Wash. State Making Progress with Stricter Home Care Worker Training Requirements

An initiative in Washington State which mandated a 75 hours of training for home care workers is making progress, a recent state audit reported.

The bolstered training requirements became law via a 2011 ballot initiative, which also mandated background checks for all home care workers.

Auditors conducted a spot check of 83 adult family homes, finding that 96 percent of workers had earned their certifications, either by passing the 75-hour training or the pre-2011 requirement of just 28 hours of training.

A January 2013 audit found that the initiative was experiencing some setbacks, particularly among workers who speak English as a second language, who struggled with the certification process.

But the latest audit shows that the initiative is “moving in the right direction,” said Diane Young, credentialing manager for the Department of Health, in a January 2 article in the Olympian.

— by Matthew Ozga