Personal Care & Support Credential

The national Direct Care Alliance Personal Care and Support Credential is a competency-based test for personal assistance workers in home and community-based settings. Direct care workers who provide personal assistance services are a crucial link in our health care system – they help elders and people living with disabilities stay at home and maintain their independence and quality of life.

But with no national credentialing or training requirements for personal assistance, elders, people with disabilities and their families have no reliable way to assess the knowledge of those they hire; agency employers must devise their own assessment procedures; state policy makers have no national standard to depend upon; and workers in this field have no way to demonstrate their professionalism and skill.

The Direct Care Alliance Personal Care and Support Credential is a solution to that problem. The credential is a crucial step in professionalizing the direct care workforce.  It will create a career ladder for workers; help improve the quality of care for elders and people living with disabilities; and become a valuable tool for employers and agencies struggling to meet the demand for personal care and support services in their communities.

New York Times article discusses benefits of the Personal Care and Support Credential

Learn more about how the credential benefits:

Contact Maureen Traverse to learn how to arrange for credential testing.

Additional Resources