Washington caregiver training and certification: 75 hours in 120 days, certified in 365

Who these rules cover

The statute says long-term care workers "include all persons who provide paid, hands-on personal care services for the elderly or persons with disabilities, including but not limited to individual providers of home care services, direct care workers employed by home care agencies" (RCW 74.39A.009(20)). DOH’s licensing rule adds: "A long-term care worker employed by a home care agency is either credentialed as a certified home care aide under chapters 18.88A RCW and 246-980 WAC or meets the exemption criteria according to chapter 246-980 WAC." (WAC 246-335-410(6)), and "For home care agencies, minimum health care credentialing is a certified home care aide or higher credential." (WAC 246-335-310(23)(a)).

Two agencies are involved. DSHS sets and approves the training (chapter 74.39A RCW, chapter 388-71 WAC). DOH issues the home care aide credential (chapter 18.88B RCW, chapter 246-980 WAC) and licenses your agency. Your manual can require and track the training, but it cannot supply it: only DSHS-approved curricula count.

Staff who give no hands-on personal care. By our reading of the statute’s definition, a worker who only does housework, shopping, meals or errands is not a long-term care worker, so the 75 hours and certification do not apply to them. DOH’s own rules still do: in-person orientation to your policies and a check of skills or training before anyone gives care on their own (WAC 246-335-425(9)), and ongoing training pertinent to clients’ care needs (WAC 246-335-425(10)). And back-up care that needs help with activities of daily living may only be given by credentialed or exempt staff (WAC 246-335-420(8)).

When the clock starts: two rules to read together

DOH’s rule says date of hire "means the first day the long-term care worker is employed by any employer as a long-term care worker or the date the long-term care worker provides direct care for pay from any employer." (WAC 246-980-010(2)). Read alone, that means a caregiver who has worked for another employer could already be part way through, or past, their 120 and 365 days when they join you.

The statute adds a reset: "A long-term care worker who is not currently certified or eligible to reactivate an expired credential shall receive a new date of hire when beginning work with either a new employer or returning to a former employer after prior employment has ended." (RCW 18.88B.021(1)). DSHS’s rule adds that an agency must not employ someone who worked as a long-term care worker before without finishing the required training or certification, unless their date of hire has been reset (WAC 388-71-0980).

The sources we read do not say how DOH applies the two together to a caregiver who has worked elsewhere before, so we cannot tell you which date DOH will use. Our suggestion: ask every new caregiver whether, when and where they have worked as a caregiver before, check any credential on DOH’s provider credential search before you schedule them, and confirm the date with DOH. CareRulebook’s manual uses the earlier date until DOH confirms which one applies.

Respite-only caregivers

Family respite care is one of the home care services you can tick on DOH’s application (DOH 505-051). Two rules apply to a worker who gives only respite care:

• Certification. "A person working as a long-term care worker providing in-home care who only provides respite services and works less than 300 hours in any calendar year" is exempt (WAC 246-980-025(1)(h)).
• Training. A respite-only worker who gives respite "only for individuals with developmental disabilities receiving services under Title 71A RCW or only for individuals who receive services under this chapter", and works 300 hours or less a year, "must complete 14 hours of training within the first 120 days after becoming a long-term care worker providing in-home care. Five of the 14 hours must be completed before becoming eligible to provide care" (RCW 74.39A.076(1)(c)).

Our reading. "This chapter" is chapter 74.39A RCW, the state’s long-term care services law. A private-pay client is not, as far as we can see, receiving services under it, so the 14-hour route may not fit a private-pay agency’s respite worker. If it does not, the default applies: 75 hours within 120 days (RCW 74.39A.074(1)(b)), though the worker remains exempt from certification. The two rules also count hours differently: the certification exemption says "less than 300 hours", the training rule "300 hours or less". CareRulebook’s manual has the supervisor confirm the hours that apply with the DSHS-approved training program before the worker starts. Our suggestion: ask DSHS before you hire respite-only staff on the shorter training; its background checks page lists 360-725-2563 for home care agency training and certification questions (DSHS, Background Checks).

How CareRulebook’s manual handles training

Policy 4.5, orientation, skills verification and ongoing training, covers DOH’s side: in-person orientation from a checklist of topics tied to the manual’s policies, TB education with DOH’s materials, skills verification checklists for every worker and for each service you offer (personal care, transfers, medication help, housework, shopping, travel, meals, respite, and the optional services if you offer them), an optional written test, retraining on a failed step, ongoing training when clients’ needs or policies change, and the supervisors’ 10 hours, all on one training log.

Policy 4.6, caregiver training and home care aide certification, covers the state rules on this page: working out each caregiver’s date of hire, the 5 hours before the first visit, the 14-day application, the 120 and 365 (425) day deadlines, the exemption table with the evidence to keep, the training hours exempt workers still owe, removal from care the day a deadline is missed, continuing education and renewals, and who may give back-up care. A tracker for each caregiver puts every due date on one page. You choose whether you arrange the training through a DSHS-approved program or hire only people who have already completed it, and the policy is written for that choice.

Policy 4.8, personnel, contractor and volunteer records, lists what goes in each file, in the order of WAC 246-335-430.

The manual cannot supply the 75 hours, the exam or continuing education: those come from DSHS-approved programs and DOH’s exam vendor.