No. SB 1068
Filed under Healthcare.
Home Health Services; Requiring nurse registries to provide a written disclosure to clients at intake and annually thereafter; requiring the Agency for Health Care Administration to adopt rules; prohibiting nurse registries from using specified terms in their business names, advertising, websites, and promotional materials; providing that registered homemakers and companions are subject to initial and periodic inspections by the agency; revising the definition of the term “low-risk provider” to exclude nurse registries, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDNurse registries must give every client a signed disclosure at intake and every year after, in bold type, explaining that referred caregivers are independent contractors, listing insurance coverage, and describing transport and lifting risks.
Registries can no longer call themselves "home health" or "agency" in any name, ad, or website; they must use "nurse registry" instead, post their license number, and file a public fee schedule.
Registered homemakers and companions, previously lightly regulated, face the same disclosure duties, the same naming limits, and new agency inspections at least every 36 months covering records, disclosures, and background screening.
Nurse registries lose their "low-risk provider" classification, and a specific legal exemption disappears: commissions paid to a nurse registry for referring caregivers no longer sit outside the patient-brokering prohibition law.
AINurse registries must give each client a signed disclosure at intake and every year after, in at least 14-point bold type, covering the caregiver's independent-contractor status, the registry's insurance coverage, complaint contacts, and transport or lifting risks.
AIRegistered homemakers and companions, who were not previously subject to routine inspection, must now undergo an initial inspection and periodic inspections at least once every 36 months, covering service records, disclosures, background screening, and marketing compliance.
AICommissions or fees paid to a nurse registry for referring people who provide health care services to its clients are struck from the list of payment practices the patient-brokering prohibition does not apply to.
AIA nurse registry may no longer use "home health," "home health care," or "agency" in its business name, advertising, website, or promotional materials, must include "nurse registry" in its name instead, and must post its license number and a fee schedule.
AIRegistered homemakers and companions must give clients the same kind of signed, bold-type disclosure at initiation of services and annually, describing their non-medical scope, insurance status, complaint contacts, and whether they are an employee or independent contractor.
AINurse registries are deleted from the statutory list of providers that qualify as a "low-risk provider," while home medical equipment providers and health care clinics remain classified that way.