When choosing a home care agency, it is important to become familiar with their services and delivery style. Home care agencies can greatly vary in the type of services they provide and care procedures. It is important to choose the agency that not only provides the services you need, but does it in a manner that you are comfortable with.  Here are some questions to ask agency representatives before making your decision.

• How long has your agency been in business?

• What kinds of services do you provide?

• What type of training has your staff received?

• How do you ensure the quality of your service?

• How do you evaluate the workers’ skills and abilities?

• Can you provide a personalized care plan that meets my needs? How detailed will it be?

• How much will the worker know about me, my care and the services I have chosen before starting and what will I need to tell him or her?

• Will I have the same care worker all the time or will it be various care givers, depending on the scheduling of the personnel?

• Will you be consulting with my doctor or family members? (You may or may not want them to do this, so please specify your desires.)

• Do you create reports at regular intervals that detail my care? If I choose, can you provide family members with a copy?

• What kind of supervision is there of workers?

• Do you have a brochure of your services and a price list that I can consider?

• Is there funding available to help pay for these services and, if so, can you assist me in getting this support?

• Are your rates fixed or do you have a sliding scale for lower income clients?

• Will there be a contract to sign – what is contained in it?

• Does your agency provide services 24/7?

• Is there someone at your agency that I can call 24/7?

• Are your workers insured and bonded?

• Are your workers licensed and/or certified?

• Do you have a matching system for client and workers?

• If I don’t feel the worker meets my needs, is there a choice of a different worker?

• How do you protect client confidentiality?

• What kind of certification does your agency have?

• Do you have registered nurses that can supervise the workers or my care?

• What kind of screening do you do of your workers to ensure they won’t be a threat to my safety?

• If there is a problem, who should I tell? What procedure is used to resolve any problems?

• If some or all of my care is being funded by a government program, will you bill them directly?

• If my place of residence changes, will my services or my worker change?

• If I go into a care residence, can I continue to receive services?

• Can I claim any part of the cost of my care against my income tax?

 

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