To provide greater workforce flexibility to Florida long-term care providers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 public health emergency, Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) Secretary Mary Mayhew today announced the launch of a program to allow personal care attendants to temporarily perform additional duties. This program will provide nursing homes with an avenue to hire Floridians currently out of work to fill staffing shortages.
“An essential mission of the Agency for Health Care Administration is to provide critical support to the health care facilities and staff on the frontlines of this emergency,” said AHCA Secretary Mary Mayhew. “COVID-19 disproportionately impacts Florida’s most vulnerable populations and providing key staffing flexibilities will ensure residents receive the highest quality care possible. We remain focused on protecting and safeguarding our state’s elderly and those with severe underlying health conditions while putting Floridians back to work fulfilling necessary health care roles at facilities.”
The Personal Care Attendant Program provides an 8-hour training of required skills to assist in direct care which is then supported with continued on-the-job training supervised by nursing staff. AHCA encourages facilities to provide additional educational training so personal care attendants who wish to seek a career as a Certified Nursing Assistant can obtain needed competency to do so. Additionally, AHCA recently granted providers the ability to more quickly hire necessary additional staff through Emergency Order AHCA No. 20-001.
Job listings will be available on the Florida Health Care Association’s job board or directly from nursing homes across the state.
The Agency for Health Care Administration is committed to better health care for all Floridians. The Agency administers Florida’s Medicaid program, licenses and regulates more than 44,000 health care facilities and 53 health plans, and publishes health care data and statistics at FloridaHealthFinder.gov. Additional information about Agency initiatives is available via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
