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Minutes for SB453 - Committee on Health and Human Services
Short Title
Requiring adult care home certified aides who take training courses to demonstrate certain skills to successfully complete such training courses and requiring licensed nurses to teach and evaluate such training courses.
Minutes Content for Tue, Mar 8, 2022
Linda Mowbray, President/CEO, Kansas Health Care Association and Kansas Center for Assisted Living, provided testimony in support of SB453 (Attachment 1). The bill as amended expands and modernizes healthcare workforce training in Kansas. Covid 19 has devastated the workforce in adult care homes. There is no one in line to replace the individuals that have left the industry. The bill would allow Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) to teach CNA courses under the general supervision of a registered nurse and expanding the number of CNA courses in Kansas. RN's would administer the skills demonstration portion of CNA competency evaluation. The bill does not change the curriculum or dilute the content, hours, skills or exams administered to the student.
Shawn Sullivan, President & CEO, Midland Care Connection, provided testimony in support of SB453 (Attachment 2). Midland Care Connection provides community and home based services to more than 1800 people across the state. The organization relies heavily on CNAs and HHAs to provide care to patients and clients in its PACE program. Currently they have a 30% vacancy rate,or approximately 33 CNA shortage. The bill helps to ease some of the burdens that prevent schools to enroll more students in CNA courses. The issue is that there are not enough RN's to teach the courses to make a significant impact on the shortage.
Robert Miller, Senior Vice President, Company Development, ComfortCare Homes and Comfort Keepers of Wichita, provided testimony in support of SB453 (Attachment 3). The demand for qualified healthcare workers like professional caregivers has been growing for years. There are several gaps of need to address when recruiting, training and retaining CNAs. SB453 is meant to help increase the number of students taking CNA courses. 200 students were turned away last fall and 300 were turned away in January. This is due to the lack of RN's to teach the courses.
Sheree Utash, President, WSU Tech, provided testimony in support of SB453 (Attachment 4). This bill provides support to increase the number of qualified care providers at the Certified Nurse Aide level. At WSU Tech, it has seen the desperate need for CNAs and the difficulty in increasing the number of candidates due to current limitations on who can teach the class. The bill will allow the school to expand its capacity while maintaining the quality of the courses.
Andrew Weins, Vice President of Government Relations, Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce, provided testimony in support of SB453 (Attachment 5). The Wichita Chamber has been involved in finding solutions to the CNA shortages in its region. A long term care facility was forced to close due to the inability to hire CNAs. The bill is not a mandate. It allows the expansion of the number of students that can be trained. SB453 does not require the hiring of LPNs to instruct CNAs. It allows it. The bill also does not change the current training hours or curriculum. It also does not extend or make permanent the "temporary aides" as defined in HB2477. Facilities may continue to close if the shortage is not dealt with.
Rachel Monger, Chief Advocacy Officer, LeadingAge Kansas, provided testimony in support of SB453 (Attachment 6). There are only so many ways to deal with the workforce shortage due to the very strict federal regulations in place for nurse aide courses. Making Kansas law match already robust federal regulations is the best path forward. There is a need for a practical learning procedure to eliminate the workforce issues. Ms. Monger provided the regulatory background for Certified Nurse Aides. A list of states that have allow LPNs to act as instructors in CNA training programs was provided. While not every program will want to use LPNs as course instructors, the bill allows that flexibility for the programs that need it to ensure that we can provide the CNAs so desperately needed.
Heather Porter, Chief Clinical Officer, NMC Health, provided testimony in support of SB453 (Attachment 7). It was noted that Kansas is one out of five states with the highest CNA need. The bill will make additional instructors and courses available to expand the number of CNAs. The LPN Scope of Practice allows an LPN to be assigned work by an RN is the areas of observation, intervention, evaluation and basic care. The Kansas State Nurse Practice Act clearly defines the practice of delegation and states that the services of a RN may be supplemented by the assignment of tasks to a LPN. SB453 allows for greater flexibilities and eliminates barriers to expanded the certified nurses aide training opportunities.
Haely Ordoyne, Chairwoman, Kansas Adult Care, Executives provided testimony in support of SB453 (Attachment 8). SB453 is a steppingstone to help the state deal with the CNA shortage. Ms. Ordoyne provided case examples. The bill will allow for higher staffing ratios. LPNs have the skill set and are qualified to train.
Shannon Lager, Executive VP & COO, MEDICALODGES, Inc., provided testimony in support of SB453 (Attachment 9). MEDICALODGES has experienced a dramatic declined in the number of RN's and CNAs they employ despite extensive efforts to attract, hire and retain. This has led to the greater use of staffing agencies, which has led to higher staffing costs. MEDICALODGES has had to relocate residents due to the lack of staffing. The organization is also being selective of the people they admit due to the services that are needed. They currently have 80 vacancies across all sites, which is approximately a 20% vacancy rate.
Ms. Lager responded to questions from the committee.
The following provide proponent written only testimony:
Tara Mays, Vice President State Legislative Relations, Kansas Hospital Association (Attachment 10)
Michelle Mosiman, Executive Director, Good Shepherd Hospice (Attachment 11)
Douglas Stark, President of ComfortCare Homes, LLC. (Attachment 12)
Shannon Erwin, Director of Operations ComfortCare Homes of Harvey County (Attachment 13)
Kansas Technical Colleges (Attachment 14)
