In-home supportive services: licensed health care professional certification.

Existing law provides for the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with specified services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Existing law defines supportive services for purposes of the IHSS program to include those necessary paramedical services that are ordered by a licensed health care professional, which persons could provide for themselves, but for their functional limitations. Existing law requires an applicant for, or recipient of, in-home supportive services, as a condition of receiving these services, to obtain a certification from a licensed health care professional declaring that the applicant or recipient is unable to perform some activities of daily living independently, and that without services to assist the applicant or recipient with activities of daily living, the applicant or recipient is at risk of placement in out-of-home care, and defines a licensed health care professional to mean an individual licensed in California by the appropriate California regulatory agency, acting within the scope of their license or certificate as defined in the Business and Professions Code. This bill would instead define "licensed health care professional" for those purposes to mean any person who engages in acts that are the subject of licensure or regulation under specified provisions of the Business and Professions Code or under any initiative act referred to in those specified provisions. The bill would also clarify that as a condition of receiving paramedical services, an applicant or recipient is required to obtain a certification from a licensed health care professional, as specified.