Earlier this week, LeadingAge Ohio met with the Ohio Department of Health following a pre-clearance comment period on the five-year review of Ohio’s Nurse Aide Training, Competency & Evaluation Program (NATCEP) rules. The chief change to the rules is that the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) is proposing to allow the classroom portion of nurse aide training programs to be conducted via electronic modes. Other changes include lowering the pass-rate threshold of 70% for quizzes and examinations during the course of the class, as well as a 70% threshold for the written portion of the evaluation (lowered from 80%). Finally, the draft rules change the instructor: student ratio from 1:8 to 1:10.
The changes are at this point preliminary, and draft rules have yet to be filed. LeadingAge Ohio will continue to advocate for relaxing restrictions to the federally-allowable levels, in light of the ongoing workforce shortage. Questions or comments on the rules may be sent to Susan Wallace at swallace@leadingageohio.org.