Guide
12 questions to ask a home health agency on the first call
A good first call is short and specific. These questions surface staffing, aide availability, and how they handle nights.
Key takeaways
- Ask whether they serve your ZIP this week, not whether they are “in the county.”
- Ask who shows up for start of care and whether an aide can be scheduled after the nurse assessment.
- Write down the name of the intake person.
The list
- Do you accept Medicare patients at [ZIP] right now?
- When is the earliest start-of-care visit?
- Which skilled services are you actually staffing — nursing, PT, OT, speech, aide?
- How do you cover call-outs?
- Who is the after-hours number?
- Do clinicians speak [language]?
- How do you coordinate with our physician?
- What would make you unable to take this case?
- How do you handle wound photos / portal access?
- If skilled care ends, do you offer private-duty, or do we need another company?
- What should we have ready in the home for the first visit?
- What is your CMS Certification Number so we can look you up?
That last question is how you land on the matching HomeAide profile and Medicare Care Compare page.
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