New home health employee onboarding checklist

Onboarding in home health is mostly collecting documents from someone who is not in your office. The list below is the common core for a US home health agency, with the items that differ by state and license type marked. Build your own version per job title and collect it through one link rather than a chain of emails.

Employment paperwork (every hire)

• Form I-9 with identity and work-authorization documents, completed within three business days of the start date.
• Form W-4 and any state withholding form.
• Direct deposit authorization.
• Emergency contact.
• Signed offer or employment agreement, job description, and policy acknowledgments (handbook, HIPAA, confidentiality).

Qualification (by role)

• License or certification: RN, LVN/LPN, PT, OT, SLP, MSW, or the state home health aide certificate, verified against the state board with the lookup dated.
• For aides in a Medicare-certified agency: training completion and the competency evaluation before unsupervised care (42 CFR 484.80).
• CPR certification where your policy requires it.
• Driver's license and proof of auto insurance for anyone who drives to visits.

Background and exclusion

• Criminal background clearance as your state requires (in California, Live Scan through the licensing process).
• OIG exclusion check against the LEIE at hire, with the proof kept; then monthly for as long as they work.
• State Medicaid exclusion list where applicable.

Health

• Health assessment within your state's window (California: within six months before or 15 days after starting).
• TB screening result, or chest X-ray and symptom review for a documented prior positive.
• Immunization records your policy requires (hepatitis B offer, flu, others).

Orientation

• Orientation completion: policies, emergency procedures, infection control, patient rights, documentation.
• For aides: the in-service clock starts now; 12 hours are due within the first 12 months.

The dates that start on day one

License expiration, TB annual, CPR, driver's license, auto insurance, in-service hours, exclusion check next month, performance evaluation at 90 days. A new hire's file is complete for about a week; after that it is a set of countdowns. Put the dates into whatever you track with on the day the packet comes back.

Collecting it through one link

Benson HR sends the new hire one email listing everything their job title requires. They upload documents and sign the agency's forms from their phone; each lands in the personnel file under the right item with the expiration set, and tracking starts immediately. The onboarding page walks through it.