Arizona Becomes 3rd State to Provide In-Home Continuous Care for Loved Ones

This month, Arizona became the third state to officially implement the Family Licensed Health Aide Program! This program aims to help families with medically fragile children by providing an opportunity for family members to train and become licensed and employed caregivers for their children. 

Legislation for this program was passed last year, but now parents can officially train, test and receive certification, meaning they can be hired by any Medicare-certified home care agency and get paid to provide the care they’ve already been giving to their children. The caregiver must attend and pass the State and Board of Nursing mandated schooling to become a clinically-trained and fully-certified nursing aide. The board reports that this program typically takes less than a week to complete. This program provides a great opportunity for parents and families with medically fragile children as it helps alleviate the increased costs of medical care and supplements income lost when a parent has to take leave or quit their jobs to take care of their child. This opportunity also provides parents who have currently outsourced childcare the chance to become their child’s primary caregiver while reducing the financial risk involved in full-time caregiving. Outsourcing care is a concern that has been increasingly prevalent during the Covid-19 health crisis as bringing in additional care providers poses a threat to all parties involved, but can be especially dangerous for children and families who may have underlying conditions causing them to be immunocompromised. 

The Family Licensed Health Aide Program provides great benefits to the families who participate, including:

• Improved access to quality care for the child.
• Opportunities for the family member to earn a living providing skilled care for their loved one.
• Helps alleviate the nursing shortage through adding an influx of LHAs to the workforce that will free up RNs and LPNs to care for higher acuity patients.
• Provides significant cost savings for Medicaid and taxpayers in two main ways:
  • 30-50% savings for every hour of nursing care replaced with LHA care.
  • Significant reductions in unplanned hospitalizations of medically fragile children, which can cost an average of $4,264 per day.

Passing legislation allowing for the Family Licensed Health Aide Program is a great step for care equity for families in Arizona!  Colorado and New Hampshire have already implemented similar programs. As more states get involved, it is important that we advocate for programs like these in our communities! To learn more about this program, visit www.tshc.com.