How Home Care Works
The Process
As with most things, there is a process involved in selecting and beginning service with the home health care service agency that will provide care for your loved one. While the process outlined below isn’t carved in stone, it should serve as a reasonable guideline for getting you through. It reflects the process Generations prefers, but our service is customized to the particular needs and circumstances of the individual, and may vary.
1 Do thorough due diligence on the agency. It’s prudent to do your homework on the available agencies in your area.
2 Meet with agency representative to get an introduction to the agency and discuss client’s requirements. Review agreements and agency-provided materials to ensure you understand your financial and other obligations. Only then should you sign any documents.
3 The agency will arrange for a registered nurse to visit the client in her/his home; preferably, the primary caregiver (most often a family member) should be there as well. The nurse will get an understanding of the client’s needs, limitations and expectations. Generations uses one of the most comprehensive nurse’s assessment processes in the industry, to ensure we are properly addressing the client’s needs.
4 The nurse will prepare a written plan of care, detailing the services and timing of various activities. The plan should be reviewed with the appropriate family member as well as the client.
5 Generations will assign a CHHA, based on criteria provided by the client, family member and nurse. The CHHA will be provided with the plan of care and a copy will be kept in the client’s home for updating and notation during service.
6 Generations management or nurse supervisor will accompany the CHHA to the clients’ home on the first visit as an introduction and to answer any unforeseen questions that may arise. The CHHA will be wearing a Generations ID badge with photo for proper identification. Upon arrival our CHHA will make a call to Generations. This call (using state-of-the-art tracing technology) confirms that the CHHA has arrived. Another toll-free call is made at the end of the daily assignment at which time the CHHA inputs the activities performed that day. This ensures accuracy in billing, as well as enabling real-time verification of the CHHA’s arrival.
7 Our nurse and/or a member of management will visit the home regularly to check on the client and the CHHA, and to ensure that the plan of care is working as intended or to make any adjustments called for. The nurse will perform a more formal nursing reassessment every 60 days, as required by New Jersey regulations.