Fingerprinting and background checks could soon be required for thousands of workers providing in-home care to some of Palm Beach County‘s most vulnerable residents.
More and more, aging retirees and the disabled are hiring home aides to prepare meals, dispense medication, run errands and provide other services that help people keep living on their own.
But authorities say that sometimes leads to abuses such as theft, neglect and financial fraud perpetrated on the people who are so dependent on their caregivers.
Now Palm Beach County plans to become the first in Florida, officials say, to impose tougher regulations on in-home caregivers, with fines and jail time proposed for those who don’t comply.
“The concern is that there is a large amount of exploitation that goes on with seniors because they are vulnerable,” Bonnie Conrad, of the Area Agency on Aging in Palm Beach County, said about the proposed rules. “It’s not going to fix everything, but [then] if we have a problem, we can do something.”
Concerns about crimes against seniors prompted the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Financial Crimes Division to suggest that the county impose regulations on in-home caregivers.
The new countywide rules, first proposed in January, could be ready to go before the County Commission for approval in October.
On Aug. 26, the Palm Beach County League of Cities, which is like a Chamber of Commerce for local municipalities, endorsed the tougher regulatory measures.
The Home Care Association of Florida is still reviewing Palm Beach County‘s proposed rules to see how they would “realistically improve patient security,” according to a statement from Executive Director Bobby Lolley.
The association, which represents home care providers, supports “common-sense reforms,” Lolley said, but cautions against “further regulations that might limit the ability of health care providers and seniors to find and select those high-quality individuals.”
The Home Care Association of Florida estimates that more than 150,000 people across the state receive some level of care from in-home aides. Palm Beach County officials have said they don’t know how many in-home care givers are working in the area, but that it likely numbers in the thousands.
While medical caregivers such as nurses working in homes are required to be licensed by the state, hired aides that provide meals and bathing, take seniors to doctor appointments or other care-giving duties can avoid regulation.
Companies that provide home caregivers typically conduct criminal background checks on their employees, according to industry representatives. But many home aides work independently, without company oversight or specific training or state regulation.
The county’s new rules would require that in-home caregivers be licensed by the county, which includes a fingerprint-based background check aimed at keeping those with criminal histories out of homes.
The county-approved aides would be issued a photo ID. They would have to renew the license annually and undergo another background check every five years. Applying for a license and background check is expected to cost up to $60.
Relatives who provide in-home care as well as charitable and faith-based organizations would be exempt from the new rules, under the proposal.
Beyond the preemptive help background checks could provide, the licensing requirement would make it easier for authorities to take quicker action when there is suspected abuse, supporters of the new rules say.
Currently, when family members and others report suspected stealing or other potential wrongdoing, the investigation can linger and even get dropped if the person who is being cared for doesn’t cooperate.
Under the new rules, authorities at the beginning of an investigation could force an unlicensed caregiver out of the home and the aide would face charges for working without a license.
Working as an in-home caregiver without a license would be a second-degree misdemeanor, which can result in 60 days in jail and a $500 fine per violation.
While just a misdemeanor, the chance for authorities to immediately remove an exploitive caregiver provides another safeguard for people who may be unaware of wrongdoing — or unwilling to report it because of the fear of being left alone.
“In many times, this is the person who spends the most time with them. The seniors find it very difficult,” said Conrad, elder rights program director for the Area Agency on Aging. The licensing rules is one way that authorities can “quickly remove somebody who is exploiting a senior,” she said.
Palm Beach County, the state’s third-most-populated county, remains a prime destination for retirees. Nearly 29 percent of the county’s population is older than 60. As they age, many turn to the services of in-home caregivers.
Caregivers stealing money and forging checks has been long been a problem, as well as in-home aides coercing clients into signing over assets.
In April, a Pompano Beach woman was arrested on dozens of charges accusing her of stealing about $57,000 by writing checks on the bank accounts of two people she was hired to help.
In December, two women working as caregivers in Palm Beach County were arrested in separate cases on charges that they forged checks from their clients’ accounts.
And in October, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office arrested a hired caregiver who investigators said stole more than $60,000 from a client’s bank account.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Teri Barbera said the county’s proposed home caregiver rules could create checks and balances to help affected seniors and the disabled “so they don’t get further victimized.”
The Home Care Association of Florida maintains that it supports efforts to safeguard seniors, but those efforts should be “as efficient, effective and fool-proof” as possible, Lolley said.
“The No. 1 priority should be educating patients and their families on how to ask the right questions before ever allowing any home care worker into their home and then monitoring the behavior and care that is being delivered,” Lolley said.
abreid@sunsentinel.com, 561-228-5504 or Twitter@abreidnews
