Part 2 – GETTING STARTED WITH HOMECARE

Ember Healthcare provide personalized care, tailored to your unique needs in Edmonton and Surrounding Areas.  Tammy Whittaker, CEO and Founder of ember, and Sabrina Whaley, COO and Co-Founder are sharing with us valuable resources.  This is Part 2 of a 3-part series to help us better understand homecare here in Alberta.

GETTING STARTED WITH HOMECARE

When its time to get started with care, you may not know where to start. Thankfully, its actually quite easy to access care in Alberta, as long as you know what to expect!

Call 811

In Alberta you do not need to see a doctor to access homecare. All you need to do is pick up your phone and call 811 (Family and friends can do this on behalf of someone as well) When you call 811 they will take your information and pass it through to a case manager at AHS. A case manager is a licensed professional (May be an RN, a Social Worker, or an Occupational Therapist) who’s role it is to assess the needs of those who need homecare, approve care, and careplan creation where needed. They will call you and ask to come out to your home to complete a home assessment.

Complete a Home Assessment

Your case manager will ask to come out to your home to complete an interview and safety assessment of your home. Expect this to take anywhere from 2-3 hours. They will ask you what you need help with. It may be helpful to have a list of tasks you need assistance with. We have a handy checklist here: Care Checklist should you need help identifying your needs! We recommend people be honest about their needs when being interviewed. Think about your bad days when you don’t have help. What do those days look like? What would be helpful to you for care? Keep in mind, AHS is unlikely to be able to approve home support visits, but more likely to be able to approve personal care needs. Your case manager will make a comprehensive list of all the care you need. They will then use an algorithm to calculate the total hours of care you are approved for.

During your home assessment, you will need to speak with your case manager about what home care model you are interested in. If you choose the traditional model, your case manager will develop a careplan for you and submit it to the agency contracted for your area. You will then receive a phone call from that agency to introduce themselves and tell you who will be coming to provide your care, and when.

Should you choose the Client Directed model, your case manager will provide you with a letter outlining the total monthly hours you have been approved for. You then can select an agency to provide that care, and they will come out into your home to develop a care plan with you and speak to you about what type of caregiver you are looking for. They will match you with a caregiver after finding the right fit for your home.

With the self managed care model your case manager would provide you with a letter outlining your total monthly hours and rates of funding, and you could proceed with recruitment of your own staff.

Should you start any one model and decide it is not the right model for you, you can simply call your case manager and request to switch models at any time. No matter what model you choose, you should expect your case manager to re-visit you at least once per year for an annual re-assessment of your care needs.

Choosing a Homecare Agency

With all the choices out there, it can be intimidating to select a Homecare agency. While every family may have different priorities and preferences in what they are looking for in a provider, everyone is looking for quality care. It is unfortunate, but some homecare agencies in your area may not be reputable. We have seen families taken advantage of with restrictive contracts, hidden fees, unethical staffing practices, and upselling private care that is publicly funded. That being said, there are some amazing agencies out there! Here is a quick guide to avoiding predatory practices and screening for your best home care fit!

Check The Directory

First, let’s talk about the Client Directed Home Care Invoicing Program (CDHCI). In Alberta, if you are approved for homecare services you can choose to select your own home care agency. This amazing program is called the Client Directed Home Care Invoicing Program. Once you are approved for care, you can begin the selection process by heading to the Blue Cross website here: Client Directed Home Care | Alberta Blue Cross®

There you can see a list of approved agencies in your area, filter results based on bill rates and minimum visit lengths.

In order for an agency to participate in the client directed program they must be insured, have WCB coverage for their staff, provide vulnerable sector checks for their employees, and provide you with a copy of what they bill Blue Cross for your care.

I recommend to all folks searching for a Homecare Agency to utilize this tool, as there is at least some oversight of care agencies through these agreements.

Download a quick guide on HOW TO ACCESS CLIENT DIRECTED HOME CARE INVOICING PROGRAM (CDHCI)!

Google Reviews

Google reviews are a great tool to use to see what others have to say about the agencies you are considering. Take some time to read through both the good and the bad reviews posted online. If an agency does not have their reviews public, I would want to know why.

Check Their Website

It is always a good idea to check out any potential agencies website. See if they have any information about their owners. Are they locally owed and operated? Does their leadership team have a homecare background?While websites are typically carefully curated by agencies, it is still a great launching place to start your information gathering.

Call and Interview

Once you have selected agencies you are interested in, your next step is to call and start interviewing. It may be useful to have a list of questions prior to making your calls. Click HERE for a handy checklist of Agency questions.

Depending on your needs, you may want to focus on different questions but we recommend at least asking the following questions:

1) What is your hourly bill rate?

2) What is your minimum visit length?

3) If I need help accessing public funding for my care, will you help me?

4) What qualifications do your staff have?

5) What is your cancellation policy?

6) What is included in your contract? Am I able to cancel my contract without cost?

7) Who owns your agency? Do they have a background in homecare?

A good agency will always include “wayfinding” which is a term for helping you access public funding for your care. You should never have to pay for this service, and agencies should be enthusiastic about helping you not pay out of pocket.

A 24 hour cancellation policy is pretty standard in the industry, however anything above and beyond that could cause unnecessary charges and is worth avoiding. Likewise, the best agencies in the province have contracts that do not tie you in beyond a 24 hour notice period. Please read contracts carefully and never sign anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.

Look for an agency that is run by leaders who have extensive home care experience. That experience inside the system will ensure your agency knows the standards of practice in the industry and should allow them to be well connected should you need assistance wayfinding.

Finally, if at all possible, interview more than one agency. While you are free to switch agencies at any time, it is almost always better to start out with a quality agency rather than having to uproot later.

Here at ember, we are happy to help folks navigate our healthcare system. If you need help selecting an agency or getting started with homecare and you don’t know where to start, call us. We are a small, locally owned and operated home care agency with heart. We will get you where you need to go.