This bulletin updates guidance regarding COVID-19 flexibilities previously issued via a MHD Hot Tip on April 17, 2020. This bulletin reinstates various oversight measures and programmatic practices intended to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of participants.
FAMILY CARE SAFETY REGISTRY (FCSR)/GOOD CAUSE WAIVER (GCW)
Effective August 1, 2022, all flexibilities surrounding Family Care Safety Registry (FCSR) background checks and Good Cause Waiver (GCW) are rescinded. Providers must resume pre-COVID requirements.
TRAINING
Effective August 1, 2022, providers are required to resume training requirements in a modified nature. Providers are not required to retroactively complete trainings flexed from March 2020 through July 2022. Modified training requirements include:
- Twelve (12) hours of orientation training for in-home service workers, including at least two (2) hours orientation to the provider agency and the agency’s protocols for handling emergencies. A minimum of six (6) hours of training will be provided prior to the first day of participant contact.
- Four (4) hours of required orientation training may be waived for aides and homemakers with adequate documentation in the employee’s records that they have received similar training during the previous twelve (12) months.
- All orientation training hours, with the exception of the statutorily required dementia training and two (2) hours of provider agency orientation, may be waived with adequate documentation, placed in the aide’s personnel record, that the aide is a licensed practical nurse, registered nurse or certified nurse assistant. The documentation shall include the employee’s license or certification number which must be current and in good standing at the time the training was waived;
- Five (5) hours of in-service training annually are required after the first twelve (12) months of employment. The provider may waive the required annual five (5) hours of in-service training and require only two (2) hours of refresher training annually, when the personal care aide has been employed for three (3) years and has completed fifteen (15) hours of in-service training.
IN-HOME SUPERVISORY VISITS/CDS MONITORING VISITS
Effective August 1, 2022, providers are required to resume required in-person visits. Retroactive visits/monitoring are not required.