(a) State money may not be used for a home care provider unless criminal history record information as permitted by P.L. 105-277 and AS 12.62 is requested for the provider within 10 business days after the provider is hired to provide the care and is reviewed within five business days after it is received. The department shall require the grantee or contractor to do the information request and review required under this subsection for a home care provider employed by a person who has a grant or contract from the department to provide home care services.

(b) The department shall adopt regulations identifying actions that it will take, in addition to those otherwise required under AS 47.17 and AS 47.24, when a report of harm is made under AS 47.17 or AS 47.24 that might relate to harm caused by actions or inactions of a public home care provider. The regulations must

(1) address circumstances under which the department will, or will require a contractor or grantee to, reassign, suspend, or terminate a person alleged to have perpetrated harm;

(2) include appropriate procedural safeguards to protect the due process rights of public home care providers who may be reassigned, suspended, or terminated under the circumstances described in (1) of this subsection; and

(3) if the home care provider is a certified nurse aide, include procedures under which the department shall notify the Board of Nursing if the nurse aide is suspected of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of property.

(c) In this section, “public home care provider” means a person who is paid by the state, or by an entity that has contracted with the state or received a grant from state funds, to provide homemaker services, chore services, personal care services, home health care services, or similar services in or around a client's private residence or to provide respite care in either the client's residence or the caregiver's residence or facility.