(1) The authority must carry out the following duties:

     (a) Establish qualifications and reasonable standards for accountability for and investigate the background of individual providers and prospective individual providers, except in cases where, after the department has sought approval of any appropriate amendments or waivers under *RCW 74.09.740, federal law or regulation requires that such qualifications and standards for accountability be established by another entity in order to preserve eligibility for federal funding. Qualifications established must include compliance with the minimum requirements for training and satisfactory criminal background checks as provided in RCW 74.39A.050 and confirmation that the individual provider or prospective individual provider is not currently listed on any long-term care abuse and neglect registry used by the department at the time of the investigation;

     (b) Undertake recruiting activities to identify and recruit individual providers and prospective individual providers;

     (c) Provide training opportunities, either directly or through contract, for individual providers, prospective individual providers, consumers, and prospective consumers;

     (d) Provide assistance to consumers and prospective consumers in finding individual providers and prospective individual providers through the establishment of a referral registry of individual providers and prospective individual providers. Before placing an individual provider or prospective individual provider on the referral registry, the authority shall determine that:

     (i) The individual provider or prospective individual provider has met the minimum requirements for training set forth in RCW 74.39A.050;

     (ii) The individual provider or prospective individual provider has satisfactorily undergone a criminal background check conducted within the prior twelve months; and

     (iii) The individual provider or prospective individual provider is not listed on any long-term care abuse and neglect registry used by the department;

     (e) Remove from the referral registry any individual provider or prospective individual provider the authority determines not to meet the qualifications set forth in (d) of this subsection or to have committed misfeasance or malfeasance in the performance of his or her duties as an individual provider. The individual provider or prospective individual provider, or the consumer to which the individual provider is providing services, may request a fair hearing to contest the removal from the referral registry, as provided in chapter 34.05 RCW;

     (f) Provide routine, emergency, and respite referrals of individual providers and prospective individual providers to consumers and prospective consumers who are authorized to receive long-term in-home care services through an individual provider;

     (g) Give preference in the recruiting, training, referral, and employment of individual providers and prospective individual providers to recipients of public assistance or other low-income persons who would qualify for public assistance in the absence of such employment; and

     (h) Cooperate with the department, area agencies on aging, and other federal, state, and local agencies to provide the services described and set forth in this section. If, in the course of carrying out its duties, the authority identifies concerns regarding the services being provided by an individual provider, the authority must notify the relevant area agency or department case manager regarding such concerns.

     (2) In determining how best to carry out its duties, the authority must identify existing individual provider recruitment, training, and referral resources made available to consumers by other state and local public, private, and nonprofit agencies. The authority may coordinate with the agencies to provide a local presence for the authority and to provide consumers greater access to individual provider recruitment, training, and referral resources in a cost-effective manner. Using requests for proposals or similar processes, the authority may contract with the agencies to provide recruitment, training, and referral services if the authority determines the agencies can provide the services according to reasonable standards of performance determined by the authority. The authority must provide an opportunity for consumer participation in the determination of the standards.

[2002 c 3 § 4 (Initiative Measure No. 775, approved November 6, 2001).]

NOTES:

     *Reviser's note: RCW 74.09.740 was repealed by 2009 c 545 § 8.

     Findings--Captions not law--Severability -- 2002 c 3 (Initiative Measure No. 775): See RCW 74.39A.220 and notes following.