Florida Senate - 2021 CS for CS for SB 1132
By the Committees on Appropriations; and Health Policy; and
Senator Bean
576-04470-21 20211132c2
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to personal care attendants; amending
3 s. 400.141, F.S.; authorizing nursing home facilities
4 to employ personal care attendants if they are
5 participating in a certain training program developed
6 by the Agency for Health Care Administration in
7 consultation with the Board of Nursing; providing
8 minimum requirements for such program; providing
9 limitations on such personal care attendants’
10 practice; requiring the agency to adopt rules;
11 requiring the agency to authorize the continuation of
12 certain personal care attendant programs under certain
13 circumstances; amending s. 400.211, F.S.; authorizing
14 certain persons to be employed by a nursing home
15 facility as personal care attendants for a specified
16 period if a certain training requirement is met;
17 defining the term “personal care attendants”;
18 providing an effective date.
19
20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
21
22 Section 1. Paragraph (w) is added to subsection (1) of
23 section 400.141, Florida Statutes, to read:
24 400.141 Administration and management of nursing home
25 facilities.—
26 (1) Every licensed facility shall comply with all
27 applicable standards and rules of the agency and shall:
28 (w) Be allowed to employ personal care attendants as
29 defined in s. 400.211(2)(d), if such personal care attendants
30 are participating in the personal care attendant training
31 program developed by the agency, in accordance with 42 C.F.R.
32 ss. 483.151-483.154, in consultation with the Board of Nursing.
33 1. The personal care attendant program must consist of a
34 minimum of 16 hours of education and must include all of the
35 topics and lessons specified in the program curriculum.
36 2. The program curriculum must include, but need not be
37 limited to, training in all of the following content areas:
38 a. Residents’ rights.
39 b. Confidentiality of residents’ personal information and
40 medical records.
41 c. Control of contagious and infectious diseases.
42 d. Emergency response measures.
43 e. Assistance with activities of daily living.
44 f. Measuring vital signs.
45 g. Skin care and pressure sores prevention.
46 h. Portable oxygen use and safety.
47 i. Nutrition and hydration.
48 j. Dementia care.
49 3. A personal care attendant must complete the 16 hours of
50 required education before having any direct contact with a
51 resident.
52 4. A personal care attendant may not perform any task that
53 requires clinical assessment, interpretation, or judgment.
54 5. An individual employed as a personal care attendant
55 under s. 400.211(2)(d) must work exclusively for one nursing
56 facility before becoming a certified nursing assistant.
57
58 The agency shall adopt rules necessary to implement this
59 paragraph. If the state of emergency declared by the Governor
60 pursuant to Executive Order No. 20-52 is terminated before the
61 agency adopts rules to implement this paragraph, the agency
62 shall authorize the continuation of the personal care attendant
63 program until the agency adopts such rules.
64 Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 400.211, Florida
65 Statutes, is amended to read:
66 400.211 Persons employed as nursing assistants;
67 certification requirement.—
68 (2) The following categories of persons who are not
69 certified as nursing assistants under part II of chapter 464 may
70 be employed by a nursing facility for a single consecutive
71 period of 4 months:
72 (a) Persons who are enrolled in, or have completed, a
73 state-approved nursing assistant program.;
74 (b) Persons who have been positively verified as actively
75 certified and on the registry in another state with no findings
76 of abuse, neglect, or exploitation in that state.; or
77 (c) Persons who have preliminarily passed the state’s
78 certification exam.
79 (d) Persons who are employed as personal care attendants
80 and who have completed the personal care attendant training
81 program developed pursuant to s. 400.141(1)(w). As used in this
82 paragraph, the term “personal care attendants” means persons who
83 meet the training requirement in s. 400.141(1)(w) and provide
84 care to and assist residents with tasks related to the
85 activities of daily living.
86
87 The certification requirement must be met within 4 months after
88 initial employment as a nursing assistant in a licensed nursing
89 facility.
90 Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.