Licensing Home Health Care Workers May Not Be as Simple as It First Appears

In a California Healthline report by Rachel Dornhelm, experts discussed pending legislation that would regulate about 120,000 home health care workers in California.

The bill would license home health agencies, require certification and limited training of home health workers, and post certified workers’ names in an online registry.

That’s an expensive effort and an invasion of workers’ privacy, opponents say, but proponents of the new law say it’s necessary to protect the burgeoning and vulnerable senior population in the state. 

The report includes comments from:

• Ken Erman, CEO of Sacramento-based RX Staffing and Home Care;
• Jennifer Gabales, director of policy for the California Association for Health Services at Home;
• Pat McGinnis, executive director of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform;
• Gary Passmore, vice president of the California Congress of Seniors; and
• Vinola Swindell, a Sacramento home care worker.

You can download a PDF transcript of this report (Dornhelm, California Healthline, 7/10).

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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