Home Care Agencies in New Jersey

Under New Jersey law, any firm, company, business, agency or other entity that employs, places, arranges for the placement of, or refers an individual to provide companion services, health care services or personal care services in the home of a person with a disability or age 60 or older must register as a Health Care Service Firm. The law applies "regardless of the title by which the provider of the services is known." It also applies whether the firm directly employs people, uses a website or app, or works any other way.

Two kinds of organization are outside that registration: home health care agencies licensed by the Department of Health, and licensed hospices. They have their own licenses. A firm that operates without registering is liable for a penalty of $500 for each day it continues.

For a family, the practical point is simple. Whatever a company calls itself, if it sends caregivers to a New Jersey home, ask for its Health Care Service Firm registration number.

New Jersey's law defines companion services as basic supervision and socialization services provided in the person's home that do not include assistance with activities of daily living. Companion services may include household chores. New Jersey's consumer guide says a companion is not certified to provide personal or health care services but may provide light housekeeping and services not related to health care.

Personal care services are different. The law defines them as services performed by licensed or certified personnel to assist an individual with activities of daily living that may involve physical contact. They include bathing, toileting, transferring, dressing, grooming, and help with walking, exercise or other aspects of personal hygiene.

This is stricter than the rule next door. Connecticut's statute puts help with personal hygiene inside homemaker services, and New Jersey does not. Don't carry one state's rules to the other: read the page for the state where the care happens.

A CHHA is a certified homemaker-home health aide. The Board of Nursing defines a CHHA as someone employed by a home care services agency who, under the supervision of a registered professional nurse, follows a delegated nursing regimen or performs tasks that are delegated. A CHHA may also perform homemaking activities.

A CHHA training program must run at least 76 hours: 60 hours of classroom instruction and 16 hours of clinical instruction in a skills laboratory or patient care setting. To be certified, the aide must complete a Board-approved course, and meet the Board of Nursing's other certification steps; ask the Board or the training program for the current list. Certification renews every two years.

The supervision requirement is the one to remember. New Jersey's law says a homemaker-home health aide may not follow a delegated nursing regimen or perform delegated tasks unless supervised by a registered professional nurse provided by the home care services agency that directly employs the aide. Someone hired privately has no such nurse behind them.

A certified nurse aide, or CNA, is certified by the Department of Health. The training course is 90 hours: 50 classroom hours and 40 clinical hours, followed by the Department of Health's certification steps. The program is built around long-term care facilities.

A CHHA is certified by the Board of Nursing, as described above. The two certifications are not interchangeable: New Jersey's consumer guide says the nurse aide certification cannot be substituted for the Board of Nursing's CHHA certification. A nurse aide can become a CHHA by holding the Department of Health certification and completing a course that covers the required home care material.

So if an agency tells you its caregivers are CNAs, that is useful to know. Ask what certification they hold for work in a home, and which agency supervises them.

The Division of Consumer Affairs says health care service firms must be registered with the Division, and its consumer guide on home health aides tells families to check the Division's registry. Ask the firm for its registration number and confirm it with the Division before care begins.

Then ask the questions a registration can't answer. Who employs the caregiver? Who supervises them, and is that supervisor a registered nurse? What certification does the caregiver hold? New Jersey's guide warns that someone you hire privately, who is neither certified nor employed by a New Jersey-licensed agency, will not have had a criminal history background check, and that you are required by law to pay withholding taxes, Social Security and disability payments for them.

Endurance Home Care is registered in New Jersey as a Health Care Service Firm, registration HP0435100. Our New Jersey office is at 788 Morris Turnpike, Suite 201, Short Hills, and care in New Jersey is arranged from there.

Endurance is private pay and does not accept insurance directly. Families with a long-term care policy can use it, and we help with the policy paperwork. A registered nurse visits your home first and writes the care plan with your family, and a Care Manager keeps you updated. Endurance arranges hourly, overnight, live-in and 24-hour care in New Jersey. If your parent needs help that New Jersey reserves for licensed or certified personnel, ask our care team how it is provided before you decide.

CareScout's 2025 Cost of Care Survey puts the New Jersey median for in-home caregiver services at $38 an hour. At the survey's standard of 44 hours a week for 52 weeks, that is $86,944 a year. The survey notes that the cost for any particular provider may differ significantly from the median. That is a market figure, not Endurance's price.

Endurance does not publish prices. Rates depend on the schedule and the kind of help, and we explain the cost once we understand what your family needs.