Home Health Aides and other healthcare professionals are an essential part of Ohio’s healthcare system. The care you provide to the elderly, those with disabilities, and the chronically ill is important in so many ways.
You help patients live safely and as comfortably as possible in their own homes, giving them dignity and confidence. This doesn’t only make a significant impact on your patients’ lives; it also affects their family and wider community. It can also be a rewarding experience for you, too!
Becoming a Home Health Aide (HHA) can help you make a difference in your community. Whether you’re in Columbus, Dayton, or any of the Buckeye State’s other vibrant cities and towns, working as an HHA is an excellent way to work one-on-one with patients in a challenging, yet rewarding job.
Becoming a Home Health Aide in Ohio
To work as a Home Health Aide in Ohio you will need to complete training and other steps required by the state. However, you may want to think about the skills and talents you already have that may serve you well in the job.
A successful HHA needs to:
- Be a good listener and communicator
- Genuinely care about their patients
- Have compassion and patience
- Be a quick thinker
- Be able to adapt
These “soft” skills and others are just as essential to HHA work as any formal training.
Home Healthcare Training
If you feel that you are suited to working as a Home Health Aide, the next step is to complete the required training and assessment.
HHA requirements in Ohio follow federal guidelines for the amount of training you will need to work in the field. You will need to complete 75 hours of home healthcare training. This will include 16 hours of clinical or practical training where you will be supervised. Twelve hours of continuing education training is also required every 12 months.
After your home healthcare training is complete, you must pass a competency exam. You will be asked to work with a real or mock patient during part of the test and graded on how well you complete certain tasks with them.
Related: Home Health Aide Training, Classes, Certifications
Registering as an HHA
There are no license requirements for Home Health Aides in Ohio, but if you plan to work independent of an agency, you may want to register with the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. Registering allows you to be reimbursed by Medicare or Medicaid if you are working with patients enrolled in these programs.
A state-level background check is required to enroll. This can be requested through the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. If you have lived in Ohio for less than five years, you will also need to submit an FBI background check.
Protecting your business
Once you’ve completed your training and registered as a Home Health Aide, you may want to consider how you will protect your small business. Home health care insurance in Ohio is one way to do this. Your policies can help shield your business from common liability claims that you could face in your line of work.
As an HHA, you work with patients in their own homes. This can create opportunities for mistakes or accidents that can greatly impact a patient’s health and wellbeing. Even if you are careful in your work, it may still be wise to prepare for the worst—just in case.
Home Health Aides are often faced with liability claims or lawsuits that are related to their work. Say you accidentally break a patient’s expensive vase while helping them around the house. It may have been an innocent mishap, but you could be faced with a large bill to replace the item.
General Liability, a type of home care business insurance in Ohio, would protect you in a situation like this. Your policy would cover the cost of fixing the situation, plus any legal costs that you may have incurred. It also provides protection if a patient or other member of the public is injured due to your negligence.
You might also consider Professional Liability insurance and other home health aide liability in Ohio to protect your small business from other risks you may face as an HHA.
Protect your business with BizInsure
BizInsure helps busy Home Health Aides find insurance to fit their business needs. In just minutes you can compare and buy home healthcare insurance in Ohio and receive your proof of insurance instantly by email.
Compare policies with BizInsure today, and get back to caring for your patients.
The provision of the claims examples are for illustrative purposes only and should not be seen as an indication as to how any potential claim will be assessed or accepted. Cover for a claim will depend on the specific circumstances around the loss and would be subject to the terms and conditions of the policy concerned. As with any insurance, cover will be subject to the terms, conditions and exclusions contained in the policy wording. The information contained in this webpage is general only. Coverage for claims on the policy will be determined by the insurer, not BizInsure, and will depend on the specific facts and circumstances involved.
