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Takeaways
- Connecticut imposes new training, continuing education and recordkeeping requirements on homemaker-companion agencies and registries, effective 01.01.27.
- Covered agencies must provide at least eight hours of paid initial training and ongoing education.
- Covered agencies also must maintain detailed compliance records, while registries must verify worker training before placement.
Article
Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, homemaker-companion agencies and certain registries operating in Connecticut must comply with new training and recordkeeping requirements under Public Act No. 26-50, “An Act Requiring Training for Homemaker-Companion Agency Employees.”
Who Is Covered?
Under the new law, Connecticut homemaker-companion agencies, regardless of size, must provide paid training and continuing education to employees who provide homemaker or companion services. The law also requires homemaker-companion registries to ensure that individuals they refer for homemaker or companion services satisfy certain training requirements before being placed with consumers.
Importantly, the law does not apply to several categories of workers commonly found in the healthcare industry, including:
- Nurse’s aides;
- Home health aides;
- Personal care attendants; and
- Employees of homemaker-companion agencies who do not provide homemaker or companion services.
Therefore, hospitals, physician practices, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living providers, and many other healthcare employers generally will not be covered by the new law unless they operate a homemaker-companion agency subject to Connecticut’s registration requirements.
Requirements
The law directs the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), in consultation with certain other state agencies, to develop and publish a list of approved training programs for homemaker-companion agency employees by Oct. 1, 2026.
Approved training topics will include:
- Communication;
- Maintaining a clean and safe environment;
- Identifying and reporting abuse and neglect;
- Recognizing changes in a client’s condition and service needs;
- Differentiating between medical and nonmedical care; and
- Providing nonmedical services to individuals with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.
Covered homemaker-companion agencies must provide at least eight paid hours of initial training to new employees within 90 days of hire and annual continuing education thereafter. Employees who previously completed qualifying training while working for another homemaker-companion agency within the preceding three years may satisfy the initial training requirement by providing appropriate documentation.
The law also establishes new documentation and attestation obligations. Agencies must:
- Maintain records of employee training;
- Retain training-completion attestations; and
- Annually certify compliance with the training requirements to DCP.
Registries must verify compliance before referring individuals to consumers.
In addition, the legislation expands advertising provisions by allowing agencies to reference compliance with Connecticut’s training requirements and to describe employee training relating to services for individuals experiencing memory impairments, provided statutory conditions are met.
Limited Impact Beyond Nonmedical Companion, Homecare Services
For most healthcare employers, the new law regulates a distinct segment of the homecare industry that provides nonmedical homemaker and companion services. The legislation does not create new training mandates for licensed healthcare providers or for workers already subject to separate state training and credentialing requirements.
Organizations that operate homemaker-companion agencies, however, should review their onboarding, continuing education, recordkeeping, and compliance procedures well in advance of the Jan. 1, 2027, effective date. DCP’s forthcoming list of approved training programs will be particularly important for covered entities as they prepare for implementation.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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