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Background
In the 2007 State legislative session, SEIU (Service Employees
International Union) introduced House Bill 2284, “an act relating to the
training of and collective bargaining over the training of care
providers.” SEIU strongly pushed the bill. If the bill did not pass they
had a people’s Initiative filed and ready for the November 2007
election.
In the initial bill, SEIU proposed 150 hours of required training for
ALL Medicaid Personal Care and Respite providers. Later it was changed
to 85 hours. Because of the significant cost of this proposal, it
initially did not make it through the committee process. [The current
training requirement is 28 hours and 10 hours continuing education for
individual providers. Training of PARENT PROVIDERS of Medicaid Personal
Care (MPC) has been a one-time only 6 hours training with the additional
Safety Training and a 30 minute SEIU presentation.] On the last days of
the 2007 legislative session, the bill was resurrected and it passed as
a Study Bill - Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill (ESSHB) 2284. You
can find this final bill and bill reports at:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=2284
Nursing Homes, hospitals, hospice agencies, other acute care settings,
adult day care and day health care centers are excluded from the
expanded training bill. The increased training requirement applies to
Parent Providers who only provide for their own adult child,
“intermittent providers” that parents hire to care for their
son/daughter, Adult Family Home workers, respite care providers and
other long term care workers.
ESSHB 2284 calls for a Worker Training Work Group connected to
the Long Term Care Task Force set up by the legislature for other
issues. The Worker Training Work Group was charged with making
recommendations on the amount of training, the content of the core and
basic training and the certification of the long term care workers.
These recommendations will be given to the Long Term Care Taskforce of
the legislature, the governor and appropriate legislative committees by
December 1, 2007. You can view this report and make comments on the web
site by going to
www.governor.wa.gov/LTCTF/workgroup.htm. The Task Force must submit
a final report to the legislature by December 30, 2007.
The Work Group has met summer and fall of 2007. Much testimony has been
given by parent providers and parents who hire providers for MPC. Donna
Patrick, WA State Developmental Disabilities Council staff, is a member
of the Workgroup and has represented parent issues well.
Important testimony was given by Kathy Leitch, Administrator of Aging
and Disability Services Administration (ADSA) at these work group
meetings. Kathy Leitch clearly stated that her staff had worked out the
statewide cost of the proposed increased training to be $1 million for
each hour of additional training. (For example, if the proposed hours of
training would be 85 hours, this would cost the state $85 million.)
Concerns
1. On a number of occasions, an SEIU representative stated the
following:
-
85% of family providers
(including parents) supported increased basic training,
certification and mentoring;
-
63% of parent providers
strongly agreed with the statement: ”Improved training will ensure
that whoever replaces me when I can no longer continue working will
be a qualified and well-trained caregiver who can continue to
provide quality care to my family member.”
-
By contrast, only 30% of
family providers strongly agreed with the statement: “Additional
training requirements are an unnecessary new burden on family
providers.”
As you can see, these answers
can be interpreted in many ways.
2. With the exception of the one-time only six hours training for parent
providers, current training is focused on elderly individuals and is a
medical based model. Thus, training is typically not RELEVANT to
individuals with developmental disabilities (DD).
3. Where will the money for the additional training come from? Will the
criteria for eligibility be
tightened due to the higher costs of training, thus decreasing the
number of people able to
receive MPC? Since 2008 is an election year, there is a reluctance to
spend new money in
the state budget. This could mean taking money from other programs.
4. How would parents find caregivers for their son/daughter while
attending additional hours of
training?
Statement
There is a suggestion that all parents currently giving care ONLY to
their own adult son/daughter and who have attended the 6 hour training
or who have received or will receive a contract and training by 1/1/09
would be grandfathered in. Additionally those providers whom parents
have hired and have completed their required training by 1/1/09 may also
be grandfathered in. The Parent Coalition staff feels strongly that this
is a classic example of a SYSTEMS issue. That is, we can not look at
this decision individually. We must consider the long-term impacts of
this decision, whether or not it affects you currently. The reality is
that if you are a parent providing care to your son/daughter, it is
highly likely that you will eventually have to hire someone else to care
for your s/d that will be subject to the increased training requirement.
Statewide Parent Coalition Position Paper on Individual Provider
Training Bill
Please review the hard copy of this Position paper which may be
downloaded here.
Summary
The King County Parent Coalition strongly supports:
1. We support THREE tracks of
providers with three separate training requirements.
-
A Career Path track has
increased training with increased pay and benefits.
-
The Parent/Family Provider
track is for parents who care for only their own child and will
continue with the current 6-hour training and safety training. There
will be no continuing-education component and additional trainings
will be voluntary.
-
The Intermittent Provider
track is on-the-job training for a provider who has limited hours.
2. We do not support
additional training requirements that would reduce the amount of hours
available for care to individuals with D.D.
3. We do not support training that is an elderly medical based model and
is not relevant to the needs of people with developmental disabilities.
At our Nov. 19, 2007 Legislators’ Forum, Representative Eileen Cody
(D-34th),Chair of House Health and Wellness Committee, stood and asked
parents to write a letter to the SEIU union leader, Mr. David Rolf, to
explain their position.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
1. Please contact the SEIU 775 union and tell them of your position on
this issue. If you feel that training for parents should remain the same
6 hour curriculum, please let them know. If you support large increases
of mandatory training for parents, and continuing education, tell them.
2. Send your letter or email to
• David Rolf,
david.rolf@seiu775.org; SEIU Healthcare 775NW, 33615 First Way
South, Federal Way WA 98003; fax 253-815-3701
• Your three state legislators ( you can find your district by going to:
www1.leg.wa.gov .)
• Governor Gregoire, Office of the Governor, P.O. Box 40002, Olympia WA
98504-0002, website and email:
www.governor.wa.gov
• Representative Dawn Morrell, from Pierce Co. (on Long Term Care Work
Group) PO Box 40600 Olympia WA 98504-0600
morrell.dawn@leg.wa.gov
• Representative Eileen Cody. P.O. Box 40600, Olympia WA 98504-0600,
cody.eileen@leg.wa.gov
IMPORTANT: In order to track accurate numbers of parents who want or do
not want greatly increased training please also cc:
pcadvocates@hotmail.com
Joanne O’Neill will monitor this email.
QUESTIONS
• In King County: Please contact: Joanne O’Neill,
jponeill@arcofkingcounty.org , 425-746-2178
• In other counties with a Parent Coalition coordinator, contact that
person
• Statewide: Donna Patrick,
donnap@cted.wa.gov ; 1-800-634-4473 ext. 4
