H.R. 2941 — what changed
Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act
From Introduced in House to Reported in House. 2 sections amended between Introduced in House and Reported in House.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
Direct support professionals play a critical role in the care provided to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Providers of home- and community-based services are experiencing difficulty hiring and retaining direct support professionals, with a national turnover rate of 43 percent, as identified in a 2021 study by the National Core Indicators, and full-time vacancy rates increasing by 94 percent between 2019 and 2021.
High turnover rates can lead to instability for individuals receiving services, and this may result in individuals not receiving enough personalized care to help them reach their goals for independent living.
changed
A discrete occupational category for direct support professionals will help States and the Federal Government—government—
better interpret the shortage in the labor market of direct support professionals; and
collect data on the high turnover rate of direct support professionals.
The Standard Occupational Classification system is designed and maintained solely for statistical purposes, and is used by Federal statistical agencies to classify workers and jobs into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, analyzing, or disseminating data.
Occupations in the Standard Occupational Classification system are classified based on work performed and, in some cases, on the skills, education, or training needed to perform the work.
Establishing a discrete occupational category for direct support professionals will—
correct an inaccurate representation in the Standard Occupational Classification system;
recognize these professionals for the critical and often overlooked work that they perform for the disabled community, which work is different than the work of a home health aide or a personal care aide; and
better align the Standard Occupational Classification system with related classification systems.
Sec. 4 Revision of Standard Occupational Classification system
added
In general— The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (in this Act referred to as the “Director”) shall, as part of the first revision process of the Standard Occupational Classification system occurring after the date of enactment of this Act, consider establishing a separate code for direct support professionals as a subset of healthcare support occupations.
added
Report to Congress— If the Director decides not to establish the separate code for direct support professionals described in subsection (a), the Director shall, not later than 60 days after the Director announces in the Federal Register the final decision of the revision process described in such subsection, submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives a report explaining why such separate code was not established.
removed
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall, not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, revise the Standard Occupational Classification system to establish a separate code (31–1123) for direct support professionals as a healthcare support occupation. Such code shall be a subset of 31–1120, which includes home health aides and personal care aides.