republic-os/legal/us/code/title-42/chapter-6a/section-255.md

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LegalText	42 U.S.C. § 255	Home health services	us	united_states_code	code_section	42	THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE	6A	PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE	255	42 U.S.C. § 255	current	119-100	2026-06-26	official	https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc42@119-100.zip	/us/usc/t42/s255	data/legal/raw/us/code/title-42/usc42.xml	6109cf43de1510eb3a69a0b1c2f79efa0642291f941d6a1bdf38011249fc3971	644321055a08eb1f260a6a3e31ac157fa024756abf612a9fd6857e7e400cf24e	35a37a4205403ac64f9a53e45a1ac9f5cfae9a379d1a455bd3ccf756d6c203b4	2026-07-04	official	legal us-code

42 U.S.C. § 255 - Home health services

Text

(a) Purpose; authorization of grants and loans; considerations; conditions on loans; appropriations (1) For the purpose of encouraging the establishment and initial operation of home health programs to provide home health services in areas in which such services are inadequate or not readily accessible, the Secretary may, in accordance with the provisions of this section, make grants to public and nonprofit private entities and loans to proprietary entities to meet the initial costs of establishing and operating such home health programs. Such grants and loans may include funds to provide training for paraprofessionals (including homemaker home health aides) to provide home health services.

(2) In making grants and loans under this subsection, the Secretary shall—

(A) consider the relative needs of the several States for home health services;

(B) give preference to areas in which a high percentage of the population proposed to be served is composed of individuals who are elderly, medically indigent, or disabled; and

(C) give special consideration to areas with inadequate means of transportation to obtain necessary health services.

(3) (A) No loan may be made to a proprietary entity under this section unless the application of such entity for such loan contains assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that—

(i) at the time the application is made the entity is fiscally sound;

(ii) the entity is unable to secure a loan for the project for which the application is submitted from non-Federal lenders at the rate of interest prevailing in the area in which the entity is located; and

(iii) during the period of the loan, such entity will remain fiscally sound.

(B) Loans under this section shall be made at an interest rate comparable to the rate of interest prevailing on the date the loan is made with respect to the marketable obligations of the United States of comparable maturities, adjusted to provide for administrative costs.

(4) Applications for grants and loans under this subsection shall be in such form and contain such information as the Secretary shall prescribe.

(5) There are authorized to be appropriated for grants and loans under this subsection $5,000,000 for each of the fiscal years ending on September 30, 1983, September 30, 1984, September 30, 1985, September 30, 1986, and September 30, 1987.

(b) Grants and contracts for training programs for paraprofessionals; considerations; applications; appropriations (1) The Secretary may make grants to and enter into contracts with public and private entities to assist them in developing appropriate training programs for paraprofessionals (including homemaker home health aides) to provide home health services.

(2) Any program established with a grant or contract under this subsection to train homemaker home health aides shall—

(A) extend for at least forty hours, and consist of classroom instruction and at least twenty hours (in the aggregate) of supervised clinical instruction directed toward preparing students to deliver home health services;

(B) be carried out under appropriate professional supervision and be designed to train students to maintain or enhance the personal care of an individual in his home in a manner which promotes the functional independence of the individual; and

(C) include training in—

(i) personal care services designed to assist an individual in the activities of daily living such as bathing, exercising, personal grooming, and getting in and out of bed; and

(ii) household care services such as maintaining a safe living environment, light housekeeping, and assisting in providing good nutrition (by the purchasing and preparation of food).

(3) In making grants and entering into contracts under this subsection, special consideration shall be given to entities which establish or will establish programs to provide training for persons fifty years of age and older who wish to become paraprofessionals (including homemaker home health aides) to provide home health services.

(4) Applications for grants and contracts under this subsection shall be in such form and contain such information as the Secretary shall prescribe.

(5) There are authorized to be appropriated for grants and contracts under this subsection $2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years ending September 30, 1983, September 30, 1984, September 30, 1985, September 30, 1986, and September 30, 1987.

(c) Report to Congress with respect to grants and loans and training of personnel The Secretary shall report to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives on or before January 1, 1984, with respect to—

(1) the impact of grants made and contracts entered into under subsections (a) and (b) (as such subsections were in effect prior to October 1, 1981);

(2) the need to continue grants and loans under subsections (a) and (b) (as such subsections are in effect on the day after January 4, 1983); and

(3) the extent to which standards have been applied to the training of personnel who provide home health services.

(d) “Home health services” defined For purposes of this section, the term “home health services” has the meaning prescribed for the term by section 1395x(m) of this title.

(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title III, § 339, as added Pub. L. 97–414, § 6(a), Jan. 4, 1983, 96 Stat. 2057; amended Pub. L. 98–555, § 6, Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 2856.)

Notes

Editorial Notes

References in TextSubsections (a) and (b) (as such subsections were in effect prior to October 1, 1981), referred to in subsec. (c)(1), mean subsections (a) and (b) of section 255 of this title prior to repeal of section 255 by Pub. L. 97–35, title IX, § 902(b), Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 559, effective Oct. 1, 1981.

Prior ProvisionsA prior section 255, act July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title III, § 339, as added Nov. 10, 1978, Pub. L. 95–626, title II, § 207(a), 92 Stat. 3585, related to grant authority, etc., for home health services, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 97–35, title IX, § 902(b), (h), Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 559, 561, eff. Oct. 1, 1981. Another prior section 339 of act July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title III, formerly § 331, 58 Stat. 698; June 25, 1948, ch. 654, § 4, 62 Stat. 1018; June 25, 1952, ch. 460, 66 Stat. 157; July 12, 1960, Pub. L. 86–624, § 29(b), 74 Stat. 419; renumbered § 339, Oct. 12, 1976, Pub. L. 94–484, title IV, § 407(b)(2), 90 Stat. 2268, which related to reception of persons suffering from leprosy in any hospital, was renumbered section 320 of act July 1, 1944, and transferred to section 247e of this title.

Amendments1984—Subsecs. (a)(5), (b)(5). Pub. L. 98–555 inserted provisions authorizing appropriations for fiscal years ending Sept. 30, 1985, 1986, and 1987.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name Committee on Labor and Human Resources of Senate changed to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of Senate by Senate Resolution No. 20, One Hundred Sixth Congress, Jan. 19, 1999. Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives treated as referring to Committee on Commerce of House of Representatives by section 1(a) of Pub. L. 104–14, set out as a note preceding section 21 of Title 2, The Congress. Committee on Commerce of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives, and jurisdiction over matters relating to securities and exchanges and insurance generally transferred to Committee on Financial Services of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Seventh Congress, Jan. 3, 2001.

Report to Congress Concerning Results of Studies Evaluating Home and Community Based Health Services; Studies of Reimbursement Methodologies; Investigation of Fraud; Demonstration Projects; Home Health Services, DefinedPub. L. 97–414, § 6(b)–(f), Jan. 4, 1983, 96 Stat. 2058, 2059, directed Secretary of Health and Human Services to report results of studies evaluating home and community based health services, and any recommendations for legislative action which might improve the provision of such services, to Congress prior to Jan. 1, 1985, to compile and analyze results of significant public or private studies relating to reimbursement methodologies for home health services and to report recommendations to Congress within 180 days after Jan. 4, 1983, to investigate methods available to stem medicare and medicaid fraud and abuse and extent to which such methods are applied and to report results to Congress within 18 months of Jan. 4, 1983, and to develop and carry out demonstration projects commencing no later than Jan. 1, 1984, to test methods for identifying patients at risk of institutionalization who could be treated more cost-effectively with home health services, and to test alternative reimbursement methodologies for home health agencies in order to determine most cost-effective way of providing home health services, and to report to Congress with regard to the demonstrations no later than Jan. 1, 1985; and defined “home health services” for purposes of this section.