Category: Publications

Spread the Word with Our New Home Care Posters

The Alliance’s 2011 Home Care Posters are now available for order.  Handsome and professionally-printed, they’re perfect for display in councils on aging, senior centers, hospitals, doctors offices, Churches, or anywhere people in need of home care might see them!

The posters direct viewers to our website, www.thinkhomecare.org, where they can use our online Find An Agency or our Print Directories to find an agency that suits their needs.

Tens of thousands of people in Massachusetts live independently at home with the help of home care. If your family needs help, our online directory can match you with the agency that best suits your need, whether it’s for care 24 hours a day, or just a few hours a week.

Details:

  • Shipped in packages of two, with one poster of each design;
  • Posters are full-color and printed on 100-lb, 11 x 17″ cardstock;
  • Shipped flat and with an extra cardboard insert so posters are protected and ready to mount the moment they arrive;
  • All packages include four self-adhesive, wall-friendly strips for easy mounting and removal.
2011 Poster - Blue

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

2011 Resource Directories Arrive!

2011 Resource DirectoryMore than 2,200 2011 Home Health Resource Directories arrived at the Alliance’s office today.  We’ll being mailing out copies over the next few weeks.

The 2011 edition  combines thoroughness with ease-of-use to give you the best guide to home care services in Massachusetts.  If you’re a nurse, social worker, GCM, or anyone else who needs to find the best home care agency to fit your patient’s needs, this is the one resource you need.

The Resource Directory lists our 189 agencies alphabetically — 15 more than last year — complete with full contact information and a description of the services they offer.  It also contains a detailed town-by-town cross reference that lets you find local agencies can provide service to your patient.  Sample pages are available here.

New to the 2011 Edition, the Resource Directory explicitly lists which agencies are Medicare Certified and which have received the Alliance’s Agency Accreditation.

You may order copies on our website or by using the form below, or can download an order form to fax back to our office.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

2011 Private Care Guides Ship Tomorrow

Private Care Guides
The Alliance will begin shipping copies of its 2011 Guide to Private Home Care Services tomorrow.  The Guide is designed for patients and clients, both to educate them about their private home care options, and to help them choose from our 121 member agencies that accept private pay.

We will ship copies of the Guide to every hospital, Aging Service Access Point (ASAP), Council on Aging (COA), Geriatric Specialist and Oncologist, Veterans’ Hospital, and dozens of other referral sources.

Copies of the Guide are available  for order on our website, as is a downloadable PDF version; Guides are always available free of charge with no shipping charges on copies of 12 or less.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

2010 Private Care Guides SOLD OUT!

As of this past Friday, the Alliance has sold out of copies of its 2010 Guide to Private Home Care Services!

That’s 12,000 copies distributed to Councils on Aging, ASAPs, hospitals, VA centers, doctors offices, and — most importantly — families and individuals around Massachusetts.

Copies of the 2011 Guide are available for pre-order, and will begin shipping next month.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Attending Mass-ALFA

The Alliance will be exhibiting at the Massachusetts Assisted Living Facilities  (Mass-ALFA) Conference tomorrow, distributing Resource Directories and seeking new referral sources for our members.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Announcing Agency Accreditation Program

In the absence of meaningful licensure requirements for home care providers in Massachusetts, the Home Care Alliance has established a series of Accreditation Standards as a means to promote quality services, ethical business standards, and superior employment practices.  The goal of these standards is to ensure that the clients served by agencies accredited by the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts receive safe, competent, quality, and respectful home care services.

Benefits of Accreditation:

The Home Care Agency Accreditation Program of the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts allows agencies that provide in-home client services to demonstrate that they meet high standards of quality.  Accreditation:

  • Shows clients and families that your caregivers are direct employees and that you carry workers’ compensation, liability insurance, and an employee dishonesty bond.
  • Demonstrates that your caregivers receive background checks, screening, and proper training for their job.
  • Proves your commitment to following ethical and legal guidelines in your business operations.
  • Provides a competitive edge in the marketplace and can contribute to securing new business.
  • Enhances staff recruitment and development by showing your commitment to fair labor standards.

Accredited agencies receive recognition in several ways:

  • Use of the Alliance’s Accreditation Logo to show your commitment to quality on your website, brochures, and stationery.
  • Listing on the Alliance’s website as an Accredited Agency.
  • For Alliance member agencies, designation as an Accredited Agency in the Alliance’s print directories and in the Find an Agency function on the Alliance’s website, which enhances your visibility and credibility.

To learn more, visit the program’s website and download an application today.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

2010 Compensation & Surveys – Participation Open

For over fifteen years, the Alliance’s Compensation & Benefits Survey Reports have provided participating agencies reliable, comprehensive, local compensation data on a broad range of job titles in home care.

As we did last year, we are conducting two separate surveys: one for certified agencies, another for private agencies.  We are released the certified agency survey questions  on May 26, 2010, and will release the private care agency survey in June.  Agencies can submit data and receive reports for either or both sections of the survey.

To access the survey materials, visit the Survey Participation Page/Order Form.  Completed surveys must be returned to dwudyka@westminsterassociates.com by June 10, 2010.

The price structure is the same as last year: $149 for the certified survey; $79 for the private care survey; or $199 for both.  Note that these prices are for participating agencies only!  Agencies that do not submit data and payment by will be charged more than double the participant fees to receive the reports.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

So You Want To Start A Home Care Agency?

So You Want To Start A Home Care Agency?Home care is one of the fastest-growing segments of the health & human services industries. Owning a home care agency can provide you with a meaningful and profitable career where you can be your own boss, make your own decisions, and decide your own future.

A successful homecare agency requires a careful business plan that considers start-up costs, local demand and  competition, workforce recruitment, and marketing. And like all new businesses, new home care agencies have a high attrition rate during their first few years.

So You Want To Start A Home Care Agency? will answer your basic questions, help you think through the necessary steps, and provide you with links and references to additional information sources.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Free Emerg. Prep Guide w/order of Standards of Care Handbook

Through the end of March, Alliance members who order our Standards of Home Health Clinical Practice Manual will receive a free copy of Home Health Care Emergency Preparedness Handbook.

Standards of Home Health Clinical Practice The Standards of  Practice manual represents the professional consensus of experienced home health practitioners in the fields of nursing, physical therapy, hospice, and quality improvement.  Each standard was developed by a subcommittee and reviewed by the full workgroup and subject-matter experts.  Each order includes a printed copy of the manual, as well as a CD containing the complete text in an Adobe PDF format.  The table of contents is available for preview

The Standards of Practice Manual normally retails for $225, but is available to Alliance members for just $65.

The Alliance developed the Standards of Home Health Clinical Practice Home Health Care Emergency Preparedness Handbook jointly with the Department of Public Health.

This essential reference not only covers what home care agencies can do to protect and care for their own clients in an emergency, but also details how their unique skills and knowledge base can help their entire communities.

Like the Standards of Care Manual, the Emergency Preparedness Handbook is neatly bound in a sturdy ring folder. The table of contents is also available for preview.

To order a copy of both guides, sign into our website and order a copy of the Standards of Care Manual; we will include a copy of the Emergency Preparedness Handbook at no additional charge.  To order just a copy of the Emergency Preparedness Handbook, call HCA Membership coordinator Tom Meyer at (617) 482-8830.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Alliance Releases New Pediatric Guide

Though home care is often thought of as exclusively for elders, its services actually benefit a much wider demographic.

With this in mind, the Alliance is pleased to announce the publication of the inaugural edition of the Guide to Pediatric Home Care Services.  The Guide lists Alliance members who offer specialty programs in pediatric home care.   The agencies listed in this directory self-reported the services they provide.

The Guide is available for free download directly to your computer; hard copies are also available for order.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.