For agencies & registries

The rule is already in force. The question is whether your files show it.

There's no countdown in Pennsylvania. 28 Pa. Code § 611.55 has applied since 2009, which means an inspector asking today is asking about work that should already be on file — documented competency for every direct care worker before assignment, and a documented competency review at least once a year since. Companza is being built so that answer takes a minute instead of a weekend.

Pennsylvania does not publish an approved-program list for home care competency training. § 611.55 lets you use a nurse's license, your own competency exam, or a qualifying training program — the obligation is to cover the required subjects and document it.

How it works

Add your workers. Enter your roster once — or send us a list and we'll set it up for you. Record how each one qualified: nurse's license, your competency exam, nurse aide certification, waiver training, or a program.
The review clock starts. Each worker gets a next-review date twelve months out. You see who's current, who's due soon, and who's overdue without maintaining a spreadsheet.
Log reviews in under a minute. Pick the method — direct observation, testing, training, consumer feedback, or a combination — add a note, and it's dated and filed against that worker. §611.55(e)
Export when asked. One export with each worker's qualification evidence and their full dated review history.

What you're protected from

§ 611.55 is a documentation rule as much as a training rule. Subsection (d) requires the worker's satisfactory completion of the competency requirements to be documented in that worker's file, and subsection (e) requires the review documentation to live there too. A binder at the front desk, a shared drive folder nobody has opened since the last survey, or an institutional memory that "we observed her in the spring" are the three ways agencies discover the gap at exactly the wrong moment.

The trigger most agencies miss

Under §1611.55(e), the annual review isn't the only review. When discipline or another sanction — the regulation names a verbal warning or suspension as examples — is imposed because of a quality of care infraction, a competency review must happen more frequently than annually. That means your disciplinary process and your competency records have to be connected. Companza is designed to let you log an off-cycle review against a worker the moment it happens, so the file reflects it.

Hiring someone who's already qualified?

Under §611.55(d), competency documentation transfers between home care agencies and registries when the break in employment does not exceed twelve months. A worker moving from another agency doesn't need to start over — if the documentation comes with them. Accept incoming records instead of retraining, and stop paying for a requirement that's already satisfied.

Training, if you want it

Pennsylvania lets you develop your own competency exam or program, and plenty of agencies do. If you'd rather not build one, ours covers all ten subject areas in § 611.55(b) — and the six additional personal care areas in § 611.55(c), sixteen in total — with completions landing straight in the roster.

Pricing that fits your agency

Most compliance platforms charge per caregiver, per month. Companza is one annual price for your agency — whether you run two workers or two hundred. No enterprise contracts, no per-feature upcharges.

Get notified when Pennsylvania enrollment opens. One list, occasional updates on § 611.55 and Companza's launch. Unsubscribe anytime.

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