Decision support

How to Choose a Home Care Provider

Every provider will tell you their caregivers are compassionate. That tells you nothing. These are the questions that actually distinguish one from another, including us.

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Licensing and insurance

Are you licensed by Texas Health and Human Services, and under which category? Ask for the licence number.
Are caregivers employees on payroll, or independent contractors? This determines who carries liability.
Do you carry general liability insurance and workers' compensation? Ask for proof, not a yes.
Are caregivers bonded?
What background screening is completed before someone enters a home?

Staffing and reliability

This is where most arrangements succeed or fail. A caregiver who is a good match, arrives when expected and stays for months is worth more than any brochure.

Will the same caregiver come each time, and how many people will we meet in a typical month?
What happens when the assigned caregiver is sick? How quickly is cover arranged, and by whom?
Who supervises caregivers, and how often does a supervisor visit the home?
Who answers the phone at 9pm on a Saturday, and is it a person who can act?
How do you handle a request to change caregivers?
What is your caregiver turnover like? A vague answer here is itself an answer.

Care planning and communication

Is there a written care plan, and who writes it?
How often is it reviewed, and what triggers a review?
Are visit notes recorded, and can out-of-town family see them?
Who do I contact about a concern, and what is the response time?
How are changes in condition escalated, and to whom?

Money and contracts

Get all rates in writing, including weekends, nights, holidays and overtime.
Confirm minimum shift and minimum weekly hours.
Understand the cancellation window before you are charged.
Ask about the notice period to end services, and any early termination terms.
Ask how rate increases are notified and how often they occur.
Refuse long lock-in commitments. Care should be month to month.

Warning signs

Some things should end the conversation. Pressure to sign on a first visit. Refusal to provide licence, insurance or workers' compensation details. Guarantees that Medicare will pay for ongoing non-medical care. Claims of clinical services from non-clinical staff. Reluctance to put rates in writing. Or a caregiver being sent before anyone has visited the home or built a plan.

Apply all of this to us as well. A provider that discourages you from asking these questions has told you what you needed to know.

Agency versus hiring privately

Hiring a private caregiver directly can be less expensive per hour. It also makes you the employer: payroll taxes, workers' compensation, liability, background checks, scheduling and finding cover when they are ill all become your responsibility.

Neither option is wrong. Just choose it deliberately rather than discovering the obligations later. Our approach to caregiving is set out on caregiver services.

Questions families ask

How many providers should we talk to?

Two or three is usually enough to calibrate. Ask each the same questions and compare weekly totals rather than hourly rates.

Should we meet the caregiver first?

Yes. Any provider unwilling to arrange an introduction before care begins is prioritising their scheduling over the match.

Is a longer contract ever a good idea?

Rarely for the family. Needs change, and so do caregivers. Month to month protects you.

Ask us the same questions you would ask anyone else

We would rather answer twenty questions now than have a family discover the answers in week three.