Relating to the health and long-term services and supports workforce, including the establishment of a centralized direct care workforce database and a consumer public portal

The bill requires the department of inspections and appeals (DIA) to establish a robust and comprehensive centralized direct care workforce database system by expanding the existing registry of nurse aides located within the department. To the maximum extent possible, the database shall be incorporated into ongoing technological upgrades and shall align with other data collection management and analysis efforts. The bill specifies the purposes of the database. The bill requires DIA to create an advisory council of stakeholders to provide input to the department in determining the essential components for the centralized direct care workforce database system and specifies the membership of the advisory council. The advisory council is required to review pertinent historical reports generated by previous state-led and federally funded initiatives for consideration in informing the work of the advisory council; investigate initiatives by the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services of the United States department of health and human services relating to nurse aide registries or consumer public portals; review, and incorporate lessons learned from, the development and implementation of other state database systems utilized for similar occupations or professions; evaluate the features of the database system that would be most beneficial to respective stakeholders including the types of data to be collected and the types of analyses to be performed; identify critical database system content and functionality; recommend strategies to provide state-recognized, competency-based, comprehensive, cross-setting, portable training approaches, apprenticeships, and other existing and new opportunities in order to provide a recognized career path for, increase professionalism in, and improve retention by employers of, the direct care workforce; and explore state, federal, and other public and private sources of funding to support ongoing expansion and maintenance of the database system. In support of the work of the advisory council, several agencies are tasked with assignments. Iowa workforce development is tasked with conducting a workforce projection analysis that identifies the top five demand occupations by legislative district of those earning $15 an hour or less, adapting the workforce projections taking into consideration the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and reporting the findings of the workforce projection analyses to the advisory council for review by April 1, 2022. The department of education and the department of public health are tasked with leading an effort to streamline and integrate existing workforce database systems including various licensing or certification boards with the direct care workforce database system to build upon and enhance existing efforts and to utilize information to inform the state’s strategies to build a strong health and long-term services and supports workforce. These departments are required to submit the results of these efforts to the advisory council for review by April 1, 2022. The department of human services (DHS) is tasked with working with a variety of stakeholders to develop a plan to make the contact information of members of the health and long-term services and supports workforce, who so elect, accessible to the public through a consumer public portal. DHS shall submit the plan for a consumer public portal to the advisory council for review by April 1, 2022. The advisory council shall convene no later than September 1, 2021. DIA shall prepare and submit a progress report, including the Iowa workforce development projections reports, the efforts of the departments of education and public health to streamline workforce database systems, and the plan to establish a consumer public portal, following review by the advisory council, to the governor and the general assembly by June 30, 2022.