Committee advances changes to Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board process, refers House File 500 to general register

Representative Zalesnikar, the author of House File 500, told the Workforce, Labor and Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee on March 5 that the A1 amendment creates a three-part voting requirement for the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board, eliminates expedited rulemaking for that board, and adds training language to include industry trainers for nursing homes.

The change is meant to require “two affirmative votes” from each of the board’s three appointing groups before rules move forward and to preserve federal compliance by removing expedited rulemaking, the author said. Representative Zalesnikar also said the amendment provides parameters for trainers who already work with nursing homes.

Supporters of the amended bill urged lawmakers to ensure the board’s actions are funded or rendered ineffective. Kyle Burt of the Long Term Care Imperative said the amendment requires facility-specific rate impact analyses and argued…