Pro Tip: To learn more about all things related to home care, check out our home care guide.
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An alternative to home care agencies, CareLinx is a nationwide caregiving platform that offers affordable home care services to aging adults. Unlike traditional brick-and-mortar agencies, CareLinx gives clients the chance to directly search, interview, and hire the right caregivers through its platform.
With no caregiver agency markups, you can save up to 50 percent on in-home care services using CareLinx’s tech-geared platform. If you’re looking for affordable home care, then you just might find it on CareLinx.
Pro Tip: To learn more about all things related to home care, check out our home care guide.
CareLinx is a nationwide home care platform of over 400,000 caregivers aimed at improving health outcomes for aging adults. With CareLinx, you can find and interview caregivers, and then schedule in-home visits. Meanwhile, CareLinx handles issues related to certifications, background checks, insurance, and payment. With CareLinx, you can generally expect lower prices and greater flexibility compared with a home care agency.
CareLinx is intended for older adults who need assistance with companionship and activities of daily living such as bathing, grooming, toileting, and mobility. Some CareLinx caregivers also provide specialized care and attention for seniors with chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and Parkinson’s.
Unlike a service like Papa, which offers exclusively companion care, CareLinx provides a full range of home care services, including companionship, personal care, and even some skilled nursing services.
More of a platform than a service, CareLinx provides you with the tools to find your own caregiver. By using the company’s search tool, you can specify the type of help you need and search a database of local caregivers who can provide those services. Unlike hiring a private caregiver — wherein you have to handle issues of background checks, payroll, and insurance — CareLinx does this for you.
Most home care agencies will assess your needs and choose a caregiver for you. CareLinx, however, allows you to select your own. The upside is greater flexibility; the downside is that you have to put in more time searching for and interviewing candidates.
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CareLinx caregivers set their own prices, but you can expect to pay between $10 and $25 per hour. Companion care will generally cost less, while more skilled care (toileting, feeding, and mobility, for example) will cost more.
If you’re looking for on-demand home care services for a loved one, then CareLinx can provide an experienced caregiver through the touch of a button. With over 400,000 qualified caregivers in the network, you can find immediate, short-term, or long-term care for daily-living tasks such as bathing, grooming, toileting, and meal prep.
To find a caregiver on CareLinx, you can go to the company’s website and click on “Find a Caregiver.” From there, you will find a drop-down menu that asks for your ZIP code and the person needing home care services. Once you enter those details, you’ll receive a series of brief questions about care needs, when you need the service to begin, the duration of the care, the approximate weekly hours needed, and any health conditions you have.
From there, you can begin messaging and interviewing candidates. You can also post a job, and caregivers will reach out to you to apply.
The CareLinx app, available on iOS and Android devices, offers a similar set of features as the website.
Some of the features of the CareLinx app include:
Register for free through CareLinx to be part of a network of over 400,000 caregivers. To sign up, visit the company’s website.
You will need to enter an email address and create a password to build your caregiver profile. You can also link your Facebook account so it will automatically prefill your information when creating a CareLinx account. Next, you will need to fill out your contact information so families can easily contact you when you sign up as a caregiver.
Once you’ve created a profile, you will need to verify your phone number, undergo a background check, and pay a $20 fee. It will take three to seven business days to process the background check. From there, you should be good to go as a caregiver for CareLinx.
If you’re looking for professional home care services with qualified, on-demand caregivers, then CareLinx may be worth a try. CareLinx will most likely cost less than a home care agency, but you’ll have to put in a bit more legwork to find and schedule care.
With costs of home care continuing to rise, I appreciate any solution that provides affordable access to care. In this way, I think CareLinx is an invaluable tool.
To learn more about home care and caregiving techniques, check out our guides.
Yes, CareLinx conducts background checks on its caregivers.
No, unfortunately CareLinx does not accept Medicare or Medicaid.
Yes, there’s a 20% service fee applied on each caregiver invoice.
Yes, CareLinx is a legitimate nationwide caregiver marketplace platform.
Caregivers can provide medication reminders, but they can’t assist with medical care. If you need specialized medical care, then I recommend looking into the company’s Nurse OnDemand program, which will help dispatch a nurse to your home, skilled nursing facility, or senior living community. Services may include transitional care support and health risk assessments.
