4723.63 Pilot program for medication aides in nursing homes.
4723.63 Pilot program for medication aides in nursing homes.
(A) In consultation with the medication aide advisory council established under section 4723.62 of the Revised Code, the board of nursing shall conduct a pilot program for the use of medication aides in nursing homes and residential care facilities. The board shall conduct the pilot program in a manner consistent with human protection and other ethical concerns typically associated with research studies involving live subjects. The pilot program shall be commenced not later than May 1, 2006, and shall end on the thirty-first day after the report required by division (F)(2) of this section is submitted in accordance with that division. During the period the pilot program is conducted, a nursing home or residential care facility participating in the pilot program may use one or more medication aides to administer prescription medications to its residents, subject to all of the following conditions:
(1) Each individual used as a medication aide must hold a current, valid medication aide certificate issued by the board of nursing under this chapter.
(2) The nursing home or residential care facility shall ensure that the requirements of section 4723.67 of the Revised Code are met.
(3) The nursing home or residential care facility shall submit to the board, not later than the thirty-first day after the day the board makes its request under division (F)(1)(a) of this section, the data required by division (F)(1)(a) of this section.
(B) The board, in consultation with the medication aide advisory council, shall do all of the following not later than February 1, 2006:
(1) Design the pilot program;
(2) Establish standards to govern medication aides and the nursing homes and residential care facilities participating in the pilot program, including standards for the training of medication aides and the staff of participating nursing homes and residential care facilities;
(3) Establish standards to protect the health and safety of the residents of the nursing homes and residential care facilities participating in the program;
(4) Implement a process for selecting the nursing homes and residential care facilities to participate in the program.
(C)(1) A nursing home or residential care facility may volunteer to participate in the pilot program by submitting an application to the board on a form prescribed and provided by the board. From among the applicants, the board shall select eighty nursing homes and forty residential care facilities to participate in the pilot program. When the board denies an application, it shall notify, in writing, the president and minority leader of the senate and the speaker and minority leader of the house of representatives of the denial and the reasons for the denial.
(2) To be eligible to participate, a nursing home or residential care facility shall agree to observe the standards established by the board for the use of medication aides. A nursing home is eligible to participate only if the department of health has found in the most recent survey or inspection of the home that the home is free from deficiencies related to the administration of medication. A residential care facility is eligible to participate only if the department has found that the facility is free from deficiencies related to the provision of skilled nursing care or the administration of medication.
(D) As a condition of participation in the pilot program, a nursing home and residential care facility selected by the board shall pay the participation fee established in rules adopted under section 4723.69 of the Revised Code. The participation fee is not reimbursable under the medicaid program established under Chapter 5111. of the Revised Code.
(E) On receipt of evidence found credible by the board that continued participation by a nursing home or residential care facility poses an imminent danger, risk of serious harm, or jeopardy to a resident of the home or facility, the board may terminate the authority of the home or facility to participate in the pilot program.
(F)(1) With the assistance of the medication aide advisory council, the board shall conduct an evaluation of the pilot program. In conducting the evaluation, the board shall do all of the following:
(a) Request from each nursing home and residential care facility participating in the pilot program, on the ninety-first day after the day the board issues a medication aide certificate under section 4723.651 of the Revised Code to the seventy-fifth individual, the data the board requires participating nursing homes and residential care facilities to report under rules the board adopts under section 4723.69 of the Revised Code.
(b) Assess whether medication aides are able to administer prescription medications safely to nursing home and residential care facility residents;
(c) Determine the financial implications of using medication aides in nursing homes and residential care facilities;
(d) Consider any other issue the board or council considers relevant to the evaluation.
(2) Not later than the one hundred eighty-first day after the day the board issues a medication aide certificate under section 4723.651 of the Revised Code to the seventy-fifth individual, the board shall prepare a report of its findings and recommendations derived from the evaluation of the pilot program. The board shall submit the report to the governor, president and minority leader of the senate, speaker and minority leader of the house of representatives, and director of health.
(G) The board shall, on the day it issues a medication aide certificate to the seventy-fifth individual, post a notice on its web site indicating the date on which any nursing home or residential care facility may use medication aides in accordance with section 4723.64 of the Revised Code.
Effective Date: 09-26-2003; 2007 HB119 06-30-2007