HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1013        FILED ON: 1/17/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 640

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Rita A. Mendes

_________________

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 improve infection control in Massachusetts home care.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Rita A. Mendes

11th Plymouth

1/12/2023

Steven Ultrino

33rd Middlesex

1/26/2023

David Henry Argosky LeBoeuf

17th Worcester

1/26/2023

Christopher J. Worrell

5th Suffolk

1/26/2023

Jack Patrick Lewis

7th Middlesex

1/30/2023

James C. Arena-DeRosa

8th Middlesex

1/30/2023

Gerard J. Cassidy

9th Plymouth

1/31/2023

Michelle M. DuBois

10th Plymouth

1/31/2023

Tackey Chan

2nd Norfolk

2/1/2023

Patricia A. Duffy

5th Hampden

2/2/2023

Jon Santiago

9th Suffolk

2/6/2023

Frank A. Moran

17th Essex

2/8/2023

Kay Khan

11th Middlesex

2/8/2023

Russell E. Holmes

6th Suffolk

2/8/2023

Priscila S. Sousa

6th Middlesex

2/14/2023

Peter Capano

11th Essex

2/17/2023

Michael D. Brady

Second Plymouth and Norfolk

2/18/2023

James B. Eldridge

Middlesex and Worcester

2/19/2023

Adrianne Pusateri Ramos

14th Essex

3/1/2023

Lindsay N. Sabadosa

1st Hampshire

3/4/2023

Christopher Richard Flanagan

1st Barnstable

3/14/2023

Natalie M. Higgins

4th Worcester

3/14/2023

Carol A. Doherty

3rd Bristol

3/22/2023

Tommy Vitolo

15th Norfolk

3/30/2023

Jacob R. Oliveira

Hampden, Hampshire and Worcester

4/11/2023

Christopher Hendricks

11th Bristol

4/13/2023

Estela A. Reyes

4th Essex

5/19/2023

David Allen Robertson

19th Middlesex

6/4/2023


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1013        FILED ON: 1/17/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 640

By Representative Mendes of Brockton, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 640) of Rita A. Mendes and others that the Executive Office of Health and Human Services be directed to establish a mandatory infection control training program for personal home care attendants.  Elder Affairs.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)

_______________

 

An Act to improve infection control in Massachusetts home care.

 

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. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the executive office of health and human services, in consultation with appropriate state agencies and relevant public stakeholders, shall develop and implement a mandatory infection control training program for all new and incumbent personal care attendants, as defined in section 70 of said chapter 118E, and all individual employees of home care agencies who provide home care services to a consumer in the consumer’s residence. 

For purposes of this act, a home care agency shall be an entity or organization, however organized and whether conducted for profit or not for profit, that is owned, operated, maintained or advertised for the purpose of providing home care services in residential settings for compensation, provided, however, that home care agency shall not include an entity operated by either the federal government or the commonwealth providing home care services; an entity that limits its business exclusively to the provision of house cleaning services; an aging service access points or ASAP entity as defined in section 4B of chapter 19A; a hospice program licensed under section 57D of chapter 111; or an adult foster care program regulated under 130 CMR 408.

(b) The executive office shall establish contracts with labor-management training funds, community colleges, and other entities capable of conducting the training program and shall ensure the training program is implemented in a manner that is coordinated with the work of other state agencies and public and private entities involved in health care workforce training, recruitment, and retention.

SECTION 2. The executive office of health and human services shall establish the mandatory infection control and public health training program as outlined above no later than 180 days from passage of this Act.