Eliminating Testing and Certification Barriers for Home Care Aides

WHCA staff serve on a statewide stakeholder workgroup whose goal is to identify barriers in the home care aide credentialing process. In a meeting on June 3, Vicki McNealley of WHCA volunteered to act as a home care aide applicant and completed the online application for the group. The hour-long practice exposed many areas of concern, prompting Department of Health staff to take note of future application revisions. Allison Lally of Brookdale Senior Living also serves on the workgroup and was able to inform the meeting attendees of the various areas of concern that Brookdale employees face when completing their home care aide applications. There is little doubt that other home care aide applicants experience similar issues.

WHCA will use this experience to develop a tutorial for assisted living administrators to share with home care aide applicants as they work through the application process; we are hopeful this tool will minimize frustration and simplify the activity.

For questions about home care aides, please email Vicki McNealley at the WHCA office.