Senate adopts amendment to let home‑health agencies decline repeat patients who pose safety risks, passes S.189

Senator from Chittenden Southeast offered and the Senate adopted an amendment to S.189 to give home‑health agencies discretion to decline subsequent admissions or visits when an individual previously discharged from service posed a safety risk and the behavior cannot be mitigated. The senator said the change emerged from the Senate Health and Welfare Committee in response to rising incidents of violence against home‑health workers and noted support from the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living.

"The proposal amendment that's being handed out comes from all the members of your Senate Health and Welfare Committee," the senator said when presenting the amendment, describing testimony from home‑health agencies and the Department of Aging and Independent Living. Under current designated‑agency rules, the senator said, agencies must accept all eligible patients and discharging a patient for safety is a regulated process that can leave patients without in‑home care while an appeal is pending; the amendment adds limited discretion when safety risks persist.

The presiding officer called the question on whether to amend the bill as offered; members responded by voice and the chair declared the amendment adopted. After the third reading of S.189, the presiding officer put the question on passage; by voice vote the ayes were declared to have it and the Senate passed S.189, an act relating to mental health response service protocols.

The amendment implements a narrow exception to the current acceptance requirement for designated home‑health agencies, conditioned on existing agency rules and on a finding that the behavior leading to discharge cannot be mitigated. The Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living was cited as supporting the committee amendment. The Senate adopted the amendment and passed the bill by voice votes; numerical tallies were not provided on the floor.

The bill will proceed according to the normal enrollment and transmittal process.