What Is and How to Become a Senior Care Auditor

Could you use a first or second income in the booming field of Long Term Care?  Do you like working with seniors, but maybe aren’t so crazy about the strenuous demands of intimate personal care? Are you tired of being underpaid for your hard work providing care for seniors? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then consider becoming a Certified Senior Care Auditor (CSCA).

 

Audit:  To exam, verify, correct.

Auditor: One who examines accounts, circumstances, or conditions.

Many people associate auditing with accounting and financial record keeping.  But that is a limited understanding of the term.  The Senior Care Auditor job requires the auditor to  visit clients in order to check on them, their environment, and their overall quality of life and care needs.  Senior Care Auditors do not review financial records, unless they are also licensed or certified to provide those services.  What makes auditors different from others who provide similar services (like social workers and geriatric care managers) is that they can also provide personal care services, or other necessary services, for their senior clients.

Who hires Senior Care Auditors?  People who are too busy or too far away from their loved ones to check in on them.  People who are too busy or too far away from their loved ones to give them a hand around the house.  People who suspect there might be a problem with abuse.  People who are protecting themselves from charges of neglect.  People who have found that electronic devices can alert you to problems, but cannot solve problems.

There is big demand for Senior Care Auditors- and it is only going to grow for decades.  There are not enough qualified people to serve the population of frail elders and their busy and/or long distance loved ones.

What does a Senior Care Auditor do?

Senior Care Auditors perform audits at the location where the senior resides. The senior(s) must be present, so careful scheduling is a must. The auditor must have reliable transportation and a back-up plan if that reliable transportation becomes unreliable.

Simple tools of the trade:  This is a technology based business. If you wish to be taken seriously; work efficiently, get reports out promptly, and remain competitive, a smart phone or tablet with wireless internet access is required (and all you need).  Basic computer and internet skills, including emailing with attachments is fundamental. Sure, paper, pen and snail mail will get the job done, but is that really the image you want to project? Who do you think will want to use you over the guy who can get the report out and delivered before leaving the appointment?

It helps to have a natural tendency to be observant, thorough and detailed in your analysis and record keeping. But if you can at least completely fill in checklists and learn the tricks of the trade, you can make up for any natural weakness in this area. This is a position of great responsibility and you will be held accountable for overlooking issues which should have been brought to light.

Certified Senior Care Auditors must be to able read, write and speak English (or the language in the country/province you are servicing),  fluently. Many seniors cannot hear well and will struggle with trying to understand someone without clear diction and confidence in their speech. Auditors with multilingual capabilities, will of course, be in greater demand, enjoy a larger client base and possibly higher pay.

Senior Care Auditors are not a replacement for home health aides or nurses.

Who makes a good Senior Care Auditor?

Healthy senior citizens make great senior care auditors. Generally, people who like seniors, have a genuine interest in their well being and like to be on the road, are fundamentally qualified to become a senior care auditor.  People with experience in long term care such as family caregivers, home health aides, nurses, social workers, geriatric care managers, various types of rehabilitative therapists, are all off to a good start.  Those with backgrounds in the personal service industry who see the long term value of providing senior services, are probably well suited.  Mature college students (over 21), stay at home mom’s and dad’s, retirees and people who need a first, second (or third) income can get started cheap to free (see the sentence above in italics, though).

 

What is the typical senior care audit work like?

Senior care auditing is not back breaking work.  Once you get the hang of how to conduct a complete audit you can have more time to provide additional services,  just visit with your senior, or get going to your next appointment.

Employers generally offer part-time positions because the number of hours worked is contingent upon the number of clients available to be serviced vs. the number of auditors in their pool.

Independent auditors will probably find that their work week can be more full, especially if they provide additional senior care services to their clients.  Also, independents can work whenever they like for whom ever they like.

How Can I become a Certified Senior Care Auditor?

You have to start your training through CertifiedCare.org.

CertifiedCare

• CertifiedCare has been providing #1 ranked accredited caregiver education and registered certification credentials since 2009.
• CertifiedCare is a not for profit, a portion of the $40 that clients pay goes to their community organization that helps support poor, elders who live alone
• CertifiedCare wrote the only book available on senior care auditing, but you can only get that book from them through their education program
• CertifiedCare requires an 80 hour series of five accredited caregiving, auditing, and elder abuse education training programs
• The training is available online
• You get comprehensive personal care and comprehensive auditing education from CertifiedCare
• The CertifiedCare senior care auditor program includes information on how to start and run your own auditing business, so you can work alone or with them
• You can only work with CertifiedCare if you take their senior care auditor certification program and are accepted into their referral network
• CertifiedCare charges for their education, but it amounts to less than taking one 3 hour class at a community college.
• They offer 2 Payment Plans (both are zero interest)
• CertifiedCare provides a free public registry of all their certified caregivers
• After you complete their programs you are eligible to apply to join their nationwide referral network that markets for, and sends clients only to, auditors in their network
• CertifiedCare helps market each of their auditors in their own local community
• CertifiedCare also sends local referrals to you from their national network, from clients  across the country who have loved ones in your area.
• CertifiedCare Senior Care Auditors are educated and certified to be able to provide professional level personal care to clients, even those with Special Needs or chronic illness, including Alzheimer’s and all other types of dementia

Some auditors want to work entirely on their own, some want help with referrals, others want a job.  You have a choice of career options with the Senior Care Auditing career  and you can modify your employment options as you need to.

So, get on the senior care auditing bandwagon.  Help stop elder abuse and neglect.  Get decent pay for honest work.  Help others while you help yourself and your family. Become a Senior Care Auditor today!

We recommend you get started now at CertifiedCare.org for senior care auditor education and certification.
For more information about getting your certification as a Certified Senior Care Auditor view the CertifiedCare Senior Care Auditor certification program at http://certifiedcare.org.

For information about other ways you can get involved with minimizing elder abuse and spreading the word about caregiver education through your community visit CertifiedCare.org .