FREQUENTLY ASKED
Family FAQ
The questions New Jersey families ask us most often, answered in the same plain language we use on the phone. If your question is not here, call (908) 460-8886 or email fain@fainscare.com and we will add it.
Why this FAQ exists
Most private duty home care agency FAQ pages read like sales copy in question format. That is not the point of an FAQ. The point of an FAQ is that a family reading the site at 11 PM, in the middle of a hospital discharge crisis or an aging parent's decline, can find the answer to a specific working question and act on it without a phone call. Every question on this page is one a real New Jersey family has asked us, in the order they usually ask it.
The answers are longer than the industry standard because the questions are longer than the industry standard. Private duty home care is not a commodity purchase. A family choosing an agency is choosing who will be in their home, with their parent, when they cannot be. That decision deserves a real answer, not a marketing sentence.
If your question is not on this page, the omission is an oversight, not a strategy. Call (908) 460-8886 or email fain@fainscare.com and we will answer it directly and, if the question is likely to matter to other families, add it to this page.
How this FAQ connects to the rest of the site
The pricing questions link to the pricing page, where every rate lives in dollars. The caregiver questions link to the license-verified caregivers pillar and the chemistry-matched pillar. The scheduling and cancellation questions link to the four-hour minimum pillar and the 24-hour cancellation pillar. The scope questions link to the RN-supervised pillar, and the payer questions link to the private pay and private insurance pillar. Every answer above is a doorway into the full framework at The Fain Standard.
Common questions
What are your published rates for private duty home care?
Every rate is published in dollars on the pricing page. Our four-hour-minimum weekday CHHA rate, our overnight rate, our RN Supervisor rate, and our mileage rate are all posted before you call. Every rate is stated up-front in dollars and every invoice line matches the published rate table. If the pricing page changes, active clients receive 60 days written notice before any new rate appears on an invoice.
How does the one-week deposit work?
A one-week deposit, equal to the anticipated first week of service at the assessed rate, is collected before the first shift. The deposit is held and applied to the final invoice at the end of the case. If we cancel the case for any reason, the deposit is refunded in full within seven business days. If you cancel with more than 30 days of service completed and no outstanding balance, the deposit is refunded in full to the payment method on file.
Can my long-term care insurance policy pay directly?
Long-term care insurance direct pay is available for carriers whose policies permit assignment of benefits. When direct pay is available, the weekly invoice is sent to the carrier in the format the carrier requires, and you receive a copy for your records. When direct pay is not available, we format the invoice as a reimbursement package with RN Supervisor signature, caregiver license number, and shift log attached, and you submit it to the carrier.
What happens on the invoice if we cancel a shift with less than 24 hours notice?
Cancellations with less than 24 hours notice are billed at the four-hour minimum for the cancelled shift. The cancelled shift appears on the weekly invoice as its own line, labeled as a cancellation charge, with the date and the notice window recorded. Cancellations with more than 24 hours notice are not billed. The window is a discipline, not a penalty, and it applies to us as well: if a caregiver cannot make a shift, the RN Supervisor calls you personally before the shift and dispatches a covering caregiver.
Is there a surcharge for paying by credit card?
Yes, a 3 percent surcharge, disclosed as a distinct line on the invoice. ACH bank draft is free to the family and preferred, because ACH pays the caregiver faster than card settlement. If you pay by ACH, no surcharge appears on the invoice.
How do you verify a caregiver's license before the first shift?
Every caregiver is run through the New Jersey Board of Nursing verification registry before the first shift, with the license status, expiration date, and any disciplinary action recorded in the caregiver file. The RN Supervisor re-runs the check monthly. If a license lapses or a disciplinary action is filed, the caregiver comes off the active roster the same day and a covering caregiver is assigned. The verification is a working process, not a one-time onboarding step.
What background checks do you run?
Every caregiver clears a state and federal criminal background check, a national sex-offender registry check, an OIG exclusion list check for anyone who has ever worked in federally reimbursed care, and reference checks with prior employers. New Jersey CHHA certification itself requires state fingerprinting before initial licensure, and we re-verify that on our own timeline rather than trusting the initial vetting alone.
What is the Registered Nurse Supervisor's role on my case?
The RN Supervisor of record is your clinical point of contact from intake through case close. The RN reviews the plan of care, credentials the caregiver, conducts the in-home assessment, is on call for medication or acuity questions, handles cancellation escalations, and reviews the caregiver's shift log before it becomes an invoice line. The RN Supervisor's case management is bundled into the base hourly rate and does not appear as a separate line on the invoice.
How do you decide which caregiver goes to which family?
A human matcher, not a scheduling algorithm, pairs caregiver with family based on the plan of care, the family's living situation, the caregiver's clinical strengths, and the intangibles the RN Supervisor identifies during the intake conversation. You interview the candidate before the first shift. If the fit is wrong after the first week, we swap the caregiver at no cost and no notice-period penalty. The match is our responsibility, not yours.
Do you cover weekends and holidays?
Yes. Weekend, overnight, and holiday coverage is available at the rates published on the pricing page. There is no premium for booking a weekend or holiday shift beyond the tier rate itself. Coverage on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day is offered at the same posted holiday rate, with no last-minute surge pricing. Requests for holiday coverage should be placed at least 14 days in advance where possible so the RN Supervisor can staff the shift with a caregiver who has consented to work the holiday.
What happens if my regular caregiver is out sick?
The RN Supervisor calls you before the shift, names the covering caregiver, sends the covering caregiver's credentials, and dispatches from the on-call roster. The covering caregiver clocks in on the same schedule the regular caregiver was assigned. If the covering caregiver is not a fit for the family, you can decline the shift with no cancellation charge and the RN Supervisor tries again the next scheduled shift. Continuity is a working goal, not a marketing claim.
What shift lengths do you offer?
Four-hour, six-hour, eight-hour, twelve-hour, and 24-hour shifts are offered. The four-hour minimum is the published shift floor. Sub-four-hour needs (a medication reminder visit, a wound-check touch) are not a fit for our operating model, and we say so honestly on the intake call. If a sub-four-hour service model is what your case actually needs, we refer you to a Visiting Nurse Association or a medication-management specialist rather than sell you a case we cannot serve well.
What can a CHHA do, and what requires a nurse?
A Certified Home Health Aide, working under the RN Supervisor's plan of care, can perform activities of daily living (bathing, grooming, dressing, toileting, transferring), meal preparation, light housekeeping, medication reminders, ambulation support, and companionship. A CHHA cannot administer medication, perform wound care beyond routine dressing changes, manage tube feeds or IVs, or make clinical judgments about acuity change. Anything in that clinical category is escalated to the RN Supervisor and, if warranted, to an LPN or RN shift. We tell families the scope on the intake call so there are no surprises about what the caregiver can and cannot do.
What is your medication policy?
CHHA-level caregivers provide medication reminders only. Reminders mean prompting the client that a scheduled medication is due, opening the pillbox if the client cannot open it, and observing that the client has taken it. Reminders do not include selecting the medication, measuring the dose, or administering by any route. Medication administration is an LPN or RN task and is booked as such. The RN Supervisor reviews the plan of care and sets the medication protocol for each case.
Do you specialize in dementia and memory-care cases?
Yes. The RN Supervisor screens each caregiver for dementia-specific training and matches dementia cases with caregivers who have the temperament and technique for the caseload. The plan of care includes redirection strategy, safety-in-the-home walkthrough, sundowning response, and family coaching for the primary caregiver in the household. For advanced dementia cases requiring around-the-clock coverage, we build a two-caregiver rotation with the RN Supervisor as the continuity anchor.
What if the caregiver is not the right fit for our family?
The first week is a mutual working trial. If the fit is wrong, tell the RN Supervisor. The caregiver is swapped at no cost, no notice-period penalty, and no awkward conversation for the family to manage. The RN Supervisor handles the transition with the outgoing caregiver directly. A wrong fit is our operating mistake, not yours.
What happens if a shift is missed entirely?
A missed shift is treated as an operational incident. The RN Supervisor documents what happened, calls you within the hour, dispatches covering coverage if the shift can still be salvaged, and credits the missed shift on the next invoice if it cannot. A missed shift also triggers a post-incident review with the caregiver and, if the caregiver's pattern shows repeated misses, removal from the active roster. We do not bury missed shifts in the invoice.
How do we escalate a concern that the RN Supervisor cannot resolve?
Concerns escalate to Irina Fain, founder and owner, directly. Her email is fain@fainscare.com. The escalation path is one step: RN Supervisor first, founder second. There is no support ticket queue and no case-number labyrinth. Concerns are heard, documented, and resolved by name, on a business-day cadence.
Do you accept Medicaid or Medicare?
No. Fain's Private Duty Home Care serves private pay families and families with private long-term care insurance policies exclusively. We do not participate in Medicaid or Medicare. This is not because those payer sources are lesser. It is because our operating model, with weekly transparent invoicing, RN supervision on every case, and chemistry-matched staffing, cannot be delivered inside the reimbursement ceiling those programs set. Families needing Medicaid or Medicare services deserve a fit-for-purpose provider and we refer them to one.
How do I get started?
Call (908) 460-8886 or email fain@fainscare.com. Irina answers the phone during business hours. The first conversation is a listening call, not a sales call. If The Fain Standard is a fit for what your family needs, the RN Supervisor conducts the in-home assessment, matches a caregiver, and the first shift starts within one to two weeks depending on caregiver availability in your county.