Hospice of the East Bay

HomeLife Senior Care provides unsurpassed care to hospice patients and families. We are committed to being a compassionate, attentive partner, ensuring priceless peace of mind for families.

Hospice of the East Bay

Our Relationship with Hospice of the East Bay
HomeLife Senior Care has worked in partnership with Hospice of the East Bay since 2010. We hold in high regard the professionalism and compassion that their representatives have demonstrated during our partnership. It’s our privilege to send referrals with confidence to Hospice of the East Bay because our clients and families deserve the very best care available and we feel you provide that.
Evolving trends in Health Care
HomeLife Senior Care trains our executives, staff and caregivers so they’re equipped to leverage best practices in the field every day. Delivery of healthcare is changing. Home based care is at the forefront of these changes. To that end, we partner with hospitals and skilled nursing facilities to minimize preventable 30-day readmissions through our TransitionHome™ program, and we maintain quarterly reports to track our progress. For clients with chronic conditions that need to be better managed, we provide evidence-based disease specific care to improve their outcomes, keeping them at home and out of the hospital. Our executive management is active in the National Readmission Prevention Collaborative (NRPC) with certification as “professionals” in the collaborative and our organization overall is certified in readmission-prevention as a team. These connections keep us on the cutting edge of the evolving changes in Health Care. In addition, as members of The Seniors Choice, we adhere to a contemporary model of best practices with the most comprehensive exposure to training, networking, and idea sharing available today. Our online caregiver training partner, the Institute for Professional Care Education, updates training modules regularly and our training program exceeds what’s required by licensure. As co-owner of HomeLife Senior Care and as a Certified Senior Advisor® (CSA) it’s my personal passion, along with my partner and wife Angela and our executives, to ensure that our agency is the most trusted home care provider in the area and that we’re in tune with the evolving trends in Health Care. Client and family expectations for monitoring of care delivery are changing and shifting to online technology to improve communication and convenience for busy family members. Our online family connect portal allows clients and family members to view their schedule of care, leave messages for our office staff, view their caregiver history, profile and photo, view their care plan description and make changes to any preferences they have. Our payment models are now being built around technology solutions and convenient payment options for families via the internet. We’re watchful for and envision opportunities in the future to partner and integrate portions of our scheduling software with health care providers such as hospitals and skilled nursing to improve the experience and more seamlessly transition patients from the hospital to home.
Process of referral requests and time frame
We answer our phones 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays. Calls are received by our staff. Whomever answers the phone is qualified to share about our services and schedule a free consultation/assessment to gather details about the needs of the client and family. If needed, we’ll drop what we’re doing and head out immediately to meet with the family/client. After the consultation, if the client and family select us to work with them, we complete a detailed assessment form that resides in our cloud based home care software. We note things like chronic conditions, medications used, doses, doctors and specialists contact information, emergency contacts, family contacts, meal preferences, personality type and much more. Some of the information collected is moved to a separate online care plan that is printed and placed in a binder and brought to the home for use by our caregivers. When matching a caregiver, we consider all personal preferences and expectations our client and family may have and work very hard to provide the perfect match. We can react as quickly as families need us to, from a few hours to a few days.
Continuity of Care
To improve patient outcomes, our staff stays in touch with and collaborates care with; hospice and palliative care nurses and volunteers, case managers, medical social workers, physicians, nurse case managers, spiritual care counsellors and nurse practitioners throughout the process of providing care. When caregivers come on duty on a particular shift, there is a hand-off that takes place and the caregivers share information about what transpired during their shift. If the caregivers are unable to make this connection in person because the shift hours are separated, a care plan book is available and located in the home where notes are left for the caregiver coming on duty. Regular entries are required in the care plan book whether or not there is a break in shifts. A complete record of the care provided during each shift is written and is available to anyone working in the home and for convenient access to the hospice agency, nurses, case managers, client or members of the family.
How does HomeLife Senior Care find the right caregiver for me?
Prior to starting services, we will visit you for a FREE in-home assessment to help determine your individual needs and preferences and will work with you to create a care plan. Based on this care plan, a HomeLife Senior Care staffing coordinator will identify the caregiver whose skills and characteristics match your preferences. Our team will work closely with you to ensure that the match is a good one, and that your home care services are well coordinated and meet the highest professional standards. Should a concern arise, a supervisor and staffing coordinator are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to address your needs. HomeLife Senior Care is a full-service home care agency, which means that we employ our caregivers. All caregivers must pass a thorough background and health screening prior to hire. Caregivers are bonded and insured, and we handle all employer responsibilities, including taxes, benefits, training, and supervision.
Quality and Client Satisfaction
We work hard everyday to increase the quality of our care and improve the client experience on an ongoing basis in partnership with Home Care Pulse, a satisfaction management organization that specializes specifically in home care organizations like ours. Each month the Home Care Pulse research team interviews a subset of our clients and caregivers to gather detailed, unbiased, feedback and satisfaction scores across many categories. These scores, along with feedback and testimonials, are used by us to then competently take action. Our progress is tracked over time so we can discover trends and benchmark our results against the industry. Through this process, HomeLife Senior Care has earned awards and certification as a Home Care Pulse Trusted Provider, Provider of Choice, and Employer of Choice. Awards are announced once a year in January. Our progress with Home Care Pulse this year, ending in October, with a score above 90% in 10 categories qualifies us for their most prestigious award known as, Leader in Excellence
Are We Accredited?
Yes, we’re accredited as follows:
  • Home Care Organization License
  • The Senior’s Choice
  • Home Care Pulse Best of Home Care
    • Leadership In Excellence
    • Provider of Choice
    • Employer of Choice
    • Trusted Provider
    • National Readmission Prevention Collaborative (NCRP)
  • Certified Partner - HomeLife Senior Care
  • Society of Senior Advisors, Certified Senior Advisor® (CSA) - Vinny DiNicola
  • BBB A+ rating
  • Institute for Professional Care Education - Commitment to Exceptional Training

OTHER CREDENTIALS

  • Home Care Pulse Quarterly Client/Caregiver Satisfaction Reports - Oct 2015 - Oct 2016
  • Monthly Readmission Dashboard Reports - 2015 & 2016
  • Meals on Wheels - Certified Fall Prevention Partner
  • Business of The Year 2015
  • Certificate of Recognition State Assembly - Jim Frazier
  • Certificate of Recognition State Senate - Steven Glazer
  • Certificate of Congressional Recognition - Jerry McNerney
  • Contra Costa County Certificate of Recognition - Mary Piepho