DOH Issues DAL on Home Care Aide Training and Certification Verification

The Department of Health (DOH) has issued a new Dear Administrator Letter (DAL) and related attachments regarding verification of training and certificate validity for Personal Care Aides (PCAs), Home Health Aides (HHAs), and Advanced Home Health Aides (AHHAs). The attachments are here and here.

The DAL provides updated information regarding training verification and certificate requirements. Agencies that are hiring potential employees in these roles should review all available requisite materials to determine whether staff have received the appropriate training from DOH or State Education Department (SED) training programs. This may include certificate of completion, but must include the Home Care Registry (HCR) aide profile. Aides are not required to provide hiring agencies with copies of their certificates as they are accessible in the HCR and all documentation reviewed for a position should be included in employee files.

If an individual is not listed in the HCR as a PCA, HHA, or AHHA, they cannot be considered for employment and would need to attend an approved training program to become certified prior to obtaining employment in these positions.

In addition to verifying the PCA, HHA, or AHHA training of a potential employee, the hiring agency must also verify the validity of the certificate. Please note that there are differing requirements for each certification type:

• PCA certificates do not have an expiration date and therefore do not lapse.
• HHA certificates do not have an expiration date, but they will lapse if the HHA has not worked for an Article 36 or Article 40 agency within a 24-consecutive month period (per federal regulation 42 CFR 484.80).
• AHHA certificates do not have an expiration date, but to maintain the AHHA certification, the individual is required to maintain his/her HHA certificate (as indicated above) and is required to complete 18 hours of in-service annually in order to maintain his/her AHHA certification status in the HCR.

For PCA and HHA certificates, annual in-service requirements do not impact the certificate status; completion of in-service is a condition of employment only.

Agencies are reminded that they should not add an aide to their HCR roster until they have verified the certificate and checked the certificate validity.

Questions should be sent to hcreg@health.ny.gov. Please feel free to reach out to Meg Everett with any questions you may have.

Contact: Meg Everett, meverett@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871