Companion Care and Home Care Agencies in New York

New York calls a licensed agency a licensed home care services agency, or LHCSA. Under Public Health Law section 3605, no home care services agency that is engaged in providing, directly or through contract, nursing services, home health aide services or personal care services may operate without a license from the commissioner of health.

The law defines personal care services as help with personal hygiene, dressing, feeding and household tasks essential to the patient's health, prescribed by a physician under a plan of home care supervised by a registered professional nurse. That is why a licensed agency is the route for that kind of care in New York. The Department of Health monitors the care LHCSAs provide, and these agencies offer home care to clients who pay privately or have private insurance.

New York's own business portal says that an agency that provides solely companionship services with light housekeeping, with no nursing, home health aide or personal care services, does not need the LHCSA license.

Endurance Home Care holds no New York home care license and provides companion care only. Companion care means company, meals, light housekeeping, errands, rides and reminders. Caregivers give reminders for medications and do not give hands-on help. That includes live-in companion care and 24/7 companion care, where caregivers work awake shifts through the day and night.

These training rules apply to aides who work for licensed home care agencies. They do not describe Endurance's companion caregivers.

The Department of Health lists licensed home care services agencies on its home care profiles site. Search for the agency's name, and compare the name and the license to what the agency told you. A licensed agency must also be registered with the Department of Health under Public Health Law section 3605-b to operate or receive payment for its services.

One thing to know: a company that provides companion care only may not appear on that search, because that scope does not require the license. That is expected. If a company says it provides nursing, home health aide or personal care services and you can't find it there, ask why before you go any further.

Companion care is the right fit for a lot of families: someone for company, meals, errands and rides, or a caregiver overnight so you can sleep. It isn't the right fit for every need, and we'd rather you know that before you choose.

Endurance does not provide nursing, home health aide services or personal care in New York. If your parent needs them, look for an appropriately licensed provider: in New York, an agency that provides those services must be licensed by the Department of Health, and some nurses also practice on their own under their professional license. If your parent is recovering from a hospital stay and qualifies, Medicare covers home health only when you need part-time or intermittent skilled services and are homebound, and a Medicare-certified home health agency must provide it.

Many families need both kinds of help at different times of day. You can arrange a licensed agency for the care that needs one and companion care for the rest of the day and night. Our care team will talk through which is which, and will say so when a licensed agency is what you need.

Endurance arranges companion care in New York from our Stamford office at 60 Long Ridge Rd, Suite 214. In Westchester County and Manhattan, companion care is available by the hour, overnight or around the clock. In the rest of New York, live-in companion care is available.

Endurance is private pay and does not accept insurance directly. A registered nurse visits your home first and writes the care plan with your family, and a Care Manager keeps you updated. The pages below cover Westchester County, Manhattan and the towns closest to our Stamford office.