SENATE DOCKET, NO. 973        FILED ON: 2/9/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1165

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Harriette L. Chandler

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to provide pathways for Certified Nursing Assistants.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 973        FILED ON: 2/9/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1165

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act to provide pathways for Certified Nursing Assistants.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Comprehensive Strategic Plan

Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS), in consultation with the Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Healthcare Collaborative, the Commonwealth Corporation, the 1199SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund, the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, the Massachusetts Hospital and Health Systems Association, and other stakeholders as the executive office may determine, shall develop a comprehensive strategic plan for reducing expected Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) labor shortages by creating education and training programs at the scale required and matching those programs with clinical slots and employment opportunities with health care providers across the Commonwealth. This new comprehensive strategic plan shall include but not be limited to strategies, programs, initiatives, and new state funding addressing the following matters:

1)General Awareness:  Improving awareness of the range of CNA career opportunities in multiple care settings, and other opportunities for career advancement;

2)Expanded Training Sites & Slots:  Expansion of the types of approved clinical training sites and available slots for those training to become CNAs including but not limited to the establishment of clinical training slots in additional health care settings beyond long term care facilities, the use of clinical training alternatives through simulations and/or virtual reality, and/or a reduction in the numbers of clinical placement hours required for CNA certification;

3)Alternative Trainings:  Expansion of alternative education programs, including but not limited to more flexible scheduling, stackable credentialing programs, and work-based apprenticeships; 

4)Additional Testing:  Expansion of state contracting for CNA testing that creates additional sites for and administrators of the Nurse Aide Competency Evaluation tests; and

5)Improved Coordination:  More coordination among existing worker training initiatives conducted by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, the Department of Higher Education, the Commonwealth Corporation, and by any other state agencies and subcontracted organizations.

Not later than nine months after passage of this Act, the executive office shall prepare and distribute a final report detailing the elements of the comprehensive strategic plan and offering findings and recommendations for subsequent legislative, regulatory or other state action to the joint committee on labor and workforce development, the joint committee on health care financing, and to the house and senate committees on ways and means.

SECTION 2. Incumbent Health Care Worker CNA Certification Pilot Program

(a) EOHHS shall, within six months of the effective date of this act, fund, establish and implement an Incumbent Health Care Worker CNA Certification Pilot Program (the Pilot) to demonstrate the impact of a program for work-based learning programs that offer paid training of incumbent health care workers with limited access to current CNA certification training and difficulty attending traditionally scheduled classes while fulfilling their current work responsibilities. Such Pilot shall include state funding and/or supplemental provider rates that offset employer’s cost of providing this training and that shall be utilized to offer paid training opportunities.

(b) There shall be a Health Care Worker CNA Certification Pilot Program Advisory Committee. The secretary of health and human services or their designees shall appoint such advisory committee to represent significant constituencies, beneficiaries and stakeholders including but not limited to the chairs of the joint committee on labor and workforce development, labor organizations, community-based organizations and nonprofit education, training or other service providers, a representative from the Commonwealth Corporation, the 1199SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund, the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, the Massachusetts Hospital and Health Systems Association, and other stakeholders as the executive office may determine.

(b) The advisory committee shall advise the coordinator on matters and policies affecting Health Care Worker CNA Certification Pilot Program. The committee shall supply constituent focused labor market information, review general programmatic parameters and guidelines, and assist with the identification of issues and barriers to Pilot’s efficiency and effectiveness.  The committee shall meet from time to time, but not less frequently than bi-monthly.

(c) Not later than six months after the implementation of the Pilot, the executive office shall provide a final report detailing the results of the Pilot and offering findings and recommendations for subsequent state action to the joint committee on labor and workforce development, the joint committee on health care financing, and to the house and senate committees on ways and means.