Colorado has a licensing program to ensure certain standards are met among businesses that market themselves as a Colorado Home Care Agency (HCA). According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, they:
Recommend you consider choosing a “certified” home care agency, even if you are not eligible for Medicare or Medicaid. If you are on Medicare or Medicaid, you can only use a certified agency. Certified agencies provide safeguards because they meet specific standards established by the federal government and are monitored by the state through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Health Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Division.
What does state certification mean to you?
There is a long list of requirements a business needs to meet to ensure their Home Care Agency License. Among the most important are:
- Criminal history checks on all employees for the safety and care of clients.
- Properly bonded and insured home care business take the risk out of letting someone else work in their client’s homes.
- Assurance of consumer rights means that clients will be informed of their rights so that they can get the best service possible.
- Quality management provides customers with a feedback loop to make sure their needs are always handled in a way they would expect.
Home Care Agency vs. Home Care Placement Agency
Home care agencies provide home care services directly while home care placement agencies, such as Elderlink, behave as brokers. Home care placement agencies don’t have any responsibility over the outcome. They simply connect those seeking someone to take care of them to someone who is willing to do the care taking. The person or business they connect a person to isn’t necessarily certified. (placement agency – they don’t refer to home care agencies)
Certification allows clients to focus in on what is most important, getting the best care possible. Finding someone who you can trust, or who you can trust to care for a loved one, is no easy task. The process takes time, money, and careful consideration.
To make the process of in home care easy on our clients, Extended Family is state certified. If you would like to learn more about in home care, contact us today. We’d love to help.
