By: Powell  S.B. No. 1847
         (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 2021; March 26, 2021, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Health & Human Services;
  May 3, 2021, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 3, 2021, sent
  to printer.)
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1847 By:  Perry
 
 
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.
 
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