American Caregiver Association Pushes To Eliminate 'Confusion' About Caregiver Titles and Designations
It is the responsibility and domain of the American Caregiver Association to modify titles and designations for non-medical caregivers. On January 1, 2016 the American Caregiver Association made changes to Designations and Titles for Non-Medical caregivers. These changes affected anyone in the United States seeking caregiver certification. The changes also affected any caregiver agencies, insurance companies and other organizations that require caregiver certification. This post is a follow up to the change that took effect on January 1, 2016.
The reason for these changes was two-fold. First, the ACA wanted to eliminate the confusion about what a caregiver ‘is’. Second, the ACA wanted to expand opportunities for caregivers who may be limited in their job opportunities due to the ‘variations’ of names that have been conjured over recent decades to describe caregivers. Some of the more common titles and designations are:
- Home Health Aide (HHA)
- Personal Care Assistant
- Personal Care Attendant
- Direct Care Worker (DCW)
- Certified Home Health Aide (CHHA)
- Direct Care Professional (DCP)
- Home Care Assistant (HCA)
- Elder Pal
- Companion Caregiver
- In Home Aide
- In Home Assistant
- Home Care Aide, etc.
In the effort to eliminate confusion about such titles or designations as they are applicable to venues that involve non-medical caregivers, the American Caregiver Association has declared that these titles now fall under the master keyword of “caregiver.” The logic that follows is this: regardless of title or designation, each individual operating under any of the above titles or designations ‘gives care’, therefore they are all caregivers.
Moreover, referring to yourself as a “Home Health Aide” does not mean that your duties are necessarily different than someone who refers to themselves as an “In Home Aide” or “Personal Care Assistant.” Likewise, an organization (agency, insurance company, etc.) requiring that an individual acquire “Home Health Aide” certification is not necessarily deemed to perform a different job than an individual who has acquired caregiver certification under the the title or designation of a “Direct Care Worker.”
This means, for example, that when an individual acquires National Caregiver Certification (NCCC) from the American Caregiver Association they have acquired “Home Health Aide” certification. The same goes for any other title or designation named above. Over time, all titles and designations for caregivers ought to fall under the master keyword of “caregiver” as information about this change is disseminated across the United States.
Caregivers, insurance organizations, family members, clients and other stakeholders ought not be confused about what caregiver certification is when it concerns titles and designations. They must be informed and understand that despite the variations in titles and designations that such differentiation in titles and designations does not necessarily mean different training and/or certification.
Caregivers, insurance organizations, family members, clients and other stakeholders should also not be confused about who the national accrediting body for caregivers is, the American Caregiver Association. And, while there are many wonderful organizations out there that provide a wealth of information and resources about caregiving, there is only national certifying body for caregiver, the American Caregiver Association. There is also one Official national registry for caregiver, the National Caregiver Registry (NCR).
The American Caregiver Association oversees and maintains the NCR and when inquiries are made about a caregiver’s credentials it is the American Caregiver Association whom they will contact to verify a caregiver’s credentials.