It seems as if every week there is a new company or technology advancement that seeks to meet the needs of seniors who want to remain in their homes by providing home care options. It remains to be seen how many will be left standing.
The latest addition to this caregiving industry is a startup company called: Hometeam. The company recently raised 27.5 million in investment money. Currently Hometeam is offering their services in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia with plans to expand to other states in the coming months, providing home care to families and their elders.
Hometeam developed their own software to match caregivers to clients. Each caregiver has a minimum of 5 years of experience and is a Certified Nursing Assistant or Certified Home Health Aide and each caregiver has a background check. The other difference between Hometeam caregivers and most other agency based caregivers is the fact that each one is an employee of Hometeam with benefits and higher pay. The industry average is about $10 an hour. Hometeam pays close to $15 an hour and charges the client between $20-$27 an hour.
The team also consists of a Care Manager and Nurse. Each employee is provided an I Pad to track care and communicate with family members on their cell phones or other devices. The generous pay and benefits is great news for an industry that has traditionally been low paying while offering few benefits. But one has to question whether the hourly charge of $20-$27 is high enough to support those costs.
I would love to get the input of anyone who has used Hometeam and what your experience is.
Amanda Lambert
