Bill > HB1284

This bill requires the Maryland Department of Health to create regulations allowing residential service agencies, which provide home health care, to train licensed nurses who offer private duty nursing services after they are hired, even if those nurses don't initially meet certain clinical experience requirements. Specifically, these agencies can employ a licensed nurse who lacks the required experience if the agency provides them with a training program designed for safe patient care, ensures they receive clinical supervision from a qualified registered nurse, assigns them a preceptor until they prove competency, documents their successful completion of competency standards, and conducts annual competency evaluations (or more frequently if needed for disciplinary reasons). These training programs and evaluations must be approved by the Department of Health, and this new provision does not alter existing rules for occupational licensing, scope of practice, or standards of care.