HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 1964

BYRepresentatives Prentice, D. Sommers, Braddock, Brooks, Gallagher, S. Wilson, Baugher, Cantwell, G. Fisher, Anderson and Winsley

Substituting the term health care facility for nursing home in the nursing assistant's act.

House Committe on Health Care

Majority Report:  The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (10)

      Signed by Representatives Braddock, Chair, Day, Vice Chair; Brooks, Ranking Republican Member; Cantwell, Chandler, Morris, Prentice, Sommers, Sprenkle and Wolfe.

House Staff:John Welsh (786-7133)

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH CARE MARCH 1, 1989

BACKGROUND:

In consideration of the critical supply of nurses in the workforce, especially among nursing assistants, the legislature enacted in 1988 a program of registration and voluntary certification for those nursing assistants who seek career advancement and mobility within the regimen of the nursing profession.

Nursing assistants are employed principally in nursing homes which experience an employment turnover as high as 300 percent annually and where the shortage can be particularly pernicious.

However, nursing assistants are also employed by hospitals and other health facilities, and there is a question whether the registration and certification program can apply to nursing assistants employed in those settings as well.

The advisory committee for nursing assistants to the Board of Nursing and the Department of Licensing has no members representing hospitals or home health facilities.

SUMMARY:

SUBSTITUTE BILL:  The registration and certification program for nursing assistants is clarified to include nursing assistants employed in settings beyond nursing homes, such as hospitals, hospice care facilities, home health agencies or other entities where health care services are delivered.

Other housekeeping changes are made in the law.

The membership of the advisory committee is changed to remove the representative of the long-term care ombudsman program repealed in 1988, and includes representatives of acute care hospitals and home health care.  The nursing assistant registration law is recodified under Chapter 18.88A RCW.

SUBSTITUTE BILL COMPARED TO ORIGINAL:  The representative of the Department of Social and Health Services is re-included as a member of the state advisory committee. The nursing assistant registration law is recodified under a new Chapter 18.18A RCW.  The definition for nursing home is striken from the bill. Housekeeping changes are made.

Fiscal Note:      Requested February 15, 1989.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Gail Toraason, Washington State Nurses Association and Charles Reed, Department of Social and Health Services (with changes).

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    In addressing the nursing shortage, the benefits of the nursing assistant registration law should be extended to nursing assistants working in all health facilities, not just nursing homes.  The retention of nursing assistants in the workforce is an important consideration in addressing the supply problem of qualified practitioners.  Career mobility may enhance employment opportunities for nursing assistants.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.