Report Title:
Long-Term Care Resource Initiative; Appropriation
Description:
Establishes and funds a long-term care resource initiative within Kapiolani Community College to expand the long-term caregiver workforce, improve the support and training of family caregivers, and promote active aging of the elderly. Appropriates $1. (HB2063 HD1)
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
2063 |
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TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to a long-term care resource initiative.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that helping the elderly to stay in their homes as they age reduces their admission to costly institutional or residential long-term care facilities. Hawaii is at the cusp of significant demographic changes over the next decade. Currently, the State's population of individuals over sixty-five years of age is increasing at a rate of two to three times the national average. However, the number of nursing home beds available is not even fifty per cent of the national average, and Hawaii's home- and community-based infrastructure does not adequately meet Hawaii's chronic care management needs. Infrastructure must be expanded to accommodate a broader range of home- and community-based long-term care options for the rapidly growing elderly population.
A critical element for the expansion of home- and community-based long-term care options is the development of an adequate long-term care workforce. Three components are associated with a workforce development strategy that places an emphasis on expanding affordable care options for the elderly:
(1) The paraprofessional worker: the Department of Labor projects rapid rates of growth for various types of entry-level paraprofessional healthcare workers. A forty per cent growth in the number of home health aides is expected from 2000 to 2010. The State will need to expand its capacity to meet these needs by improving its training capacity to meet both quantitative and qualitative demands for its home- and community-based long-term care workforce;
(2) Family caregivers: Hawaii's citizens need to become better prepared to become family caregivers. Family caregivers will represent a significant segment of the home-based workforce. Few people plan for this and thus find themselves thrust into becoming caregivers with little preparation or planning. Family caregiver education and training is the most commonly expressed need at all levels of the caregiving spectrum; and
(3) Active aging of the elderly: active aging can be promoted by shifting the view of the elderly as being dependent to viewing them as a productive and viable asset to society.
Expanding the capacity to train and educate the paraprofessional healthcare workforce, improving the means to train and support family caregivers, and harnessing the productivity of the elderly themselves will have a positive effect toward broadening affordable community and home care options and the workforce for long-term care.
In August 2003, Kapiolani Community College (KCC) convened a meeting of all of the community colleges and respective community agencies to review the present and future role of the State's colleges. Community colleges are well dispersed throughout the State and possess the capacity to provide the training for the long-term care workforce across the healthcare spectrum.
KCC is viewed as the flagship community college for nursing, long-term care, and allied healthcare and education. KCC's core healthcare curricula have been directed toward expansion of the paraprofessional healthcare workforce. KCC is well-positioned to play a role in strengthening the State's capacity to provide affordable home- and community-based long-term care for its residents.
The purpose of this Act is to establish a long-term care resource program initiative, with KCC, to develop an adaptable model for expanding the State's workforce capacity for home- and community-based care to care effectively for Hawaii's aging population.
SECTION 2. (a) There shall be established with KCC a long-term care resource program initiative or similar entity that contributes to:
(1) The expansion of the quality and quantity of home- and community-based long-term care workers by engaging in active research on the skills required for this segment of the workforce, the design of appropriate curricula based on local industry standards, and the delivery of training through a variety of traditional and technology-based methods;
(2) The improvement in the support and training of family caregivers through the collection, development, and dissemination of resource materials, as well as the provision of training for informal family caregivers; and
(3) The promotion of active aging to harness the productivity of the elderly to become a healthcare resource for themselves and the community.
(b) The long-term care resource program initiative shall serve as a model for other community colleges in the University of Hawaii system to establish similar programs. KCC shall:
(1) Establish, no later than August 1, 2006, a working group representing each of the community colleges to provide support for resource sharing and collaboration;
(2) Report to each of the other community colleges on a regular basis on the issues involved in implementing the program; and
(3) Propose a plan for statewide expansion of the program.
(c) KCC shall submit a progress report to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2007.
SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007, to KCC for start-up expenses to establish a long-term care resource program initiative.
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the University of Hawaii for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2006.