How to Become a Home Health Aide

By: Kelli Hansen, RN

Last Updated: Dec 19, 2018

Home health aides are a valuable part of any health care team. If you have a desire to make a positive impact on the lives of the sick, disabled, and elderly, this could be a great position for you to consider. Home health aides (HHAs) assist patients with completing important personal tasks such as dressing, bathing and a variety of hygiene needs. Additional aspects of this position include assisting clients to remain safe in their own homes by providing a higher level of assistance with minor cleaning and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) such as cooking, light housekeeping, and laundry.

Tasks may include written documentation of patient care performed, patient’s condition, or problems to be reported to a supervising health care professional. In some instances, HHAs also assist by arranging transportation and planned leisure activities for clients. Some states allow home health aides to administer medications or check vital signs under the supervision of a health care practitioner, such as a registered nurse (RN). Although the administration of medications by HHAs continues to be somewhat controversial, states have been increasingly allowing this job function within regulations. States such as Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado, and New Jersey now permit HHAs to perform a wider range of services.

If you want to enter the health care field, the job of a home health aide offers considerable reward, enabling you to focus on providing patients hands-on care with a personal touch.

Workplace Details

As you consider the career path of a home health aide, you must reflect on what type of environment you would find comfortable when providing patient care. Working as a home health aide does not always require a person to work in a private home of a patient. Your clients may reside in independent living apartments, retirement communities, assisted living facilities, or even group homes and transitional housing. Most HHAs focus on providing direct personal care with one patient at a time, but may visit several patients on the same day. HHAs are typically supervised by a patient’s health care provider, such as a registered nurse providing care and oversight to that specific client. The patient’s family members may also provide the supervision in cases when the HHA is caring directly for a patient privately without the interaction of a certified home health agency.

Hover over any state to explore local income and job growth data.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the overall mean wage for home health aides is $22,870, up from $22,400 the prior year. The median salary is $21,920, or $10.54 per hour. Wages vary based on geography and working environment; certified HHAs account for much of the higher reported wages, as a consequence of varying geographic and workplace requirements. The lowest 10% of HHAs earn $17,480 annually, while the highest 10% earn $29,950.

According to the US News & World Report on the Best Health Care Jobs of 2015, home health aide rank #23 as one of the fastest growing positions on their list. As the population ages, so does the need for the level of assistance that can be provided by HHAs. Many seniors prefer to remain in their own homes as long as possible; having the assistance of home health aides supports this option. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that there will be massive growth of 38% within this industry between the years 2014 and 2024, which means demand for approximately 348,000 new home health aides. Certified HHAs have more options for employment consideration than those not taking the certification training.

There are no formal education requirements for home health aides, but most aides do possess a high school diploma.

Some states require a minimal amount of formal education beyond high school. The necessary programs in these states vary somewhat in duration as well as in the type of health care professional responsible for conducting the training. In addition to this, some states also require standardized testing and hands-on competency assessment before an HHA is permitted to work with a client.

Regardless of your state’s requirements, though, if your goal is to work in a certified home health or hospice agency, you’ll be required to obtain formal training and pass a standardized test, often including a hands-on demonstration of competency on associated topics in the presence of a registered nurse (RN).

The duration of training to become a home health aide is much shorter than you might think. In some states, certified home health agencies may provide the required training classes, the standardized written testing, and hands-on competency assessments in order for candidates to be considered for patient assignments once hired.

Otherwise, you will find preparatory classes offered at community colleges or through vocational/technical schools that ensure students meet the educational requirements before they are permitted to work with a client independently. Most classes require students to be at least 18 years of age.

Educational programs and on-the-job training are beneficial to learn overarching necessary skills. However, each client will have unique needs that may require additional training that lasts from a few hours to a few days, depending on the complexity of the patient’s health care needs. Examples of patient-specific needs may include special dietary needs or specific transfer techniques to ensure patient safety.

Home health aides do not hold professional licensures, but many employers require their HHAs to be certified, either due to preference or due to state regulation requirements. To become certified, you must successfully complete the minimum state-required training hours, which varies greatly from state to state; in some states, that means 75 hours of training and hands-on skills. Several states actually require up to 120+ hours. Refer to State-by-State Training Requirements for exact requirements in your state; details can be reviewed either by the map or in an easier-to-understand table format.

An aide must then pass the standardized written testing, as well as complete a hands-on demonstration of each associated skill appropriately.

Once home health aides have performed the required job duties for many years, their wide variety of skills and considerable experience allows some employers to advance them into supervisory roles, overseeing and educating other HHAs and acting as mentors, onboarding orientation trainers and supervisors. HHAs with a high school diploma can choose to further their education and training in order to become medical assistants, nurses or other associated health care professionals.

Having the prior experience as a home health aide often makes it less overwhelming to take next steps and seek additional education. It isn’t uncommon for a nursing student to work as a home health aide or certified nursing aide while attending school. The HHA experience helps a nursing student increase his or her comfort level when working with patients, and may bolster prospects of academic success.

You might attend one of these HHA educational programs if you live in a state that requires you to attend one, or if your career goals involve working in a certified home health or hospice agency. If formal education is required in your state, these programs are often taught by a licensed RN. But in some states, an experienced HHA or other health care professional may conduct your education.

The expense of an HHA programs can vary from a couple hundred dollars to nothing at all if, for instance, an agency is providing the training to new employees.

Aspiring HHAs in these programs develop important skill sets and learn about a variety of important subjects including the following: