agency and must maintain a copy of all such advertisements and documents in its records. The Agency for Health Care Administration shall examine all such advertisements and documents in the agency's records as part of the license renewal procedure.

History.--s. 3, ch. 93-105; s. 2, ch. 2003-271.