By Bob Katzen
The House 153-1, approved and sent to the Senate a bill that would establish a licensure process for home care agencies that supporters say will ensure that consumers receive quality non-medical services, and that home care workers are protected.
The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) would implement the licensure process and have the authority to approve licenses, survey and investigate home care agencies and impose fines. The measure also would require EOHHS to conduct a suitability review for all licensure applicants, including for all individuals with at least a 5 percent ownership interest in the agency; review applicants to ensure that they have sufficient financial capacity to provide a minimum standard of care; and require EOHHS to publish a list of all licensed home care agencies on its website.
Other provisions require minimum standards for home care workers by mandating several background screening checks on them; training and competency requirements for home care workers including confidentiality and privacy rights of home care consumers; infection control and communicable diseases; handling of emergencies, including safety and falls prevention; identifying and reporting suspected abuse, neglect or theft; and understanding Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, including person-centered care, activities of daily living, safety and dementia-related behaviors and communication.
The legislation implements workforce protections for employees including establishing procedures to ensure home care workers have safe working conditions, adequate training and a process for submitting complaints; requiring licensed home care agencies to have coverage for worker’s compensation and liability insurance; creation of the Home Care Worker and Consumer Abuse Stakeholder Advisory Committee to study and make recommendations on standards and procedures for addressing abusive treatment, including physical, verbal, mental abuse and bullying of home care workers, personal care assistants, home care consumers and family members; and informing home care workers of potentially unsafe working environments.
“This legislation could not have been passed at a more critical time,” said Rep. Tom Stanley (D-Waltham), House Chair of the Committee on Aging and Independence. “With our aging population expected to grow exponentially in the coming years and the number of family caregivers shrinking, the demand for home care will subsequently increase. It is critical for the commonwealth to have the proper standards and protections in place for home care agencies to ensure consumers receive quality care and our dedicated home care workers are properly trained and supported in the field.”
“With persistent staffing shortages and projections of growing need, urgent legislative action is needed to establish improved oversight over home care agency employers, better prepare to meet future care demands and to reduce the far-too-common abuse and workplace bullying of home care workers and/or their consumer clients,” said Cari Medina, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU, the union which represents more than 60,000 home care worker members. “[We] strongly support this bill to establish a new state process for the licensure of Massachusetts home care agencies, to implement improved operational standards for these agencies and to direct the adoption of new minimum standards and operational procedures for addressing abusive treatment and bullying of home care workers and/or their consumers.”
Betsey Crimmins, Executive Director of Mass Aging Access, said that Mass Aging Access and its statewide network of 24 Aging Services Access Points strongly support the bill.
“Massachusetts does not license non-medical home care services, even though these services are essential to helping older adults and people with disabilities live safely and independently in their own homes, resulting in better health outcomes and an improved quality of life,” said Crimmins. “The passage of [this legislation] will fill longstanding gaps in the commonwealth’s current system, bring Massachusetts in line with the majority of other states and strengthen our long-term services and supports network. “
Rep. John Gaskey (R-Carver), the only representative to vote against the bill, did not respond to repeated requests from Beacon Hill Roll Call asking him why he opposed the measure.
(A “Yes” vote is for the bill. A “No” vote is against it.)
Rep. Christine Barber Yes Rep. Mike Connolly Yes Rep. Paul Donato Yes Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven Yes