Help I have a HH interview this Friday

trendzRN · Jun 11, 2013

Hi,

I have been a home Health RN for 5 years. I just went on two interviews this week because I stopped working at my job due to having a baby and did not want to work at the company anymore. The questions I asked them was how many cases are you expected to do a day? Depending on if you are doing FFS or full time they can tell you what they expect of you. I want FFS because I want to work when I want to and get home to my 3 month old. You should also ask how many start of care you will be responsible for a day, resumption of care, are you responsible for case management as well or will you be reporting to the case manager on how your visit has gone. One job I went for was for hybrid home care nurse meaning they wanted me in the office 60% of the time and out in the field 40% of the time. In the office was the case management part. If you are not going through agency, then you can ask to see if they reimburse you for mileage and if you are doing FFS, how much it is per case and how much is to open a case because those are two different pay rates. I don't know what the salaries are in AZ, but in NY it is anywhere between 72K-85K plus benefits. My last job was 80K. Maybe you can go on salary.com to see what it is range in your area. I am only telling you FFS is per case pay because if you like it you can pick up a per diem on the side. Ask them what is the turn around time for the paperwork to be turned in because where I was, if I remember correctly it was 5 days after you went to visit for a start of care, resumption of care. For a revisit, I just tried to do it that same night. Ask them do you have any on call responsibilities. Is it a Managed Long Term Care program (MLTC)? Those you have to do SAAMS every 180 days, so I would ask if you would be doing that type of paperwork. Do you have any mandatory weekends? How long is orientation? Is there possible growth in the company? I think those were all the questions I asked off the top of my head from what I can remember. Also my interview was laid back, they just asked me to tell them about myself, what have I done even though they went through my resume. I guess they want to hear you tell your story. I never had any clinical questions asked of me. Just what I have done. I just explained I have done wound care, medication prepours, teaching on different medications, full head to toe assessment, injections, glucose monitoring, etc... With all those questions I asked, I got hired. I start monday of next week. So I think I did well enough on the interview.

Good luck and I hope I answered some of your questions :)

paradiseboundRN · Jun 11, 2013

There are many HH agencies out there. You need to decide if this is the one you want to work for. Here are some questions that you should ask. Try to remember, you are interviewing them too!

Is this agency non-profit or profit?

Affiliated with any hospital?

How long has the company been in business?

Where do you get your referrals?

How many referrals per week?

What is your usual census?

What territories does your agency cover?

Which territory has the greatest need?

Which territory do you want me to cover?

Do you pay mileage? What is the current rate?

How will I get paid? Hourly? Salary? Per visit?

If per visit, how much for a SOC?, ROC? D/C?

If salary, is their a minimum amount of patients I need to see per week? Point structure?

Will there be extra pay if I exceed my quota?

How does your on-call work? extra pay?

Will I be working weekends? How often? extra pay?

What is your turnover rate?

How much seniority does your employees have?

How long will my orientation last?

Will I have a preceptor?

RN4life08 · Jun 11, 2013

Hi tendzRN

Congrats on your baby!!! I too just had a baby he is two months old and that's why I'm making the switch to hh for more flexibility with my schedule (at least I'm hoping that will be the case) What is FFS? Thanks for replying to my post your response was very helpful!

RN4life08 · Jun 11, 2013

Thanks paradiseboundRN for all the awesome questions this will totally help me out with my interview!!!

trendzRN · Jun 11, 2013

Hi,

FFS is Fee for service meaning you can work when you want to and they pay you per case. I will give you an example. For 2 years I was working for a company that paid $125 per case and I worked when I wanted to. I had no set days or hrs to work. I told them when I was available. ParadiseboundRN is right there are many HHA out there and you have to make sure it is right for you. I know what you are going through with the baby because I want to be here for her but I still need to work as well. FFS gives me the flexibility to do that. If I want to go in I go. If not, I don't and they cannot get upset at you for that. I worked full time with the last company I was with and it was not flexible at all. You still had your independence but to get home to a young baby would have been impossible for me and then I had to do paperwork at home which because tedious because you are driving around all day, you have to cook, clean and do homework with kids ( I have a 9 year old as well) and then you are tired. I had to do alot of floating around too because people calling out sick and they did not have enough nurses to cover. So I ended up getting home lots of nights around 7pm or 8pm. This is why I left there because I have the baby and I am not going to work that schedule again. So for me, FFS works well and I don't need benefits because my husband has them for us and I just put money into my own retirement account. I also am applying for NP school in September. I need flexibility....

If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Good Luck and congrats on your baby as well :)

RN4life08 · Jun 15, 2013

So I had my interview today and it seemed to go well! They seems like a good company to work for... like they really care about there employees. They told me they are very selective with who they interview and they only find employees by word of mouth no advertisement or agency's. So for this is what info I got from them:

Pay per visit soc $80 and revisit $50

Gas reimburstment .35 cent per gallon

I get a company phone and tablet for electronic charting

Will get up to 4 weeks with preceptor

Does offer benefits (although not sure how much)

They sound like they really care about their employees and do what they can to accommodate each employees different needs. I felt this to be true because i had the director of nursing and the director of administration come out all the way to my side of town, so I wouldn't have to make that long drive (very considerate and I'm not even an employee they! !!) So what do you think hh nurse does this sound like a good company so far???

reaxmadd · Jul 7, 2013

I have my first (ever) nursing interview this week with a home health agency. I'm a new grad. What kind of questions did they ask you?

Luvbuble · Jul 10, 2013

Hi there, I am new in the HH field. I have been a nurse for 8 years and I have worked in the hospital, rehab, ambulatory surgery centers and nursing homes.... I love your detailed answer to TrendzRN. I am trying to learn and absorb all the knowledge here. However, I have a few questions for you.

What is SOC? What is ROC? I guess D/C is discharge. What is SAAMS?

Sorry that I have a lot of questions. I have no clue what those acronyms are. Thanks for your help!

RN4life08 · Jul 15, 2013

They asked me questions more about why I wanted to be a home health nurse and what I knew about the field. Then they proceeded to tell me about the company and what they are all about...pretty easy!

RN4life08 · Jul 15, 2013

Hi there, I am new in the HH field. I have been a nurse for 8 years and I have worked in the hospital, rehab, ambulatory surgery centers and nursing homes.... I love your detailed answer to TrendzRN. I am trying to learn and absorb all the knowledge here. However, I have a few questions for you.
What is SOC? What is ROC? I guess D/C is discharge. What is SAAMS?
Sorry that I have a lot of questions. I have no clue what those acronyms are. Thanks for your help!

SOC-start of care

ROC-resume of care

Not sure what SAAMS

anothergrumpyoldRN · Jul 23, 2013

I haven't read the other posts, so forgive this old man if I am repeating...we are famous for it.

Spend some time thinking about the following:

When have you had a conflict with a patient/family member and how did you handle it? Same thought for other people you might encounter in your work.

Good examples of your critical thinking.

Good examples of time management strengths.

Good examples of "team" membership and function.

Examples of autonomous function and comfort in those situations.

It is just nursing care in a different environment, you will be fine.