Agency home care workers tend to serve clients with less significant disabilities and a more routine schedule of personal care needs. As the volume of home care has increased, so have expectations of quality and accountability. A skilled and reliable home care work force depends on such considerations as wages, health benefits, criminal background screening, training and monitoring. Home care quality concerns, today, are focused on oversight, client ability to supervise caregivers, how to ensure that family caregivers are qualified and appropriate to be paid. This should allow the AAA staff to improve monitoring of home care workers and, with the assistance of nursing services, coordinate medical, pharmacy and other factors critical to the health status and well being of home care clients.
Agencies provide training and oversight of their employees and oversee client services.
DDD contracts with outside evaluators to review and re-certify each program at least every two years. About 800 children and adults use licensed home health or home care agencies for in-home support through family support or Medicaid Personal Care. These agencies hire, manage, train, and oversee their workers and client services. DOH licenses and re-certifies these agencies. About 7800 DDD adults, children and their families use individual providers for respite care and personal care services.