OHCA members subscribe to standards of Business Ethics as articulated in OHCA standards and those of the governing professional Colleges.

Typically, providers will conduct a pre-service assessment to discuss service requirements, costs and funding options, such as the Community Care Access Centre, your private insurance provider, other community service agencies, or personal payment. There is generally no charge for this assessment.

Providers will prepare a service contract that outlines the services to be rendered and the agreed upon price. There is generally no penalty for canceling a contract.

There may be a minimum of service hours for each visit to the house. There may also be price breaks for purchases of large volumes of service.

An invoice is usually sent to clients and payment required subsequently. Providers generally can handle all forms of payment including bank debit, credit card, telephone and cheque. Direct payment of staff is NOT usually required.

Clients should be provided with a receipt and/or a statement of payments at the end of the year which may be useful for income tax purposes.

Service rates vary across the province. Professional services and homemaking or personal support that is provided in conjunction with government funded service are GST exempt.