Get Home Care

Now what? You have been approved for home care service, and the next & final step is choosing a home care agency (PCS) or a fiscal intermediary (CDPAP) that will best serve your needs.

1. 1. Know your needs: The availability of in-home care ranges from companion care to keep a senior company and assist with light housekeeping, errands, or personal hygiene care. If you’re unsure of the best fit for your loved one, your physician (M11Q), or an initial assessment visit from a home care agency, can help determine what type of care is best suited to your individual needs.


2. 2. Work with a reputable agency: Doing so enables you to focus on your role as a family member seeking help. A reputable and experienced agency is more likely to better manage your care for you.


3. 3. Ask about an aide's background checks: Be sure to ask agencies if they background check their aide and if so, what methods they use. If you feel uncomfortable about a home care agency’s procedure for screening caregivers, it may be best to trust your gut and use a different provider.


4. 4. Inquire about aide training: Ask what training and certification requirements aides are required to meet for employment, if any. Basic certifications like CPR and First Aid may provide peace of mind that basic aid is available in case of an accident while an aide is on duty, as well as give you an idea about the hiring standards of the company.


5. 5. Ask whether the agency meets local certification requirements: Requirements for home care agency certifications vary from state to state. However, inquiring about an agency’s State Certification status can help you gauge their legitimacy and ensure monitoring from regulatory agencies.


6. 6. Evaluate the supervision process: You have a right to ask about how the agency supervises the quality of care in the home. Ask about on-the-job supervisory visits, and tools like home care software used to manage caregiver clock-ins and care plans during a shift.


7. 7. Ask to meet potential aides Ask the home care agency about their process for matching aides with clients and ensure that both you and your loved one can meet an aide prior to their first shift to be sure the match is a good fit.


8. 8. Talk about a care plan: When you’re paying for someone to provide in-home care, you’ll likely want to be sure that they’re addressing the tasks they’ve been hired for. Discuss a plan of care with the home care agency intake personnel and aide prior to the first shift, and ask about how the agency tracks the progress and completion of care plans. A plan of care helps make sure that that nothing significant is overlooked.

1. 1. You should find out if a fiscal intermediary (FI) is financially strong. If a FI is not financially strong, it might have trouble paying your aide on a regular basis let alone fringe benefits. A sign to look for is whether payroll is conducted bi-weekly. Avoid those that process payroll on a month basis and opt for those that do weekly or bi-weekly. Those FI that pay weekly or bi-weekly tend to have a strong cash flow.


2. 2. Ask about the hourly wage and fringe benefit offered to your aide. The hourly wage and fringe benefits vary from one FI to another. The hour wage range from $15 to $19.09. Apparently, you need to choose the FI that pays the highest hourly wage and offers the best fringe benefit package, factors that aides will consider for long term employment and retention.


3. 3. Inquire with the FI whether they offer health insurance for the aide as part of their fringe benefit package. If not, a FI is legally required by law to reimburse an aide the hourly equivalent of not participating in FI's group health insurance. For example, a FI pays an extra $2.30 an hour for those aides who opt out of group health insurance. This is crucial recruitment incentive as, apparently, it is more money in the pocket of an aides you hire.


4. 4. If you do need health insurance coverage, make sure you find out whether coverage has a deductible or high premium. Health insurance coverage that has a high premium or deductible is not in the best interest of your aide and hence will not be good retention factor.


5. 5. Ask if paid sick leave or annual leave is available to your aide. Another terminology used is paid time off (PTO). This will come in handy if your aide needs to take a day off knowing that his/her day off will be fully reimbursed. Again, this is an excellent selling point when it comes to recruitment and retention. This benefit has gradually becoming an industry trend.


6. 6. Ask a FI if it offers a retirement plan or 401K for your aide. FI that does is indicative of excellent financial well-being. For example, a FI offers 0.1 percent of aide's salary contributed to 401K with no matching required from aide.


7. 7. Select a FI that offers your aide the option to clock-in and clock-out daily. This is a computerized process for processing hours worked so that it is paperless. It's a hassle-free process that does not need your involvement at all. Best of all, your aides will be paid on time using this computerized method of processing payroll.


8. 8. A FI that offers direct deposit is one that is well organized. Salary that is remitted to your aide's bank account is quick and on-time. Receiving a manual paycheck in the mail is not recommended as mail gets lost occasionally, and getting a replacement check is a painstakingly slow process as doing so involves voiding the previous check, issuing a new check, and waiting again in the mail, and the entire process could take up to several weeks.