Home health aide phone screen questions
Home health aides work alone in a patient's home, often right after a hospital discharge. The screen needs to confirm the training, the personal care experience, the driving, and whether the candidate reports changes to the nurse instead of handling them alone.
Eight questions, and what to listen for
Ask them in this order. The first two sort the pool; the middle ones show judgment; the last ones settle logistics before anyone books an interview.
- 1
Have you completed a home health aide training and competency evaluation, and in which state?
Listen for: The program or credential, the state, and roughly when. Agencies that bill Medicare need aides who passed a competency evaluation, so a candidate who knows where and when they tested has done it.
- 2
Tell me about the patients you have worked with most recently and what a visit looked like.
Listen for: Diagnoses in general terms, tasks done, and visit length. Bathing, dressing, ambulation, and vital signs are the core of the job.
- 3
Can you perform bathing, toileting, transfers and walking assistance, with or without reasonable accommodation?
Listen for: A direct yes or a clear limit. Do not probe for medical details.
- 4
What do you do if you arrive and the patient seems worse than at your last visit?
Listen for: Call the supervising nurse right away, call 911 if it is an emergency, stay with the patient, document what they saw. Trying to treat it themselves is a red flag.
- 5
How do you document a visit: on paper, an app, or electronic visit verification?
Listen for: Familiarity with EVV or a mobile charting app. Not required, but candidates who have clocked in by app train fast.
- 6
Do you have a valid driver's license, a reliable car, and are you comfortable driving to four or five homes a day?
Listen for: A plain yes. Home health is a driving job.
- 7
Which days and hours are you available, and can you take weekend visits?
Listen for: Exact availability. Weekend coverage is where most agencies come up short.
- 8
Are you able to complete a background check and provide two references, and when could you start?
Listen for: A quick yes and a date.
Red flags on the call
- Cannot say where or when they completed aide training
- Would handle a decline in condition without calling the nurse
- No car for a visit-based role
- Vague or uncomfortable about personal care
Keep it short
Five questions, four to six minutes. Home health aide candidates are usually applying to several jobs at once; a screen they can finish between shifts gets finished. Save the deeper questions for the interview, where the candidate has already answered these once.
Ask whether the candidate can perform an essential task with or without reasonable accommodation; do not ask about disability or medical history. Avoid age, family, religion, national origin and other protected characteristics. See the EEOC's hiring-question guidance.
Run this exact screen for every home health aide who applies
Create a role in PhoneScreen with these five questions, share the link, and every candidate gets the same screen the moment they call. You read the scorecards. First 10 screens are free.
- 1Have you completed a home health aide training and competency evaluation, and in which state?
- 2Tell me about the patients you have worked with most recently and what a visit looked like.
- 3What do you do if you arrive and the patient seems worse than at your last visit?
- 4Do you have a valid driver's license and a reliable car for four or five visits a day?
- 5Which days and hours are you available, including weekends, and when could you start?
Common questions
What training does a home health aide need? +
Agencies that bill Medicare must use aides who completed at least 75 hours of training, including 16 hours of supervised practical training, and passed a competency evaluation. Many states require more hours or a state registry listing, so check your state. Ask on the phone and verify the certificate or registry entry before the first visit.
Can we use the same screen for companion caregivers? +
Use a separate role. Companion care usually does not require aide training, so the first question changes, and you want those candidates scored on their own list.
Screening for home care agencies · More roles: caregiver, forklift operator, CDL truck driver, line cook, restaurant server, cashier and retail associate · Why the same questions for everyone