AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REGULATORY PROVISIONS CONCERNING PUBLIC HEALTH.

This Act commits discretion over the length of certified nursing assistant training and orientation programs to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. This change will facilitate the rapid certification of National Guard members as certified nursing assistants (CNAs) by allowing the Department of Health and Social Services to establish the total required classroom and clinical training and mandatory facility-specific orientation hours. Modeled after a Minnesota initiative, eligible guard members will participate in rapid certification programs through DelTech and be deployed to provide temporary staffing in long term care facilities experiencing staffing shortages under MOUs entered will the facilities. National Guard members have served as a critical part of the state’s response efforts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Training and deploying National Guard soldiers to work as CNAs will help relieve staffing shortages in health care settings and facilitate the transfer of patients out of Delaware’s hospitals to free up in-patient bed space.