Home Health Care Providers and Identification Cards

During my last visit to the hospital with my mother, each and every nurse and attendant showed me their picture identification card. Many went further by saying that anyone that is attempting to administer medicine or any kind of medical treatment must be wearing similar identification. It was a feeling of comfort for my mother as well as for myself.

Today both of my parents live in a house just behind ours and at least four or five medical attendants visit my parents for something or another from therapy to just checking their condition. There seems to be a flow of home care staff visiting them on a regular basis. On occasion, depending on their condition they have daily medical visitors and it’s nice as we get to know the staff personally.

What is surprising to me is that most of them don’t have an ID card as part of their uniform. My parents and I have come accustomed to accepting them at their word that they are who they say they are. What a shocking contrast to the hospital.

Now I’m not knocking the quickly booming home care industry. It’s been an invaluable source for my parents and has saved them many trips and stays at various medical facilities.

What I do want to say is that the hospitals have set an excellent standard that the home care industry should follow. Simply by wearing a photo identification card would greatly enhance the comfort level of their home bound customers.

It can be expensive for a small home care company to add ID card printing equipment to their overhead; however, there are other solutions available such as FullIdentity.com. This organization provides both identification cards and instant background checks through an online service at a reasonable rate. Larger organizations can use a similar solution, but it may be more costly than purchasing their own equipment.

Background checks and photo ID cards should almost be mandatory in the home care industry, although as in many situations it doesn’t require government intervention if the industry takes care of the issue. It has always been a better thing when an industry regulates themselves without government imposing regulations that cost our tax dollars to enforce and also quickly become outdated.

In 2007 there were more than 228,000 home care companies in the US alone. This industry has grown to $54 Billion a year, and is climbing at a fast pace with our aging society. Home care has proven to be a cost effective alternative to hospital stays as well as an alternative to nursing homes. It would just be much better if the home care providers identified themselves as well as the hospital nurses.