Most people when faced with the choice to stay home and age in place or move to a facility will often choose to stay at home. Most family members faced with that same decision for their mom or dad, would rather they stay home as well.

Once you have decided to remain at home you can choose either to hire a Nurse Registry or a Home Health Agency to help you maintain your independence. In the State of Florida, where we run our Home Health Agency, the law is very clear… A Nurse Registry must only use sub-contracted caregivers to provide services in the home. By contrast, a Home Health Agency like BrightStar of Orlando is required by law to use “employee” caregivers. The differences are substantial!

For starters, supervision is one of the biggest differences. The ability to supervise, train, guide and quality control home health services are diminished from sub-contracted caregiver situations such as with Nurse Registries.

It is crucial that you consider what is important to you in order to make the best decision. Let’s consider some of the things you should look at when making a decision to hire a company to provide care in the home:

• Would you want the care giver to be screened thoroughly prior to arriving?
• How about ensuring that their professional or certification credentials are up to date?
• What if they get hurt on the job; does the agency cover their employees with Worker’s Compensation insurance?
• Do the caregivers receive orientation and continuing education from the agency to stay on top of their game?
• Does the caregiver have a supervisor they report to?
• How does the agency deal with a caregiver that is calling in sick?

Those are just some of the items you should think about before making a decision. There are many more and if you answered yes to most of those questions above, then surely you don’t want to base your purchase solely on price. It would be impossible to provide that kind of scrutiny and supervision on the cheap.

In the end, your choice is simple. If you want an agency to take care of all your home care needs, including:

• Providing you with the peace of mind that each of their caregivers are screened thoroughly
• Caregivers that are insured by Worker’s Compensation insurance
• An agency is backed by General Liability and Professional insurance
• Employees that are bonded
• And much more…

Then your choice should be a Home Health Agency like BrightStar Care. If you are considering an agency to provide quality Respite, Companion, Personal or Nursing Care and one that provides that care under the supervision of an RN Director of Nursing, then give your local West Orlando BrightStar Home Health Agency a call at 407-877-0720 or visit our Web Site to learn more about how we can provide supervised care and great customer service. Until then, best of luck in your search for quality in home, respite or personal care in West Orlando, Orange County, Florida.

Subject References: IRS & Sub-contractors and the Agency for Health Care Administration Agency Comparison