We've brought together a team of educators and home care experts to answer the burning questions that you and every home care owner will ask at some point.
Becki Harrington-Davis Senior Content Marketing Manager at CareAcademy
Sabrina Sattler Account Executive at Careswitch, home care agency advisor specializing in startup success and longevity
Ilya Vakhutinsky Careswitch CEO, home health aide's son, Forbes 30 Under 30, caregiver advocate
Jennifer Ramos Managed and sold three different home care agencies; CEO of JR3 Consulting
Angelo Spinola Home health, home care and hospice chair at Polsinelli
Brian Cottone Jr. Benefits expert at VItable Health
Connor Kunz VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
There's a simple, unequivocal answer: home care agencies are legally required to classify and pay their employees as W-2 employees, not 1099 contractors. This law has been in effect for several years and makes no exceptions.
It's useful to draw the distinction between home care agencies and home care registries.
An agency employs caregivers and has an admin staff that is responsible for scheduling the caregivers and coordinating with clients. A registry essentially offers access to a list of caregivers, who act autonomously to set their own schedules with clients.
These are separate business models with many differences, but the easiest litmus test is whether caregivers set their own schedules with no help/direction/intervention from you, or whether you're creating their schedules.
A registry exists simply to provide a list of caregivers that potential clients can contact; their involvement ends there.
If you have a competitor down the street who is paying/classifying their caregivers as 1099 contractors, they're either breaking the law or they're actually a registry. There is no other option.