§255 — Title 42 The Public Health and Welfare | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary may give grants to public and nonprofit groups, and loans to for-profit groups, to help start home health programs where such services are lacking or hard to get. These funds can pay startup costs and train paraprofessionals, including homemaker home health aides. When deciding who gets money, the Secretary must weigh each State’s need, prefer areas with many elderly, medically indigent, or disabled people, and pay special attention to places with poor transportation. For-profit loan applicants must show they are financially sound now and will stay so, cannot get a local loan at the prevailing rate, and loans will carry an interest rate like comparable U.S. government securities adjusted for administrative costs. Applications must follow the Secretary’s required form. Up to $5,000,000 is authorized each year for fiscal years ending September 30, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1987 for these grants and loans. The Secretary may also fund and contract for training programs for paraprofessionals. Homemaker home health aide programs must run at least 40 hours and include at least 20 hours of supervised clinical instruction, be done under proper professional supervision, teach care that supports a person’s independence, and cover personal care (like bathing and grooming) and household care (like safe living, light housekeeping, and food preparation). Priority may be given to programs training people 50 and older. Applications follow the Secretary’s form, and up to $2,000,000 is authorized each of the same fiscal years. The Secretary must report to specified congressional committees by January 1, 1984, on the grants’ impact, whether to continue them, and how training standards have been applied. The term “home health services” is defined by section 1395x(m).

Title 42, §255

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)For the purpose of encouraging the establishment and initial operation of home health programs to provide home health services in areas in which such services are inadequate or not readily accessible, the Secretary may, in accordance with the provisions of this section, make grants to public and nonprofit private entities and loans to proprietary entities to meet the initial costs of establishing and operating such home health programs. Such grants and loans may include funds to provide training for paraprofessionals (including homemaker home health aides) to provide home health services.

(2)In making grants and loans under this subsection, the Secretary shall—

(A)consider the relative needs of the several States for home health services;

(B)give preference to areas in which a high percentage of the population proposed to be served is composed of individuals who are elderly, medically indigent, or disabled; and

(C)give special consideration to areas with inadequate means of transportation to obtain necessary health services.

(3)(A)No loan may be made to a proprietary entity under this section unless the application of such entity for such loan contains assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that—

(i)at the time the application is made the entity is fiscally sound;

(ii)the entity is unable to secure a loan for the project for which the application is submitted from non-Federal lenders at the rate of interest prevailing in the area in which the entity is located; and

(iii)during the period of the loan, such entity will remain fiscally sound.

(B)Loans under this section shall be made at an interest rate comparable to the rate of interest prevailing on the date the loan is made with respect to the marketable obligations of the United States of comparable maturities, adjusted to provide for administrative costs.

(4)Applications for grants and loans under this subsection shall be in such form and contain such information as the Secretary shall prescribe.

(5)There are authorized to be appropriated for grants and loans under this subsection $5,000,000 for each of the fiscal years ending on September 30, 1983, September 30, 1984, September 30, 1985, September 30, 1986, and September 30, 1987.

(b)(1)The Secretary may make grants to and enter into contracts with public and private entities to assist them in developing appropriate training programs for paraprofessionals (including homemaker home health aides) to provide home health services.

(2)Any program established with a grant or contract under this subsection to train homemaker home health aides shall—

(A)extend for at least forty hours, and consist of classroom instruction and at least twenty hours (in the aggregate) of supervised clinical instruction directed toward preparing students to deliver home health services;

(B)be carried out under appropriate professional supervision and be designed to train students to maintain or enhance the personal care of an individual in his home in a manner which promotes the functional independence of the individual; and

(C)include training in—

(i)personal care services designed to assist an individual in the activities of daily living such as bathing, exercising, personal grooming, and getting in and out of bed; and

(ii)household care services such as maintaining a safe living environment, light housekeeping, and assisting in providing good nutrition (by the purchasing and preparation of food).

(3)In making grants and entering into contracts under this subsection, special consideration shall be given to entities which establish or will establish programs to provide training for persons fifty years of age and older who wish to become paraprofessionals (including homemaker home health aides) to provide home health services.

(4)Applications for grants and contracts under this subsection shall be in such form and contain such information as the Secretary shall prescribe.

(5)There are authorized to be appropriated for grants and contracts under this subsection $2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years ending September 30, 1983, September 30, 1984, September 30, 1985, September 30, 1986, and September 30, 1987.

(c)The Secretary shall report to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives on or before January 1, 1984, with respect to—

(1)the impact of grants made and contracts entered into under subsections (a) and (b) (as such subsections were in effect prior to October 1, 1981);

(2)the need to continue grants and loans under subsections (a) and (b) (as such subsections are in effect on the day after January 4, 1983); and

(3)the extent to which standards have been applied to the training of personnel who provide home health services.

(d)For purposes of this section, the term “home health services” has the meaning prescribed for the term by section 1395x(m) of this title.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Subsections (a) and (b) (as such subsections were in effect prior to October 1, 1981), referred to in subsec. (c)(1), mean subsections (a) and (b) of section 255 of this title prior to repeal of section 255 by Pub. L. 97–35, title IX, § 902(b), Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 559, effective Oct. 1, 1981.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 255, act

July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title III, § 339, as added Nov. 10, 1978, Pub. L. 95–626, title II, § 207(a), 92 Stat. 3585, related to grant authority, etc., for home health services, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 97–35, title IX, § 902(b), (h), Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 559, 561, eff. Oct. 1, 1981. Another prior section 339 of act

July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title III, formerly § 331, 58 Stat. 698;

June 25, 1948, ch. 654, § 4, 62 Stat. 1018;

June 25, 1952, ch. 460, 66 Stat. 157;

July 12, 1960, Pub. L. 86–624, § 29(b), 74 Stat. 419; renumbered § 339, Oct. 12, 1976, Pub. L. 94–484, title IV, § 407(b)(2), 90 Stat. 2268, which related to reception of persons suffering from leprosy in any hospital, was renumbered section 320 of act

July 1, 1944, and transferred to section 247e of this title.

Amendments

1984—Subsecs. (a)(5), (b)(5). Pub. L. 98–555 inserted provisions authorizing appropriations for fiscal years ending Sept. 30, 1985, 1986, and 1987.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Committee on Labor and Human Resources of Senate changed to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of Senate by Senate Resolution No. 20, One Hundred Sixth Congress, Jan. 19, 1999. Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives treated as referring to Committee on Commerce of House of Representatives by section 1(a) of Pub. L. 104–14, set out as a note preceding section 21 of Title 2, The Congress. Committee on Commerce of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives, and jurisdiction over matters relating to securities and exchanges and insurance generally transferred to Committee on Financial Services of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Seventh Congress, Jan. 3, 2001. Report to Congress Concerning Results of Studies Evaluating Home and Community Based Health Services; Studies of Reimbursement Methodologies; Investigation of Fraud; Demonstration Projects; Home Health Services, Defined Pub. L. 97–414, § 6(b)–(f), Jan. 4, 1983, 96 Stat. 2058, 2059, directed Secretary of Health and Human Services to report results of studies evaluating home and community based health services, and any recommendations for legislative action which might improve the provision of such services, to Congress prior to Jan. 1, 1985, to compile and analyze results of significant public or private studies relating to reimbursement methodologies for home health services and to report recommendations to Congress within 180 days after Jan. 4, 1983, to investigate methods available to stem medicare and medicaid fraud and abuse and extent to which such methods are applied and to report results to Congress within 18 months of Jan. 4, 1983, and to develop and carry out demonstration projects commencing no later than Jan. 1, 1984, to test methods for identifying patients at risk of institutionalization who could be treated more cost-effectively with home health services, and to test alternative reimbursement methodologies for home health agencies in order to determine most cost-effective way of providing home health services, and to report to Congress with regard to the demonstrations no later than Jan. 1, 1985; and defined “home health services” for purposes of this section.

§255 Home Health Services