2807-G - Health workforce retraining program.

§  2807-g.  Health  workforce  retraining program. 1. The commissioner  shall, to the extent of funds available  therefor  pursuant  to  section  twenty-eight  hundred  seven-l  of this article, make grants to eligible  organizations to support the training  and  retraining  of  health  care  employees  to  address  changes  in  the  health workforce. Requests for  proposals shall be issued by the commissioner within sixty days  of  the  effective  date  of  this  section in the first year after it shall take  effect, and by the first day of  March  in  each  succeeding  year.  All  proposals  shall  be due not later than sixty days after the issuance of  the request for proposals, and all grant awards shall be made not  later  than  one  hundred twenty days after the date on which the proposals are  due.    2. Grants  shall  be  made  on  a  competitive  basis  by  region,  in  accordance  with  the amount raised in the region with preference within  regions given to areas and eligible organizations that have  experienced  or  are  likely  to experience job loss because of changes in the health  care system. If, at the conclusion of the regional competitive  contract  award  process,  there  are  excess  funds available within any regional  allocation, such funds shall be redistributed to regions where there  is  a  shortage  of funds available for programs which otherwise qualify for  funding pursuant to this section.    3. Eligible organizations shall include health worker unions,  general  hospitals,  long-term  care  facilities,  other  health care facilities,  health care facilities trade associations, labor-management  committees,  joint  labor-management  training  funds  established  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of   the   Federal   Taft-Hartley   Act,   and   educational  institutions.    4.  Eligible programs shall include programs which provide one or more  of the following services in connection with training an eligible worker  to: (i) obtain a new position, (ii) continue to meet the requirements of  an existing position, or (iii) otherwise meet the  requirements  of  the  changing  health  care  industry:  (a)  assessments  to  help  determine  training needs; (b) remediation, including preparation  in  English  for  speakers  or writers of other languages, instruction in basic reading or  mathematics, or completion of requirements  for  a  general  equivalency  diploma  (GED); (c) basic skills development; (d) reorientation; and (e)  skills and educational enhancement, including,  where  appropriate,  the  provision  of college level or college degree course work. To the extent  that an eligible program is providing services to train eligible workers  to obtain a new position or to continue to meet the requirements  of  an  existing  position  only,  reimbursement  shall  also be available to an  eligible  organization  for  the  actual  cost  of  any  employment   or  employment-related  expenses  incurred  by  the eligible organization in  fulfilling the duties and responsibilities of such employees while  they  are engaged in such training programs.