DIG DEEP: The Background Check, The Reference Check, The Family Check & The Gut Check

I thought yesterday's call from the in-house counsel of one of our partners was somewhat strange. We ended up having a great discussion (well as good of a conversation you can have with an attorney) about home health care and how the industry's lack of regulation was one of the primary motivators in building ENURGI. We talked about non-certified caregivers posting profiles on sites such as craigslist without any supporting documentation including references or background checks.

Later that evening, my husband was sitting at the counter as he does religiously every night reading the days Wall Street Journal, when an interesting headline caught my attention: "Case of Abuse By Home Aides Draws Scrutiny." The first two sentences were equally attention grabbing: "In late 2006, 85-year-old Priscilla Stovall, a bedridden survivor of three heart attacks, was killed in her Clovis, Calif., home. Her killer: the aide hired to help her around the house."

The article was frightening. An incapcitated, elderly woman. A home health aide. A theft. A murder. A poor background check by the home health agency.

Hmmm. I wonder if that is what prompted the lawyer's call?????

The WSJ article highlighted stories about caregivers with criminal pasts working for agencies, stealing from their patients and committing other acts of elder abuse. It provided advice on how to best screen candidates, what questions to ask prospective home care providers and listed information links for conducting background checks on caregivers.

My advice to anyone searching for a caregiver to take care of themselves or a loved one: start with the background check and go much deeper. Background checks should be the start, not the final approval in deciding on whether to hire a caregiver.

Background Checks: Running a background check should be the initial step in your interview process. Background checks vary and there are different levels of how "deep" into a persons background you can review.

Always search state, federal, county and local records in both civil and criminal courts.

Reference Checks: Checking prior patients that have been cared for by a caregiver candidate is invaluable. A MUST! This is your chance to get first hand knowledge about the caregiver. After a 10 minute conversation with a former patient, you will surely gain great insight about your caregiver.

Talk with past patients. Ask questions -- tons of them. Ask questions about quality of care, ability, knowledge, skill, friendliness, warmth, and punctuality.

Family Checks: Visit with families of patients. Ask questions -- tons of them.

How did the caregiver interact with family members? Did the caregiver communicate well with family members about the patients care? Did the caregiver involve families in the treatment and care plans of the patient?

The GUT Check: I must admit, I am one of those people who always conducts a thorough GUT check on all of life's major decisions. I do this last, after all of the objective information is gathered, analyzed, pondered, twisted and turned.

The GUT check confirms what you already know OR tells you something is amiss and you step back. If you have done all of the above and something still seems a little "off," you are probably best to continue looking.

I also hope the WSJ article serves as a call to action for everyone in healthcare to take notice of the duty we have in protecting our elderly population. That is why when I started ENURGI, we began with creating a national caregiver database. A year ago we envisioned a centralized location for credentialing of caregivers and posting background checks and references.

Today we have over 1.5 million records of licensed caregivers and over 10,000 registered users posting caregiver profiles, background checks and references. We are on our way.

In memory of Priscilla Stovall, I hope to get there even faster.