Effective: October 6, 2009
Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 79 - 128th General Assembly
(A) As used in this section, "home care dependent adult" means an individual who resides in a private home or other noninstitutional and unlicensed living arrangement, without the presence of a parent or guardian, but has health and safety needs that require the provision of regularly scheduled home care services to remain in the home or other living arrangement because one of the following is the case:
(1) The individual is at least twenty-one years of age but less than sixty years of age and has a physical disability or mental impairment.
(2) The individual is sixty years of age or older, regardless of whether the individual has a physical disability or mental impairment.
(B) Except as provided in division (D) of this section, the departments of developmental disabilities, aging, job and family services, and health shall each implement this section with respect to all contracts entered into by the department for the provision of home care services to home care dependent adults that are paid for in whole or in part with federal, state, or local funds. Except as provided in division (D) of this section, each department shall also require all public and private entities that receive money from or through the department to comply with this section when entering into contracts for the provision of home care services to home care dependent adults that are paid for in whole or in part with federal, state, or local funds. Such entities may include county boards of developmental disabilities, area agencies on aging, county departments of job and family services, and boards of health of city and general health districts.
(C) Beginning one year after September 26, 2003, each contract subject to this section shall include terms requiring that the provider of home care services to home care dependent adults have a system in place that effectively monitors the delivery of the services by its employees. To be considered an effective monitoring system for purposes of the contract, the system established by a provider must include at least the following components:
(1) When providing home care services to home care dependent adults who have a mental impairment or life-threatening health condition, a mechanism to verify whether the provider's employees are present at the location where the services are to be provided and at the time the services are to be provided;
(2) When providing home care services to all other home care dependent adults, a system to verify at the end of each working day whether the provider's employees have provided the services at the proper location and time;
(3) A protocol to be followed in scheduling a substitute employee when the monitoring system identifies that an employee has failed to provide home care services at the proper location and time, including standards for determining the length of time that may elapse without jeopardizing the health and safety of the home care dependent adult;
(4) Procedures for maintaining records of the information obtained through the monitoring system;
(5) Procedures for compiling annual reports of the information obtained through the monitoring system, including statistics on the rate at which home care services were provided at the proper location and time;
(6) Procedures for conducting random checks of the accuracy of the monitoring system. For purposes of conducting these checks, a random check is considered to be a check of not more than five per cent of the home care visits the provider's employees make to different home care dependent adults within a particular work shift.
(D) In implementing this section, the departments shall exempt providers of home care services who are self-employed providers with no other employees or are otherwise considered by the departments not to be agency providers. The departments shall conduct a study on how the exempted providers may be made subject to the requirement of effectively monitoring whether home care services are being provided and have been provided at the proper location and time. Not later than two years after September 26, 2003, the departments shall prepare a report of their findings and recommendations. The report shall be submitted to the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives.
(E) The departments of developmental disabilities, aging, job and family services, and health shall each adopt rules as necessary to implement this section. The rules shall be adopted in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code.