42 U.S.C. § 255 — Home health services

(a) Purpose; authorization of grants and loans; considerations; conditions on loans; appropriations (1) The Secretary may give grants to public and nonprofit groups, and loans to for-profit companies, to help start home health programs in areas without enough home health services. This money can also pay to train paraprofessionals, including homemaker home health aides. (2) When picking who gets grants and loans, the Secretary must: (A) weigh which states need home health services most; (B) favor areas with many elderly, low-income, or disabled residents; and (C) give special weight to areas where transportation to health care is hard. (3)(A) A for-profit company can only get a loan if its application proves: (i) it is financially sound right now; (ii) it can't get a loan elsewhere at the going interest rate in its area; and (iii) it will stay financially sound during the loan. (B) Loan interest rates must match the rates on comparable U.S. government bonds, plus an amount to cover administrative costs. (4) Applications must follow whatever form the Secretary requires. (5) Congress authorized $5,000,000 per year for these grants and loans for fiscal years 1983 through 1987. (b) Grants and contracts for training programs for paraprofessionals; considerations; applications; appropriations (1) The Secretary may fund public and private groups to build training programs for paraprofessionals, including homemaker home health aides. (2) Any homemaker home health aide training program funded this way must: (A) run at least 40 hours, including at least 20 hours of supervised hands-on clinical training; (B) be supervised by professionals and teach students to care for people at home in a way that keeps them independent; and (C) teach (i) personal care like bathing, exercise, grooming, and helping someone in and out of bed, and (ii) household care like keeping a safe home, light housekeeping, and food shopping and cooking. (3) Special consideration goes to groups that train people age 50 and older to become paraprofessionals. (4) Applications must follow the Secretary's required form. (5) Congress authorized $2,000,000 per year for these training grants and contracts for fiscal years 1983 through 1987. (c) Report to Congress with respect to grants and loans and training of personnel By January 1, 1984, the Secretary had to report to the Senate Labor Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee on: (1) the impact of grants and contracts made under the earlier versions of subsections (a) and (b) (as they existed before October 1, 1981); (2) whether grants and loans under the current versions of (a) and (b) (as of January 4, 1983) are still needed; and (3) how well training standards have been applied to home health workers. (d) "Home health services" defined In this section, "home health services" means whatever section 1395x(m) of this title says it means.