Mom could be falling often or dad could be battling dementia. It could just be a simple case of old age.
You may have thought about moving your parent into your home, or maybe staying in theirs. Regardless, you know they need help. YOU need help.
This is where hiring a caregiver for in-home healthcare comes in. This can be a tricky process and there can be anxiety associated with having a stranger come into the home.
However, there are multiple questions you can ask to ensure you find a good fit, both in personality and financially. If you’d like to find out 10 questions you should ask potential caregivers, keep reading!
1. What Insurance Plans Do You Accept?
The vast majority of Americans do not have the funds to pay out-of-pocket costs for an in-home caregiver. If your parent has Medicaid, find out if this company is certified by the agency.
If you are paying for the caregiver yourself, find out what the average costs are in your area. After finding out the average costs, compare them to the price you’re being given.
Read More: Using Insurance to Pay for In-Home Care
2. How Do You Hire & Keep Employees?
This isn’t so much of a question about the company’s specific hiring practices as it is finding out the screening techniques used. This question is a loaded one but allows you to consider several pieces of information:
- Pre-employment and additional screenings
- Annual evaluations
- Training requirements
- Causation for termination
- References
This question and the additional components will ensure that your parent is placed with someone who doesn’t have an abusive or dishonest background. It also lets you talk to other people who have used the company and shows whether or not there is appropriate training.
3. Is There One or Multiple Caregivers?
Because an in-home healthcare provider performs a very personal service, many people prefer to have the same caregiver each day. However, what is good for one person isn’t good for all.
Your parents may not care at all if they have different providers every single day. Alternately, your parent(s) might prefer to see the same face and have similar interests to the person that ensures their wellbeing.
4. Are Caregivers Bonded and Insured?
This question isn’t to make you appear suspicious of everyone. It is meant to protect your parents’ belongings and safety.
If something valuable happens to turn up missing, knowing there is a way to recoup costs can be comforting. Insurance becomes a matter of financial safety in the event some type of negligence occurs.
5. What Services Are Included?
Each agency will vary on what services they include in daily or monthly costs, which services can be added for additional costs, and which services are not performed at all.
With one provider, light housework and laundry might be included. Another provider might not offer this service at all, and a third might offer it for an additional cost.
This ends up becoming a major problem when adult children assume certain tasks are being done. Sometimes they will ask for these chores to be done a certain way and end up being stuck with an extra bill because they didn’t realize it was not included.
6. What is Your Privacy Policy?
A follow-up question to this may be, ‘how do you make sure the policy is followed?’
With the advent of social media, camera phones, and the constant want to go viral, privacy has become a necessity to be protected. The last thing any son or daughter wants is a video of their mom or dad in a compromising position put on the internet for laughs.
7. How Are Complaints Handled?
Older parents may not like new people coming into their home or have a certain way they’re used to things being done. The first problem is one that takes time to get used to and the second relies on communication.
However, if there is a legitimate complaint about rudeness, negligence, abuse, or general roughness, there must be steps in place to investigate. After some investigation, a fair decision should be reached.
8. Is There a Minimum Number of Shifts Per Week?
This is an important question to consider because even the most affordable companies can become expensive with a high minimum number.
Caregivers need to afford to live, your parents need to be taken care of and there should be a happy medium of visits needed to do so.
9. How Are Emergencies Handled?
Every adult child wants their parents to live long healthy lives. Likewise, no one wants to think about potential emergencies. With age, emergencies happen and handling them calmly contributes to the best possible outcome.
You should know who will call you, when that person will call you, and whether or not your parent will be brought to the emergency room by ambulance or the caregiver’s car.
10. What Does Your Billing Cycle Look Like?
One of those questions that no one really wants to ask–but again–absolutely necessary. Not only do you want to know when to expect a bill, but what payment methods are accepted.
Also, it is wise to inquire if the billing rates are different after hours, on weekends, and on holidays. Another great question might be if a deposit is required to begin services.
Hiring A Caregiver for In-Home Health
Deciding on a provider for your parents’ home health might be tough. You might be worried that the caregiver and your parents won’t mesh or that the financial cost will be too much.
Luckily, there are a number of resources available to aid in finding affordable care.
Hiring a caregiver for in-home health might be the most important decision you make for your parents. If they are able, let them help choose their provider, if they aren’t able to help with the decision, just know that you are making a wonderful choice.
If you’d like more information on a reliable provider, contact us! We’d be glad to answer all of these questions and any additional ones you may have.
Read More: 5 Tips for Hiring Overnight Care for an Elderly Loved One
Hiring a Caregiver
