Bill Planned to Ease In-Home Care Restrictions

Jan. 22--A bill to alter state nursing regulations would save the state and Georgians hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and enable more sick and elderly people to get home care, according to backers, who include Gov. Sonny Perdue.

The amendment to the state Nurse Practice Act, will be introduced next week, said Perdue's floor leader in the House of Representatives, Jimmy Pruett (R-Eastman). So far, said Pruett, it "doesn't have any opposition."

The bill will allow an unlicensed person who is trained by a Registered Nurse (RN) to perform some services -- such as administering medication and keeping watch over a home patient on a ventilator -- that now require RNs.

Supporters say the change could significantly reduce the cost of home care. Procedures that an RN might charge $65 for could cost as little as $10 when performed by a trained certified nurse assistant, said Reva Stephens, part owner of Just For You Personal Supports Services, a College Park company with 80 nurse assistants.

"I'm in favor of this law," said Stephens. "It will allow us to provide holistic services to our clients as opposed to being limited."

Pat Puckett, director of the Statewide Independent Living Council, which has pushed for the legislation, said she does not believe the law "would affect, in a negative way, the need for nurses at all."

Groups whose members might take a hit from the legislation -- home care providing services, and registered nurses -- aren't taking a position on the bill until they see how it's written.

"We just heard about this yesterday, and haven't seen it, so it would be premature for us to comment," said Judy Adams, executive director of the Georgia Association of Home Health Agencies.

Fran Bell, a registered nurse and president of the Georgia Nurses Association, issued a statement:

"We have seen this legislation in draft form only. Based on that understanding, the Georgia Nurses Association Board of Directors will be considering its support. We are concerned about the liability of the professional registered nurse who would train and supervise the unlicensed caregivers."

Current law does not apply to family members who can provide home care, but rather to paid, non-family attendants.

Perdue press secretary Chris Schrimpf said the amended law would allow the state to release many of the estimated 800 people in state-run nursing facilities to home or community care. Right now, those patients require "around-the-clock nursing transition to the community," said Schrimpf, and that "makes that transition cost-prohibitive."

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