(1) The department of social and health services must convene a stakeholder work group to recommend policy changes and best practices for training employers, long-term care workers, and service recipients to keep home care settings free from discrimination and abusive conduct while maintaining the ability for individuals who need services to access needed services while maintaining the ability to provide services.
(2) To the extent practicable, the following groups should be represented in the work group, each group may have one representative, unless otherwise specified:
(a) The department of social and health services;
(b) The department of labor and industries;
(c) The Washington state human rights commission;
(d) Two representatives of covered employers, one of which is chosen by the association which represents home care agencies which contract with area agencies on aging for medicaid home care services, and one of which is representative of the consumer directed employer;
(e) Two representatives from labor organizations representing employees;
(f) Two long-term care workers that work for a covered employer;
(g) Organizations with at least five years of experience providing training to at least ten thousand long-term care workers;
(h) Two representatives of disability advocacy organizations, at least one of whom represents individuals with developmental disabilities;
(i) Three service recipients, at least one of whom lives with a developmental disability and one of whom is over age sixty-five;
(j) A family member or guardian of a service recipient;
(k) Area agencies on aging; and
(l) No more than three subject matter experts determined to be necessary by the work group.
(3) In developing the report required by subsection (4) of this section, the work group shall consider:
(a) Using new employee orientation to emphasize the prevention of discrimination and abusive conduct;
(b) The extent to which current training content could be modified to cover content within existing hours of required training such as basic, modified basic, and/or continuing education;
(c) Requiring training about discrimination and abusive conduct for all employees;
(d) Interactive teaching strategies that engage across multiple literacy levels;
(e) Factors that are predictive of discrimination and abusive conduct;
(f) The violence escalation cycle;
(g) De-escalation techniques to minimize abusive conduct or challenging behavior;
(h) Strategies to prevent physical harm with hands-on practice or role play;
(i) How incorporating information on trauma-informed care could improve the effectiveness of training and reduce interruptions to the provision of personal care;
(j) How incorporating person-centered planning practices could minimize challenging behaviors and reduce interruptions to the provision of personal care;
(k) Best practices for documenting and reporting incidents;
(l) The debriefing process for affected employees following violent acts;
(m) Resources available to employees for coping with the effects of violence;
(n) Culturally competent peer-to-peer training for the prevention of discrimination and abusive conduct;
(o) Best practices for training service recipients on preventing discrimination and abusive conduct in the home care setting;
(p) Best practices for training direct supervisors on preventing and responding to reports of discrimination and abusive conduct in the home care setting;
(q) Recommended best practices for workplace safety committees referenced in RCW 49.95.030 and recommended topics to be included in prevention plans required in RCW 49.95.030 ;
(r) Other policy changes that will reduce discrimination and abusive conduct in the workplace and best prepare employees to work in environments where challenging behavior occurs; and
(s) Other best practices from trainings developed in other states or for other industries to prevent discrimination and abusive conduct in home care settings or the workplace.
(4) By December 1, 2021, the work group must submit to the legislature a report with recommendations for training long-term care workers, agency supervisors, and service recipients in order to prevent discrimination and abusive conduct in the workplace, minimize challenging behaviors, and reduce interruptions to the provision of personal care. The report must also address issues regarding the continuation of collecting and reviewing data, the future role of the work group, and how the work group is measuring the efficacy of its recommendations. The report may inform the prevention plans required in RCW 49.95.030 .