HB 5214 Summary

• Amends the Public Health Code to clarify criminal history background check requirements for home health agencies by redefining "home health agency" to include entities providing services in residences, whether or not Medicare-certified.

• Expands the definition of home health agency services to explicitly include nursing, therapeutic, social work, homemaker, home health aide, activities of daily living assistance, companion care, custodial care, private duty care, continence care, and related services.

• Removes the previous requirement that home health agencies be Medicare-certified, broadening the scope of entities subject to criminal background check requirements for employees and contractors with direct patient access.

• Makes technical corrections throughout the statute by replacing "good faith" with "good-faith," "shall" with "must," "prior to" with "before," and "would indicate" with "indicates" to improve grammatical consistency.

• Removes the definition of "Medicare" from the statute as it is no longer needed given the removal of Medicare certification requirements for home health agencies.