Columbus Dispatch: Ohio should take a more active role in ensuring that providers of in-home health

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio should take a more active role in ensuring that providers of in-home health care are competent and trustworthy.

The state is the appropriate level for such oversight, and the consequences of abuse can be tragic. It is increasingly clear that the role of gatekeeper and guarantor of quality isn’t being filled any other way.

A new rating system devised by the federal government, aimed at giving “star” rankings to home-health-care agencies based on their quality, largely leaves Ohio in the dark. Because the system doesn’t rate the newest or smallest agencies, it misses more than 47 percent of the 800-plus agencies certified to provide home health care here.

Becoming authorized to provide non-medical personal-care services requires little more than a working car and a criminal-background check.