What Should Be Included in an Assisted Living and Home Care Partnership Agreement?

An assisted living home care partnership agreement should explain how an outside agency may support individual residents while keeping employment, supervision, payment, privacy, and regulatory responsibilities clear. This article provides general operational guidance, not legal advice or a contract template. Any agreement should be reviewed by qualified legal counsel, insurance professionals, and internal compliance leadership.

What Should an Assisted Living Home Care Agreement Cover?

An assisted living home care partnership agreement should cover the relationship between the community and agency, the process for authorizing resident-specific services, and the rules outside caregivers must follow.

Key topics may include:

• The agency’s permitted non-medical service scope
• Resident or authorized-representative consent
• Licensing, screening, training, and insurance documentation
• Caregiver identification and facility sign-in
• Approved service locations and schedules
• Pricing and payment responsibility
• Communication and complaint procedures
• Missed visits and replacement efforts
• Incident and emergency reporting
• Suspension, termination, and periodic review

The agreement should also state whether the relationship is non-exclusive. A preferred-provider arrangement should not be described as guaranteeing referrals, resident acceptance, caregiver availability, or payer approval.

Indiana separately regulates residential care facilities and Personal Care Services Agencies. A written partnership does not merge those provider roles or transfer one organization’s licensing duties to the other.

Facilities still evaluating an agency can review choosing a home care agency partner for assisted living.

How Should the Agreement Define Roles and Responsibilities?

Assisted living outside caregiver responsibilities should be defined by identifying who employs, supervises, schedules, and evaluates the caregiver. An agency-employed caregiver remains under the home care agency’s management and serves the individual resident named in the care plan.

The agreement should make clear that the outside caregiver does not:

• Become an assisted living employee
• Provide general coverage for other residents
• Count toward facility staffing requirements
• Replace licensed clinical professionals
• Accept tasks outside the agency’s non-medical scope

NCAL guidance recommends expressly documenting the private caregiver’s employment status, permitted services, supervision, absence procedures, and relationship to the community. It also advises communities not to direct or document outside caregivers as though they were facility employees.

The agreement should identify who updates the resident-specific home care plan, who communicates schedule changes, and what happens when the resident’s needs no longer fit the approved service scope.

What Policies Should Address Access, Privacy, and Incident Reporting?

An outside caregiver policy for assisted living should address building access, identification, confidentiality, orientation, communication, and the response to incidents or emergencies.

Operational provisions may include:

• Entry, parking, badges, and sign-in procedures
• Community orientation and emergency exits
• Infection-control and safety expectations
• Resident consent for information sharing
• Approved facility and agency contacts
• Reporting of lateness, absences, injuries, complaints, or care concerns
• Instructions for contacting facility staff, agency supervisors, clinical providers, or 911

Indiana residential care rules recognize residents’ rights to choose service providers, participate in service planning, and maintain privacy and confidentiality, subject to applicable facility policies.

Where HIPAA applies, organizations should limit protected health information to what is reasonably necessary for the intended purpose. The agreement should not encourage routine sharing of full medical records or unrelated personal details.

More detailed qualification questions are available in questions to ask a home care agency partner and verifying home care agency licensing and insurance.

How Should the Partnership Agreement Be Reviewed or Ended?

To review a home care partnership agreement, the facility and agency should establish scheduled credential checks and operational reviews. They should also define when caregiver access or the broader relationship may be suspended or ended.

Periodic review may examine:

• License and insurance expiration dates
• Policy or regulatory changes
• Communication performance
• Complaints and incident handling
• Missed visits and replacement procedures
• Caregiver compliance with access rules
• Resident and authorized-representative feedback
• Continued clarity of service boundaries

Possible reasons for suspension or termination may include expired credentials, repeated policy violations, unsafe conduct, confidentiality concerns, unapproved services, or failure to follow reporting procedures. The agreement should explain notice, documentation, immediate safety actions, and how active resident services will be addressed.

NCAL recommends written conditions for ending a private caregiver’s involvement and regular review of insurance, qualifications, communication, and community policies.

Communities building a repeatable process can also review home care referral partnerships for assisted living.

Discuss Nana Cares’ Partnership Process

Assisted living leaders can contact Nana Cares to discuss its non-medical service scope, caregiver oversight, facility-access expectations, and resident referral process before submitting a referral.

Nana Cares does not provide legal documents or legal review. Any partnership remains subject to resident assessment, facility policies, service scope, payer requirements, safety considerations, and caregiver availability.