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Will you provide attendant care (hands-on personal care)?

Help getting in and out of beds, wheelchairs and vehicles, bathing and hygiene, using the toilet, dressing and grooming, eating, and help with medications (IC 16-18-2-28.5). Each task a worker does needs a competency evaluation first (IC 16-27-4-16).

Will you provide homemaker services?

Housekeeping, shopping, laundry, meal planning and preparation, and cleaning (IC 16-27-4-4(a)(2)).

Will you provide companion services?

Fellowship, care and protection, including transportation, letter writing, mail reading and escort services (IC 16-27-4-4(a)(3)).

Will workers help clients get in and out of beds, wheelchairs and vehicles?

Adds transfers to the competency evaluation and skills test (IC 16-27-4-16).

Will workers help with bathing and personal hygiene?

Will workers help clients use the toilet?

Will workers help with dressing and grooming?

Will workers help clients eat?

Feeding, including preparation and cleanup (IC 16-18-2-28.5(b)(2)(D)). Making meals without help eating is a homemaker service.

Will workers use lift equipment, such as a Hoyer lift, to move clients?

Lift services need liability insurance that covers them (IC 16-27-4-6(l)) and training on lifts in general and on each client's own lift at the client's home, following the manufacturer's instructions (IC 16-27-4-16(c)). A client may always decline the lift (IC 16-27-4-12.5).

How will workers help clients with medications?

In Indiana, medication help is part of attendant care, for a client who directs it or whose help is directed by someone who may consent to health care for them (IC 16-18-2-28.5(b)(3)). Anything that needs a health care professional's order is not a personal service (IC 16-27-4-4(b)(4)).

Will you serve clients under 18?

The service plan and rights statement then go to a parent or guardian as the child's personal representative. Anyone who believes a child is a victim of abuse or neglect must report it (IC 31-33-5-1).

Who answers client calls when the office is closed?

The manager or the manager's designee must be available to respond to client calls 24 hours a day (IC 16-27-4-14). Designees are named in writing (IC 16-27-4-9(b)).

How will you hold client satisfaction reviews?

The manager or a designee reviews services with each client every 76 to 104 days, in person or by telephone, and the review is written, signed and dated (IC 16-27-4-11).

What score must workers reach on the written and skills tests?

The agency decides whether a worker is competent (IC 16-27-4-16(a)). IDOH's application form gives 80% as an example and its 2022 instruction letter gives 85%. A worker below the mark is trained and evaluated again (IC 16-27-4-16(b)).

Which tuberculosis (TB) test will workers take?

Indiana applies the home health TB rule to every worker with direct client contact (IC 16-27-4-15; 410 IAC 17-12-1(i)). The rule accepts either test.

Which criminal history check will you get for workers?

The agency applies for one of these within 3 business days after a worker starts visiting clients' homes, and may not keep them on home visits past 21 days without the result (IC 16-27-2-4; IC 16-27-2-5(c)). An expanded check must include every search in IC 20-26-2-1.5.

Who pays for workers' criminal history checks?

The agency is responsible for the fees but may have applicants pay them when they apply, or reimburse the agency (IC 16-27-2-6).

How will you keep records?

Records must be kept, or be electronically accessible, at your Indiana office for at least 7 years (IC 16-27-4-18). IDOH asks the policy to say how long, where and how records are stored.

Will you have a branch office?

A branch operates under your license. It must provide services, be owned and controlled by your agency and be within 120 miles of your licensed office (IC 16-27-4-6(b)). IDOH asks for a letter and a map.

Include recommended practices?

Some policies end with practical steps that go beyond the law, such as keeping TB results in a confidential file and a list of tasks workers never do. Once adopted they are your policies and IDOH can expect you to follow them, so leave them out if you won't. The IDOH upload set always leaves them out, because IDOH asks applicants not to send anything that is not required.