Non-Medical Home Care is a flourishing industry that helps patients transition from hospital to home, assists chronically-ill people in learning to live with a continuing disorder, provides physical therapy to accident victims, speech/language therapy and feeding therapy to stroke victims, and more. It also provides occupational therapy to patients with conditions that make routine life skills more challenging and with this exciting home care business opportunity. There are laws to follow such as getting a non-medical home care business accreditation and no better to help you with it than the best home care consultant in the industry, 21st Century Home Care Consultants.
Why is Non-Medical Home Care Business Accreditation Necessary?
To ensure the highest standards of excellence in non-medical home care, standards have been defined that surpass basic federal and state regulations. The standards are defined based on whether the service would be performed in a private home or a facility, such as an assisted living facility or nursing home. A medical equipment supply company would have its own unique specifications. What they all have in common is the desire to be the best in their category of care.
Accreditation assures clients that you are qualified, reliable and dedicated to providing the highest quality care. It gives payers confidence that they are backing an organization that goes beyond minimal enforceable regulations. You will enjoy a smooth cash flow process with fewer claim denials. More potential clients will choose your company’s services.
Who Should Apply For Non-Medical Home Care Business Accreditation?
One candidate for accreditation would be an agency sending personal care aides or certified nursing assistants into a client’s home or a facility to provide care. These same agencies may provide in-home physical or occupational therapy or arrange visits from social workers or behavioral health therapists.
Other candidates for accreditation are pharmacy delivery suppliers, home medical equipment dealers, hospice services, and agencies who hire home health nurses to provide infusion therapy or wound care. All these vital and highly specialized services need the validation of accreditation to demonstrate their competence in providing live-saving and affirming care.
What are the Costs For Non-Medical Home Care Business Accreditation?
The costs of accreditation have been outlined and explained on the website of CHAP, or Community Health Accreditation Partner. Not only can we supply cost information, we stand ready and eager to help you every step of the way. Determining factors in the cost of accreditation will be the kind of services offered and the number of places where the services are provided.
For a Home Health Agency or Hospice Care Provider who has served no more than 150 individual patients during the most recent 1-year period and who offer only one type of service, there would be an application fee of $800 and an accreditation fee totaling $4,600, payable in two annual installments of $2,300. Each facility applying for accreditation will have site visits which ordinarily will happen on three different days at a charge of $1,500 per visit. The approximate cost of a three-year accreditation would total $9,900.
For businesses supplying home medical equipment (HME), infusion therapy, private duty or public health nursing, there would be the $800 application fee along with an accreditation fee of $3,200, which could be divided into two annual installments of $1,600. Site visits ordinarily happen on two days, with each visit costing $1,500. The total cost of a three-year accreditation, in this case, would come to approximately $7,000.
Each agency that applies for and receives a three-year accreditation will receive a written contract outlining all charges, so there will never be any undisclosed fees. For businesses with more than one location or who offer different services, an itemized evaluation will be compiled. Charges stated in the above estimates are not binding and some changes may be made in the final contract.
What are the Steps To Apply For Non-Medical Home Care Business Accreditation?
To apply for non-medical home care accreditation, simply sign into CHAP LinQ and follow the directions to create your personal account. The Overview page will outline the seven steps required to achieve accreditation.
These steps include the following:
- Application submitted
- Contract drawn up
- Self-Study/Readiness Program
- Site visits completed
- Plan of Correction
- Board Review
- Accreditation Completed
On the LinQ page, each of the steps will be assigned tasks to be completed. As you progress through the steps, specific tasks will be listed on the screen in two parts: “We need you to…”, and “Completed Tasks”.
As each step is completed, click on Submit to proceed to the following step. When you are unsure about a task, click on the question mark icon next to that task for clarification.
A Non-Medical Home Care Business Consultant Can Help You Be CHAP Accredited
For assistance in completing the steps for your non-medical home care business accreditation, you can contact us and one of our home care consultant will assist you. You can be assured that our home care consultant can help since we are the largest and most experience in the home care consultant business.