Frequently Asked Questions

Private duty home care is assisted service offered to the elderly that need assistance for daily chores.

A private duty caregiver visits your home to offer you or your elderly family member the required assistance in routine activities like meal preparation, personal grooming, and housekeeping.

Yes, you cannot assure adequate assistance for your elderly family member alone. A caregiver is a professional who delivers proper care and helps to make your family member more comfortable.

No. Non-medical private-duty home care services are covered under Medicaid. The agencies delivering home care services can claim reimbursement through Medicaid, and you need not pay for the same. In some cases, the client needs to pay some amount besides having Medicaid cover, which depends on certain aspects.

You need to find the nearest caregiver agency that offers non-medical care services first. The home care agency would first require your needs and work with you in analyzing the daily requirements of your elderly family member. A caregiver would be assigned that satisfies their emotional, medical, and other needs.

The professional caregiver agencies offer assistance in daily activities that include:

  • Maintaining proper hygiene, including bathing, grooming, laundry services, etc.
  • Meal preparation or assisting in shopping for groceries and cooking
  • Providing medication on time
  • Housekeeping and household tasks

No, if Medicaid covers you. The agencies can claim against the services through Medicaid or Medicare. Just in case you don’t fall under the category of those who are benefitted through Medicaid or Medicare (whichever is applicable), you have to pay for the services that you choose.

Most of the private duty home care agencies have a valid license to deliver services.

Yes, depending on the elderly needs, one can choose services for the desired hours and seven days a week.

Most of the caregiver agencies start delivering services within a day or two, depending on the paperwork and availability of caregivers.

The caregiver agencies first visit the home and analyze the physical and mental health of the elderly and some other factors. Once they have an idea about the overall requirements, they provide you the best suitable care plan.

You would be provided an experienced professional for handling diverse needs. Although, based on the elderly’s actual needs, you would be offered the best suitable caregiver.

Yes, every caregiver has to go through a series of background checks before they can join duty.

The staffing agency handles the caregiving services by overseeing caregivers. It can be either manual or through a Home Care Management Software.

Yes, most of the caregiver agencies offer insurance to the caregivers. The caregivers are insured and bonded by the home care agencies to ensure adequate services to the elderly.

No, the one assigned a duty must reach their clients. Just in an emergency, another caregiver could be assigned to meet the requirements of a client.

Yes, such agencies analyze the requirements and provide the most suitable caregiver, if the client isn’t satisfied.

Yes, the agency needs to be certified, if you particularly seek caregiver services that qualify for Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement.

It could be weekly or monthly, depending on the specific agency.

Yes, some of the caregiver agencies currently rely on manual methods of tracking the services delivered by a caregiver. However, some of the agencies are using the Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) system for tracking caregivers. Use of EVV for agencies is mandatory in 2021 (for states with EVV exemption under Good Faith Effort Exemption) for claiming Medicaid.

Yes, timely training is offered to the caregivers for improving and maintaining quality services.

Yes, the caregiver agencies communicate with the client’s relatives for providing updates regarding their elderly family member and also inform them about any specific need.

The clients provide a review regarding the services offered by the caregiver. The caregiver needs to maintain records of services and daily client feedback.

Yes, the clients offer feedback and also marks the tasks in the checklist as done. Furthermore, clients can provide feedback through a home care management system (if used by the agency).

Home care agencies are using GPS-enabled home care management app , which is installed in both the caregiver and the client’s smartphone. This helps in tracking and communication easier.

Agencies can offer better services and appreciate them for all the hard work they put in.

The basic training for caregivers emphasize on:

  • Transferring clients
  • Alzheimer’s and dementia
  • Bathing and personal hygiene
  • Incontinence care
  • Meal preparation
  • Handling any emergency
  • Dealing with the client’s emotion
  • Handling diverse behavior of clients
  • Managing their medication

The agency monitors the caregiver’s performance by reviewing the feedback offered by the clients, and family members which helps them in improving the quality of their services.

There’s always an issue related to demand and availability of caregiver. The agencies always strive to hire more and more caregiver by offering handsome payoff and other facilities.

No, home healthcare services involves clinical services and are offered by certified medical professionals. On the other hand, home care services involve non-clinical services that are offered by certified caregivers.

CareSmartz360 tracks check-in and check-out timings of caregivers that can be further analyzed for caregiver payrolls. Moreover, this software provides real-time location of the caregiver, which is quite useful for managing schedules during an emergency.

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