Our Mission
The Center for Community Based Care (CCBC) is an affiliate of the Ohio Council for Home Care & Hospice. CCBC supports the delivery of community based care through consumer education and public awareness.
History of the Center for Community Based Care
CCBC was founded in 1989 in response to new federal requirements in the Medicare Home Health Benefit (42 CFR) requiring home health aides to complete a competency evaluation program, which included training and testing. OCHCH created CCBC as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt corporation charged with the responsibility of creating a method for home health aide testing. CCBC partnered with an independent firm for creation of the test, which met Medicare requirements.
About the Home Care Aide Written Examination
Thousands of aides throughout Ohio took CCBC’s Home Care Aide Written Examination between 1990 and 2000. In the early years of testing, there was always one test per month in Columbus, one test in 4 or 5 areas of the state per quarter, and independent tests were offered as needed. The number of attendees per year ranged from 800 to over 1,000.
To pass the written examination, participants must have correctly answered at least 35 of the 50 test questions and pass 11 of the 12 test sections. Attendees had two hours to complete the test. To become a Certified Home Care Aide, participants had to complete the Skills Demonstration Checklist from the Foundation of Hospice and Home Care before taking the written exam. The Skills Demonstration Checklist was administered by an RN in a home or lab setting. To maintain their certification, aides had to complete 12 hours of in-service a year.
With the advent of the Interim Payment System (IPS) in 1997, most agencies brought their testing function in-house in order to reduce their operational costs. With significantly declining testing numbers, CCBC discontinued the Home Aide Written Examination on December 31, 2000. CCBC created aide pins, which were offered for sale. Many agency leaders purchased pins for their aides upon successful completion of the written mastery test.
CCBC Research Funding
After the discontinuation of home health aide testing, CCBC adopted a new role as the research arm of the Ohio Council for Home Care & Hospice. CCBC accepted research proposals and approved requests for grant funding of home care and hospice research by agencies and individuals. Grant awardees presented their completed research and findings through an OCHCH educational program.
A few of the home care research studies previously funded by CCBC include:
- Decreasing Hospitalization of Home Care Patients, Through a Web-Based Dementia Caregiver Intervention by Victoria Steiner, PhD, University of Toledo (2013)
- A Work Force Study-Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge Attributes of the Home Health & Hospice Nurse by Ann Statler, PhD, RN, Wright State University (2012)
- Relationships Between Degree of Rurality, Home Healthcare Service Use and Patient Outcomes by Catherine Prouty Vanderboom (2007)
- Infection Control Practices and Wound Care Supplies in the Home Healthcare Environment by Irena B. Kennely, RN, PhD (2006)
- Exploring the Home Healthcare Nursing Practice Environment by Susan Tullai-McGuiness, RN, MPH, PhD (2003)
- Effects of Front Loaded Visits by Joanne Rogers, RN, BSN, MS; Elizabeth Madigan, PhD, RN; and Mary Perlic, RN, ND (2003)
- APN Transitional Home Health Care of COPD Patients by Donna Felber Neff (2002)
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