Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77, Part 245 — Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Code

What this rule requires your agency to do

• 1An RN in the home health/home nursing agency must conduct a competency evaluation of each home health aide covering 16 enumerated subjects, including communication, observation/reporting, vital signs, infection control, personal hygiene tasks, safe transfer/ambulation, dementia care, and skin-condition reporting (Section 245.70(e)(1)–(16)).(Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77, Part 245 — Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Code)
• 2Home health/home nursing agencies must ensure every person employed as a home health aide (or under any other title assisting with personal, nursing, or medical care) who is not otherwise licensed either (a) is approved on the Department's Health Care Worker Registry, (b) completed a training program approved under 77 Ill. Adm. Code 395, or (c) meets an equivalency (Section 245.70(a)–(b)).(Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77, Part 245 — Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Code)
• 3Before employing a home health aide, the agency must inquire of the Department's Health Care Worker Registry as to findings of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of property (Section 245.70(f)).(Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77, Part 245 — Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Code)
• 4When home health aide services are offered they must be under RN supervision per the plan of treatment, and for home health agencies the supervising RN/therapist must make a supervisory visit to the patient's residence at least every two weeks (Section 245.40(b)(1) and (b)(3)).(Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77, Part 245 — Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Code)
• 5All home services workers must complete a minimum of 10 hours of training during each year of employment (calendar or anniversary basis) covering client dignity/rights, disaster procedures, hygiene/infection control, abuse-and-neglect prevention/reporting, and ADL tasks (Section 245.71(f)).(Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77, Part 245 — Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Code)
• 6Each home services agency must provide or arrange a minimum of 10 hours of training per home services worker — 5 hours before the first assignment and 5 within the first 30 days — and may not assign a worker until the worker passes a competency evaluation of the first-five-hours topics (Section 245.71(c)).(Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77, Part 245 — Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Code)
• 7Agencies must comply with the Health Care Worker Background Check Act [225 ILCS 46] and the Health Care Worker Background Check Code (77 Ill. Adm. Code 955); a home services worker may not have a disqualifying background check without a waiver (Sections 245.72 and 245.71(a)(1)).(Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77, Part 245 — Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Code)
• 8Each placement agency must require proof that a home services worker completed a minimum of 8 hours of training prior to first assignment (Section 245.71(b)).(Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77, Part 245 — Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Code)