How Do Senior Care Agencies Match Clients & Caregivers for In Home Care?

how do senior care agencies match clients & caregivers? It should come as no surprise that selecting an agency or individual to provide In Home Care for a loved one can be a somewhat complex process. How do you know when to get help (read here for some guidelines), and what questions do you need to ask? Choosing a registry or agency to care for your loved ones is a big decision; this is a person that will be in your (or your parent’s) home, and depending on how much care is required, may be there as little as a few hours per week, up to round-the-clock care. So let’s take a look at some of the differentiators and things you should consider before making a hire.

How do senior care organizations match clients and caregivers?

Before this question can be answered thoroughly, it’s important to have a quick discussion on the differences between an agency and a registry. In general, an agency employs its caretakers, whereas a registry is typically a network of independent contractors. Why is this important? The legal ramifications, hiring process, and credentials of hiring an independent contractor are much different than hiring an agency that employs its caretakers. For instance, Pennsylvania Agency of Nurses providers worker’s compensation, licensing, bonding, and more for our staff, but there is no guarantee that a registry will do the same. In short, an agency will have thoroughly vetted employees, and vouches for its staff by taking liability for them.

With that in mind, some In Home Care organizations take a “who’s available” approach when matching prospective clients and caregivers. Now, this approach might work in isolated cases, but with the sensitive nature of in home care, and the fact that a caretaker will potentially be spending a lot of time with a cherished family member, you may think it wise to undertake more due diligence in your search.

Pennsylvania Agency of Nurses matches clients and caregivers differently.

At PAN, we are very proud of the thorough approach we take to matching clients with the right caregiver. When you first inquire about senior care, we set up an initial home visit with one of two highly-experienced Registered Nurses. During this appointment, we’ll get to know the family, the client, and the environment. We’ll fill out a Home Health Aide Care Plan to make sure that we fully understand the client’s needs, and what will be required from our caretakers.

The next step is to match a caregiver to the family requesting service. To do this, we consult with our personnel management team to see which employees have the proper credentials, experience, and personality to be a good fit. We have a variety of skills sets (RNs, LPNs, CNAs, HHAs) to serve a variety of needs, and the fact that we know our employees so well really sets our client-caregiver matching apart from the competition. We are confident in our matching process, and should you ever feel that we made the wrong decision, all it takes is a phone call to rectify the situation. PAN also provides multiple opportunities for feedback through frequent phone calls and monthly updates, and each case is reviewed by a Registered Nurse to ensure the highest quality of care.

What are the results for our senior care and in home care clients?

We’re happy to share that Pennsylvania Agency of Nurses enjoys a great reputation in the greater Philadelphia area for in home care and excellent customer service; see our reviews here! Our three decades of experience and work standards have resulted in multiple referral relationships with physicians, a virtually non-existent client turnover rate, and many, many happy families. Contact us today to see if PAN is a good fit for your family!