By: Powell, Alvarado S.B. No. 1847
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to training requirements for certain individuals for
inclusion in the nurse aide registry.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 250.001, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subdivisions (6), (7), and (8) to read as follows:
(6) "Commission" means the Health and Human Services
Commission.
(7) "Executive commissioner" means the executive
commissioner of the commission.
(8) "Nurse aide training program" means a nurse aide
training and competency evaluation program that:
(A) is approved by the commission to train and
evaluate an individual's ability to work as a nurse aide in a
facility; and
(B) meets the requirements of Section
250.0035(a).
SECTION 2. Section 250.0035(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) To be listed on the nurse aide registry, an applicant
must complete a nurse aide training program approved by the
commission [Department of Aging and Disability Services] that
includes:
(1) not less than 100 hours of course work as specified
by rule; and
(2) a competency evaluation on completion of the
training program.
SECTION 3. Chapter 250, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Section 250.00351 to read as follows:
Sec. 250.00351. TRAINING REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN
INDIVIDUALS; EXPEDITED TRAINING PROGRAM. (a) In this section,
"temporary nurse aide" means an individual who performs nurse aide
services under a waiver issued by the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
pandemic.
(b) The commission shall develop a process that allows a
temporary nurse aide to complete in an expedited manner a required
nurse aide training program. In developing the process, the
commission shall either:
(1) seek a waiver from the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services under Subsection (c); or
(2) develop an expedited nurse aide training program
under Subsection (i).
(c) The executive commissioner may seek a waiver from the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that allows an
individual in accordance with this section to partly or wholly
satisfy the classroom training and clinical training hours required
for completion of a nurse aide training program with classroom and
clinical hours completed as a temporary nurse aide at a nursing
facility licensed under Chapter 242.
(d) An individual who works as a temporary nurse aide may
substitute:
(1) one hour of training accrued as a temporary nurse
aide at a nursing facility for one hour of required classroom
training through a nurse aide training program;
(2) two hours of work experience accrued as a
temporary nurse aide at a nursing facility for one hour of required
classroom training through a nurse aide training program; and
(3) one hour of work experience accrued as a temporary
nurse aide at a nursing facility for one hour of required clinical
training through a nurse aide training program.
(e) A nursing facility shall document the number of hours of
nurse aide training and work experience accrued by a temporary
nurse aide at the facility and provide the documentation to that
individual on request.
(f) A nurse aide training program shall accept a nursing
facility's documentation of the number of hours of training and
work experience accrued by a temporary nurse aide at the facility
and apply the documented hours toward the classroom training and
clinical training hours required by the training program in
accordance with Subsection (d).
(g) If an individual does not accrue a sufficient number of
training or work experience hours as a temporary nurse aide under
Subsection (d) to satisfy the total number of classroom training
and clinical training hours required to successfully complete the
nurse aide training program, the individual must complete the
remaining number of required hours through a nurse aide training
program.
(h) If an individual satisfies the total number of classroom
training and clinical training hours prescribed by Section
250.0035(a)(1) through training and work experience as a temporary
nurse aide under Subsection (d) and any training and clinical hours
completed under a nurse aide training program, a nurse aide
training program shall allow the individual to sit for the
competency evaluation required by Section 250.0035(a)(2). The
commission shall list in the nurse aide registry under Section
250.0035 each individual who passes the evaluation.
(i) In lieu of seeking a waiver from the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services as provided by Subsection (c), the
executive commissioner by rule may develop and implement a nurse
aide training program that allows a temporary nurse aide to
complete in an expedited manner a required nurse aide training
program.
SECTION 4. To the extent allowed by federal law, a nursing
facility licensed under Chapter 242, Health and Safety Code, may
continue to employ an individual who performed nurse aide services
under a waiver issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on or
before the effective date of this Act until the 60th day after the
date the waiver expires.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2021.