Homemaker-home health aides are certified by the New Jersey Board of Nursing ("Board") after successfully completing a required 76-hour training program, a competency evaluation and a criminal history background check.The training program shall consist of a least 76 hours, to include 60 hours of classroom instruction and 16 hours of clinical instruction in a skills laboratory or patient-care setting.

The program curriculum, the training faculty and the training facility must be reviewed and approved by the Board. The program coordinator will receive a certification package from the Board which includes the application for certification, the certification and authorization form.

After completion of the training program, the agency or school submits the certification package along with the list of eligible applicants (eligibility list) to the Board for approval. Included with the certification package for each applicant is a money order, certified check or company check made payable to the "New Jersey Board of Nursing" in the amount of $70 to cover the costs of application and certification.

The submitting agency or school will be notified of the approval or disapproval of the homemaker-health aide, via a faxed copy of the eligibility list, within three to five business days (not including weekends and holidays).

A copy of the eligibility list must be retained by the agency or school, and will serve as proof of authorization for the certified homemaker-home health aide to be employed conditionally until the criminal history background check has been satisfied, and the applicant is cleared to receive his or her certificate. The Criminal History Review Unit will notify the Board, the submitting agency/school and the applicant, in writing, of any change in the applicant's status. The eligibility list will indicate the 120-day time frame for conducting the criminal history background check for all applicants who are conditionally approved.

The homemaker-home health aide may be assigned to patient care after the submitting agency has been notified of the certified homemaker-home health aide's "approval." An aide listed as "disapproved" may not be assigned to patient care until the submitting agency/school and the applicant have been notified by the Board that the application has been approved.

A New Jersey registered professional nurse must supervise the certified homemaker-home health aide and the program of care delivered. A "homemaker-home health aide" means a person who is employed by a home care services agency and who, under the supervision of a registered professional nurse, follows a delegated nursing regimen or performs tasks which are delegated consistent with the provisions of N.J.A.C. 13:37-6.2.

Refer to the Board's new fee schedule (effective February 1, 1999) for the following changes to homemaker-home health aide fees: lapsed licenses, late submissions, affidavits and name/address changes.