Existing law provides for the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with specified services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Existing law defines supportive services for purposes of the IHSS program to include those necessary paramedical services that are ordered by a licensed health care professional, which persons could provide for themselves, but for their functional limitations. Existing law requires an applicant for, or recipient of, in-home supportive services, as a condition of receiving these services, to obtain a certification from a licensed health care professional declaring that the applicant or recipient is unable to perform some activities of daily living independently, and that without services to assist the applicant or recipient with activities of daily living, the applicant or recipient is at risk of placement in out-of-home care, and defines a licensed health care professional for this purpose to mean an individual licensed in California by the appropriate California regulatory agency, acting within the scope of their license or certificate as defined in the Business and Professions Code.

This bill would use the above-described definition of “licensed health care professional” for purposes of the provisions relating to paramedical services, and would, for purposes of the certification requirement, add to the above-described definition of “licensed health care professional” that the licensed individual has primary responsibilities to diagnose or provide treatment and care for physical or mental impairments that cause or contribute to an individual’s functional limitations.