Will your home care agency provide adequate documentation?

When you are about to hire a home care agency, it is essential to ask what types of documentation will be made available to help you assess the services provided. In some cases, an agency may provide a daily email with a breakdown by the hour/task. In other, more health-intensive cases, the documentation may need to be done more extensively in the home and by email. For example, suppose a senior is prone to dehydration. In that case, documenting how much daily fluid intake has occurred makes sense, especially if family and primary caregivers are not visiting each day. A medical chart will be maintained in the home.



At Arcadia Home Care, all our clients have 24/7 access to a care log that gives detailed information about every home care visit. The other value of timely reports is to prevent miscommunication between clients, families, caregivers, and our administration. For example, we had a client withdraw a large amount of cash from the bank and offer it to his caregiver. As per Arcadia Home Care policy, our caregiver declined to accept the money. Fortunately, she informed our agency, and, in turn, we reported the incident to the client’s child. When the money went missing, only to be discovered in the client’s pant pocket three days later, the family realized they may have accused the caregiver of accepting the cash if they hadn’t been proactively informed about the incident.

At Arcadia Home Care, we are committed to providing feedback and learning opportunities for our certified caregivers. Our focus is on continuous quality improvements, including documenting care provided or communicating issues and challenges.