Family caregivers frequently find that home health aides are necessary to the wellbeing of their loved ones in their own home. Yet accepting new faces into one’s life may prove challenging at first.
Many communities provide low cost home care through special funding options; please reach out to the Area Agency on Aging in your community for more information.
Qualifications
Caregivers must be able to work effectively with clients in their homes, which can often be an emotionally charged experience. Finding and matching clients to a caregiver agency requires compassion, flexibility and training – they must also understand both physical and psychological effects associated with long-term caregiving as well as address challenges as they arise with clients.
Home health aides (HHAs), certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) can all provide many levels of home care services except those requiring a nurse’s license. Many states regulate home care through agencies which establish qualifications, training requirements and specific procedures.
An interview allows an agency to assess the suitability and skills and abilities of potential candidates for in home care services, usually via initial phone screening interviews and subsequent in person interviews with prospective in home caregivers before contracts can be signed. Functional need thresholds must typically be met in order to qualify for state Medicaid waiver programs such as Home and Community Based Service Waiver for Elderly Blind or Disabled (HCBS) and Long Term Services and Support Demonstration Waiver (LTSS Demonstration Waiver).
Licenses
Your home health agency should ideally be licensed by its state. This ensures it satisfies certain quality and regulatory requirements that will enable it to obtain Medicare/Medicaid certification or accreditation.
Licensing requirements vary by state and may include criminal background checks and fingerprinting of staff members as well as obtaining valid nursing licenses and registration in state registries. Depending on the nature of care being offered, certification may also be needed to administer medications or perform tests such as screening for tuberculosis.
As part of your home health agency, it is also necessary to secure insurance policies such as General Liability and Professional Liability insurance (also referred to as Errors & Omissions insurance). Speak with your broker regarding available online caregiver training courses across states so your staff is compliant from day one.
Insurance
As a home health caregiver, it may be required of you to purchase liability insurance. This serves to protect both yourself and your client should they hold you liable for injury or losses caused by your actions; additionally, liability protection can help guard against potentially costly lawsuits.
Home care can be costly. To determine how best to cover its cost, hold a family meeting to discuss what services are needed and how everyone can work together towards covering them.
Many states offer programs that pay elders for home care services, like New York’s Expanded In-Home Services for the Elderly Program. Recipients of such programs often hire caregivers of their choosing – adult children and spouses can often qualify. Although these programs don’t replace Medicare coverage directly, they should instead be used alongside it; some private health insurance policies (like Medigap policies) include home health benefits as an added advantage.
References
Before hiring a caregiver for yourself or an elderly relative in your home, always verify their references and testimonials. This step is especially essential if hiring one to access financial accounts or computers for them – only those you trust should have this kind of access!
As part of your reference check, speak to multiple individuals who have worked with your caregiver and ask them for recommendations. If one or more of them appear uncomfortable answering any of your queries or refuses to provide recommendations for them, that should serve as a red flag.
When calling references of caregivers, be sure to explain why and what information you are seeking. Request their telephone numbers and emails so you can contact them directly. Be polite but feel free to be candid when speaking candidly and asking challenging questions; avoid questions relating to age, religion and disabilities as this could be seen as discrimination.