(1) The department of social and health services shall review, in coordination with the department of health, the *nursing care quality assurance commission, adult family home providers, assisted living facility providers, in-home personal care providers, and long-term care consumers and advocates, training standards for providers, resident managers, and resident caregiving staff. The departments and the *commission shall submit to the appropriate committees of the house of representatives and the senate by December 1, 1998, specific recommendations on training standards and the delivery system, including necessary statutory changes and funding requirements. Any proposed enhancements shall be consistent with this section, shall take into account and not duplicate other training requirements applicable to adult family homes and staff, and shall be developed with the input of adult family home and resident representatives, health care professionals, and other vested interest groups. Training standards and the delivery system shall be relevant to the needs of residents served by the adult family home and recipients of long-term in-home personal care services and shall be sufficient to ensure that providers, resident managers, and caregiving staff have the skills and knowledge necessary to provide high quality, appropriate care.

(2) The recommendations on training standards and the delivery system developed under subsection (1) of this section shall be based on a review and consideration of the following: Quality of care; availability of training; affordability, including the training costs incurred by the department of social and health services and private providers; portability of existing training requirements; competency testing; practical and clinical coursework; methods of delivery of training; standards for management; uniform caregiving staff training; necessary enhancements for special needs populations; and resident rights training. Residents with special needs include, but are not limited to, residents with a diagnosis of mental illness, dementia, or developmental disability. Development of training recommendations for developmental disabilities services shall be coordinated with the study requirements in section 6, chapter 272, Laws of 1998.

(3) The department of social and health services shall report to the appropriate committees of the house of representatives and the senate by December 1, 1998, on the cost of implementing the proposed training standards for state-funded residents, and on the extent to which that cost is covered by existing state payment rates.

*Reviser’s note: The reference to “nursing care quality assurance commission” was changed to “board of nursing” by 2023 c 123.

Application—2012 c 10: See note following RCW 18.20.010.

Findings—Severability—Effective date—1998 c 272: See notes following RCW 18.20.230.