Choosing a Home Care Agency: What to Look For
Most people don’t know what they should expect when looking for In Home Care for themselves or their loved ones. The following is some information that may help you better understand what is required of In Home Care Agencies in the State of New Jersey and what you can additionally expect from Assisting Hands of Greater Ocean County.
- In Home Care Agencies are required to be licensed by the New Jersey Department of Consumer Affairs as a Health Care Services Firm.
- Caregivers that provide personal care to clients (essentially anything that requires touching the client) are required to be Certified by the New Jersey Board of Nursing as Certified Home Health Aides and be supervised by a Registered Nurse who will develop an individualized plan of care for each client
- Caregivers should also be background checked, reference checked, drug tested, cleared for work by a physician, TB/Measles/Mumps/Rubella tested, DMV checked (prior to driving a client), Agree to periodic on the job quality assurance visits to ensure quality of Caregiver Services, Completed Assisting Hands Proprietary training program, Must represent the high personal integrity and caring attitude standards that we require
- Caregivers should be Bonded/Insured and covered by Workman’s Compensation Insurance
- An In Home Care Agency’s first priority should be to educate you about your options to ensure that you get the right care for you or your loved whether that means working with their company or with someone else
- An In Home Care Agency should work with the family or guardian of the client to ensure that their overall Medical Team’s Plan of Care is being managed in a timely and effective manner or offer to manage the Medical Team’s Plan of Care (i.e. scheduling doctor/therapy appointments, arranging transportation, coordination of medication management, etc)
- Clients should be re-evaluated by a Registered Nurse approximately every 60 days unless an incident or a report of a change in the client’s condition requires an earlier re-assessment. Clients will also have 30 day Registered Nurse check in’s by phone or in person. Clients will continually be monitored by Caregivers to determine if there has been any change in the client’s condition
- An In Home Care Agency should be working to make the client’s life better and easier. If there are special requests for reasonable assistance needs that are outside of the normal scope of services, an Agency should do it’s best try and accommodate the clients request or try and find suitable, alternative assistance
- An In Home Care Agency should be on call 24/7 in case of an emergency
A good Agency should treat their client’s like family members and should be looking out for their wellbeing at all times, not just when there is a Caregiver in their home.
