When considering in-home care, it’s easy to focus just on the cost of care. But many factors can affect the quality of your loved one’s care and your family’s overall care experience.
Be sure you’re getting all the information you need to make the right home care choice for you and your loved one.
Important questions to ask:
- Management. Who manages your caregivers day-to-day? What if there’s a problem with performance or caregiving style? Who handles issues—small or large—when they arise?
- Quality. How do you verify the skills, reliability, and quality of your caregivers?
- Backup. What happens if a caregiver gets sick or can’t make a scheduled visit?
- Insurance. Who’s legally responsible if a caregiver gets sick or injured?
- Communication. How do you know what happens during each visit—and how your loved one is doing?
- Other Issues. If you have “live-in” private caregivers, what happens if you want to fire them? Do you
have to evict them?
If you need in-home care to help you or a loved one, there are generally two options.
OPTION 1
The safest and most cost-effective option is hiring a non-medical in-home care company that has caregiver employees. The company vets, supervises and disciplines its caregiver employees. The company pays for the caregivers’ background checks, workers’ compensation insurance, all required state and federal taxes and files all the necessary tax forms. The home care company should have theft, general and professional insurance policies, that cover their caregivers.
OPTION 2 (A or B)
A. You can hire an agency that will provide names of caregivers that work as independent agents (called
“private caregivers”). They are a referral agency and do not employ the people they refer.
OR
B. You find and hire your own private caregiver. These are often a friend of a friend or someone’s relative;
or perhaps someone who lives in your community and has worked for others you may or may not know.
Essentially, you are hiring someone who says they have all kinds of experience and can do a good job. How do you know?
If you choose Option 2: (A or B) then you are the caregiver’s employer. You are responsible for all insurances (workers comp., unemployment, liability, etc.); employer tax payments (federal, state, local) and filings (1099: income reporting to the government), and all other employer responsibilities.
Family Home Care – Compassionate & Experienced Home Care Services
We are a family/veteran owned/operated in-home care agency, providing quality home care services for 38+ years. We serve Phoenix, Scottsdale and the East Valley communities. Our Care Team is available 24/7. See us on the web at familyinhomecare.com.
Founding members of AZNHA (Arizona In-Home Care Association) aznha.org
