For direct care workers

Your competency record is worth more than you think.

If you work for a Pennsylvania home care agency or registry, a regulation called 28 Pa. Code § 611.55 already applies to you. It's the reason your agency asked you to pass an exam or complete training before your first assignment, and the reason someone observes or checks in on your work each year. Here's what it actually requires — and the part that's genuinely useful to you.

What the rule means for you

Before you're assigned to a consumer, your agency has to have documentation that you're competent — through a nurse's license, a competency exam, or a qualifying training program such as nurse aide certification or waiver training. §611.55(a)
Whichever route you took, the evidence belongs in your file at the agency. §611.55(d)
After that, your agency must review your competency at least once a year — by direct observation, testing, training, consumer feedback, or a combination — and write it down. §611.55(e)
If you're disciplined over a quality of care issue, an additional review happens sooner than the annual one.

What you learned, if you took a program

A qualifying exam or program covers ten subjects: confidentiality, consumer control and independent living philosophy, instrumental activities of daily living, recognizing changes in the consumer, basic infection control, universal precautions, handling emergencies, documentation, recognizing and reporting abuse and neglect, and dealing with difficult behaviors. §611.55(b)

If you provide hands-on personal care, six more apply: bathing, shaving, grooming and dressing; hair, skin and mouth care; ambulation and transfer assistance; meal preparation and feeding; toileting; and assistance with self-administered medication. §611.55(c)

The part that's actually great: it travels with you

Under §611.55(d), your competency documentation transfers between agencies when your break in employment doesn't exceed twelve months. Change jobs without a long gap, and you shouldn't have to redo the exam or the training — as long as you can produce the paperwork.

That last clause is where it usually falls apart. The documentation sits in a file at your old agency, you don't have a copy, the new agency can't verify it, and everyone defaults to retraining you. It's your record, and it's easier to keep than to recover.

What we're building for you

A copy of your own competency record — how you qualified, when, and the dated history of your annual reviews.
Something you can hand a new employer so a twelve-month transfer is a two-minute conversation instead of a repeat of the whole program.
Training on your phone, at your own pace, covering all ten subject areas — sixteen if you do personal care — if your agency uses Companza.

Ask your agency three questions

You're entitled to know what's in your own file:

Which route did I qualify under, and is the evidence in my file?
When was my most recent documented competency review?
Can I get a copy of my competency documentation?

If the answers are vague, that's a gap in the agency's records — not yours.

Tell me when I can get my own competency record. One list, occasional updates on § 611.55 and Companza's launch. Unsubscribe anytime.

This page summarizes 28 Pa. Code § 611.55 for general information. It isn't legal advice. Where this page and the official text published by the Commonwealth differ, the official text controls.