If you are searching for a home care agency you will need to educate yourself on the various home care agency differences. Do you feel confident with your choice of your home care provider?  What qualifications should one consider, when selecting an agency?  According to a recent study, on Caregiver agencies, just because the caregiver works for an agency, doesn’t mean the employee is qualified to care for your loved one.  A study, published by the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, surveyed 180 agencies around the country involving their screening, training and hiring procedures, along with their skill proficiency assessments and supervision. Here are their shocking results:

• Only 55 percent of the agencies completed a federal background check.
• Only one-third of agencies said they completed drug testing.
• Only one-third complete a caregiver proficiency exam.
• Supervision ranged from none to weekly, and included home visits, telephone calls, and caregivers visiting the office.

Based on these findings, you are gambling on getting a professional who provides quality care or one with little to no experience or training.

Before hiring an in-home care provider, you should educate yourself in the following areas:

• Does the agency classify their caregivers as 1099 (independent contractor) or W2 (covered by workers compensation)?

All Heart Home Care Caregivers are classified as W2 employees, which means they are covered by workers compensation.  This is a very important factor.  The only way you are protected if a Caregiver were to injure themselves is with a workers compensation policy.  Don’t be misled into thinking a liability insurance policy will cover the employee’s injuries.  You don’t want to be liable for their injuries and expose yourself to a lawsuit. It’s also illegal to employ a Caregiver without a workers’ compensation policy in place.

• What are the agencies’ hiring requirements?

All Heart Home Care requires the employee be a HHA, CNA, or has at least 2 years of experience in the caregiving industry or equivalent.

• What screening is performed on the agency’s caregivers?

All Heart Home Care requires and verifies the following: references checked, live scan background checked, verified negative TB test within 2 years, DMV driver’s record checked and auto insurance verified.

• Can the agency provide references and testimonials?

Yes, All Heart Home Care can provide references upon request.  You may either call our clients to verify our references or you may review our written client testimonials page that is available on our website.

• Does the agency train their caregivers? What does that training entail?

All Heart Home Care’s Case Manager (nurse) trains our Caregivers to ensure they are proficient in using our customized All Heart Care Journal, and ensures they are trained to meet the individualized client’s care requirements.

• Can other agencies provide proof of insurance and are they bonded?

All Heart Home Care employees are insured and bonded.

• Will the agency match their caregivers to your specific request or send any caregiver each time?

All Heart Home Care matches the caregiver to the client’s request.  Only if our caregiver is absent will we send in a replacement.

• What are the agency’s actions if the assigned caregiver does not meet your expectations?

All Heart Home Care is constantly verifying you are satisfied with our services and if for any reason you are not, we will correct the matter.

• Does the agency have a quality assurance supervisor on staff that checks the quality of care and how often is this completed?

All Heart Home Care’s quality assurance manager supervises the quality of care with each and every client on a regular basis.

We hope you enjoyed this article on home care agency differences helpful.  If you have any questions about the article or would like to discuss our non-medical home care services, contact All Heart Home Care at 619-736-4677.  We offer free in-home consultations and we would love to explain the many benefits of using our home care services.