Does your elderly loved one need 24-hour care? Want public care, but can’t get Medicare’s approval? Looking for more than just skilled medical home care? It’s time to stop worrying and invest in private home care.
Private in-home care is like any other home care service that takes care of older adults in their homes but you pay for it out of your pocket. Private homecare services involve all kinds of non-medical caregiving, including companion care, personal assistance, homemaking, grooming, and transportation. Private senior home care can be hired through a private home care agency or an independent caregiver.
Is private home care better than other in-home care options?
Private Senior Home Care vs. Public Home Care
When looking for elderly in-home care services, you will come across public and private options. The main difference lies in the payment method, where clients pay from their own pockets for private home care while public insurance sometimes can cover public care.
Let’s dig into some other differences between private and public elderly care.
No Eligibility Criteria, No Approval Required
Public home care requires approval from the client’s physician and the client must be eligible for the service. On the other hand, private home care is accessible to everyone without any medical approval and eligibility criteria. If you feel your loved one needs some extra help, you can directly contact a home care service. You don’t have to wait for any approval or referral for hiring long-term personal care assistance.
Right on Time
Public home care service workers can take time to arrive and complete an assessment of older clients for home care suitability and needs. It can take from a few weeks to several months depending on the waiting list. Oftentimes families need the home care service right away. When in dire need, you might not necessarily succeed in finding public home care availability.
Private home care is available around the clock. You don’t have to wait in line. For instance, if you are going out of town and need a home caregiver, you can call your private home care agency and schedule their services for the required time and date.
Personalized Care
With public home care (Medicaid and Medicare), you cannot always customize the care plan. They offer limited services for a limited time. Unless approved for the group waiver. Whereas, a private senior home care agency almost guarantees a perfect caregiver with a personalized care plan for your senior family member.
Private in-home care gives you the freedom to be particular about your requirements when hiring a caregiver. You can share the likes, dislikes, hobbies, favorite music, movies, and meals of your elderly loved ones and then a good home care agency picks the best caregiver to match the needs of your loved one.
For example, if your loved one enjoys old romantic comedy movies, you can request someone who shares the same interest and can accompany them in watching their favorite movies.
Flexibility
Public home care is also limited in terms of flexibility. Usually, it is only available part-time or intermittently (no more than 8 hours a day and 28 hours a week). The service may not be available if your elderly family member needs only non-medical personal assistance instead of primarily medical care.
Private home care allows you to choose the hours, dates, and types of services. Since you are paying it out of your own pocket, you have more flexibility. You are free to hire a service whenever you want it.
You can also reschedule and rearrange the number of hours, dates, and types of services whenever you want. If you’re looking for a care provider for a getaway over the weekend or for full time; private home care is the best way to go.
One-on-one Relationship
Most elderly need and prefer to have a one-on-one relationship with personal caregivers. That’s because friendly companionships have a healthy impact on their recovery and overall satisfaction.
In recent years, caregiver shortages have occurred due to the increasing demands of home care, low wages, and fewer benefits. That’s why public caregivers are usually occupied with too many clients, and can’t spend enough time with each individual senior. Public caregiving opportunities have led to increased caregiver burnout which in turn has affected the quality and amount of attention provided by public caregivers to their elderly clients.
Quality private in-home care helps ensure caregivers pay more attention to the clients and build much-needed friendly relationships. They listen to them, listen to their favorite music, or cook their favorite meal.
Families can also choose who they want to hire. In this way, the caregiver and elderly loved one may have plenty of time to get to know each other.
Private Home Care Agency vs. Independent Home Caregiver
Typically, families looking for private home care for their elderly have two options. They can either contact a home care agency or hire an independent care provider. While this is a very personal decision, here are some things to consider:
Compatibility
Compatibility ensures a lasting and genuine relationship between the client and caregiver. Older people are more likely to get along with someone who understands their needs without having to repeatedly ask.
Private home care agencies make sure they assign you a caregiver that matches the unique needs and personality of your older family member. A liaison from the agency visits your home to assess the needs, personality traits, hobbies, interests, and home environment of your elderly family member to then find a compatible caregiver for your loved one.
Independent home caregivers cannot always ensure compatibility. If your loved one doesn’t get along with an independent caregiver, you have to go through the tedious and painstaking process of hiring yet another caregiver.
Quality of Care
When loved ones hire a private in-home care agency, the caregivers are accountable to the agency. They provide professionally trained oversight for a high-quality home care experience. If you’re unsatisfied with an assigned caregiver, you can contact the personal care agency and they will find a more suitable caretaker.
With independently hired caregivers, however, there is usually no alternative or backup available. If you’re not satisfied with the quality of care they’re providing, you’ll have to find someone else (which can be tasking) or provide the care yourself.
Vetting
The safety of your elderly loved one is the foremost priority when hiring a private in-home senior care service. The private care provider will pre-vet and verify the background of the person who is going to come and spend time with your older family member.
Private in-home care agencies do the vetting of the caregivers themselves. They verify their states qualifications, reputation, past references, health, skills, experience, compatibility, and credibility before assigning them to elderly clients. An experienced agency knows all qualifications and credentials that must be checked and verified.
When hiring an independent caregiver, families may not be able to vet them as thoroughly. Families might be unaware of needed qualifications. When short on time or inexperienced, caring families may not be able to hire the right caregiver for loved ones which could risk their safety and overall well being.
Needs-Specific Training
Private senior home care agencies often have disease-specialized caregivers to accommodate older loved ones’ unique needs. As some diseases progress, so do the dependency of the elderly. Senior citizens’ growing dependency often makes it important to provide disease-specific care. For instance, if one has Alzheimer’s, an agency can assign a special caregiver who has training and experience in assisting those progressing with Alzheimer’s.
Contrarily, Independent caregivers are usually referred by a relative or a friend who can’t guarantee they’ve the experience necessary in dealing with this difficult condition.
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/unrecognizable-woman-brushing-elderly-ladys-hair-2304265451
ALT Text: Caregiver brushing the hair of an elderly woman – private pay home care
Around-the-Clock Availability
Because home care and private in-home care agencies have a team of caregivers, families of elderly may always have a backup. Just notify the agency if your caregiver calls in sick, and your agency will send you another caregiver as soon as possible.
Often, caregivers who are hired for long-term care become burned out and need a break. A good agency already has a process in place to prevent it; however, If it does happen, the agency can provide another match without causing inconvenience.
Independent caregivers work individually and you usually can’t expect a backup if they’re unavailable and you are unable to plan for it.
Insurance, Payrolls, and Taxes
Private in-home care agencies hire caregivers and assign them to clients. So, it’s their job to take care of payrolls, taxes, liability, and worker’s compensation insurance. Loved ones don’t have to worry about those details.
If a caregiver gets injured in your home, the agency may take care of the worker’s compensation insurance. If a caregiver damages anything in your home, the agency may be responsible for the damage.
If you hire an independent caregiver, you must handle all the paperwork, taxes, and insurance. Liabilities in these areas are one of the biggest real risks for families of elderly loved ones. Even a simple mistake in tax and insurance paperwork can end up costing quite a bit. Furthermore, you will be liable for any damages.
How To Choose the Right Private Home Care for Seniors Services
While looking for elderly home care, there are many options that would seem the right fit. Here are a few things that will help you find the right private home care services for your aging family member:
- Make a list of all of their requirements
- Research those agencies online and shortlist a few
- Check their reputations and credentials
- Review their training and recruitment process
- Consult with the agency’s representatives
- Decide on your budget
- Interview with those who do assessments
- Engage your elderly loved one in the interviewing process
- Make sure they follow a quality assurance protocol
Conclusion
At the end of the day, we all want the best for our aging loved ones. Private home care for seniors is not only safe, but also flexible, personalized, and available round-the-clock.
Private homecare services offer more benefits than other alternatives. With one-on-one attention, private pay home care provides high-quality, vetted, and compatible care for your loved one. Moreover, private home care agencies relieve you of payroll and taxation hassles. You don’t have to worry about caregivers’ qualifications either. A private elderly care agency will do all of that for you.
Put your loved one in the best hands by hiring private pay home care today! Contact us to see how we can help your loved one thrive in their golden years.
