Health: Long Term Care/Nursing Homes: Home Health Aide (HHA) Registration Program

The IDOH Home Health Aide Registration Program administers the Aides Registry and ensures that home health aides meet the qualifications for a home health aide and are appropriately registered on the Aides Registry.

A home health aide is a person working for a home health agency or hospice that performs home health services ordered by a licensed physician, licensed chiropractor, licensed podiatrist, or licensed optometrist.

The home health aide must successfully complete a home health agency's training and competency evaluation. Home health agencies and hospices are responsible for establishing their own policies on qualifications and needed training. IDOH does not certify or approve training sites or the syllabus of each individual agency or organization under contract to provide home health aide training services. Agencies and organizations providing home health aide training should do so in accordance with the federal regulations and state rules linked below.

News and Announcements

Home Health Aide – Tube Feeding Curriculum

On Dec. 28, 2023, the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) released the Home Health Aide (HHA) – Tube Feeding Education Module developed in collaboration between the Division of Program Performance & Development (PPD) and the Division of Home & Community Based Care (HCBC). This newly mandated requirement, established under SEA 474 (2023), was effective Jan. 1, 2024, and is codified at Indiana Code §16-27 et seq.

This is the only education module approved by IDOH to train current and future HHAs in the administration of nutritional feedings by means of a gastrostomy or jejunal tube to patients of Indiana-licensed home health agencies.

The Tube Feeding Education Module must be conducted through a licensed Indiana Home Health agency by an Indiana registered nurse (RN) whose license is active and in good standing. The training must adhere to the approved curriculum.

The training includes:

4-8 hours of classroom training by the licensed registered nurse following the state-approved curriculum.
2-4 hours of practical training with 1:1 supervision by the licensed registered nurse.
Successful completion of skills competency checklists with 100% accuracy administered by the HHA training program’s registered nurse.
Successful completion of a written competency examination (score of 88% or greater) administered by the state-approved testing entity (Ivy Tech Community College).
- The cost of the exam is $50.

The agency’s HHA training program is responsible for maintaining the Classroom, Clinical/Practicum & Competency Verification Form included with the curriculum for each individual.

All HHA Tube Feeding Subtype exams will be exclusively administered electronically at Ivy Tech Community College Testing Centers. Applications and payments will be processed electronically by their office, and upon validation, an email will be sent to the applicant with instructions on how to schedule an appointment at the Ivy Tech campus of their choice for the HHA Tube Feeding Subtype Exam.

Home Health Aides who successfully complete the training and competency examination will have a tube feeding subtype applied to their current home health aide certification.

In addition to using the IDOH-approved curriculum, home health agencies that allow home health aides to administer tube feedings are reminded of the requirement to establish a procedure for the delegation of the administration of tube feedings from an RN to a home health aide. The procedure must include patient-specific clinical parameters based on the RN’s assessment of the patient and the home health aide’s competency to administer the tube feedings and a procedure for the assessment by the RN of the patient-specific clinical parameters.

IDOH also requires a registered home health aide who administers gastrointestinal and jejunostomy tube feedings to annually complete one (1) hour of in-service training specific to the administration of gastrointestinal and jejunostomy tube feedings.

Additional details regarding IC 16-27-1.5-6 can be found at IGA | 2023 Indiana Code.

Home Health Aide Tube Feeding Subtype Lesson.pdf

Registry Updates

The Aides Registry uses email to handle most communications, including sending renewal notices. Please ensure your email is current by logging into https://mylicense.in.gov/ML1PLA.html.