Before you or your family member leaves a rehab or skilled nursing facility (SNF), it is likely that therapists will recommend in-home care or home health care. While home health care is a great option for those who want or need therapy services to come directly to them, it can be daunting to decide which agency to use. What most people don’t know is that the case managers, therapists, and other medical staff at the rehab/SNF may not be allowed to give you their personal recommendation, for legal reasons. However, unless you’ve worked with home healthcare before, you likely don’t know what you’re looking for and may have heard some horror stories about agencies that weren’t up to snuff.
This article provides five tips on how to select the correct agency for you/your loved one.
Five Tips on How to Choose the Best Home Health Agency for You
1. If You Have Medicare, Use Medicare.gov
It is likely if you are looking for home health that you/your loved one has Medicare. The good news is Medicare Part A covers home health 100%! The caveat to that is that the home health agency determines each client’s needs. What that means is, just because you want to have a physical or occupational therapist come every day, doesn’t mean you need that much therapy. The therapists/nurses/doctor will determine which services and how much you will need.
To help you find the right agency, type “compare home health” in the search bar on the medicare.gov site.
Click on the first link:
Type in your area code, or if you have a list of companies provided by the hospital, you can type the company name in directly.
The list is initially organized by company name, alphabetically, however, you can use the up arrows to organize by Quality of Patient Care Rating and/or Patient Survey Summary Rating.
By clicking on “Add to Compare” you generate a list at the top of the page:
Click “Compare now” and it produces tables that directly compare general information about the company, quality patient care ratings, and patient survey summary ratings. Within each of those tabs, you can click on different topics like “Managing Daily Activities” to compare how previous clients answered survey questions, like these:
This is a great way to compare multiple companies at once, which could be a huge time saver. The only thing that I don’t love about this system, is I couldn’t find specific comments from previous clients. This could prove important when trying to determine the likelihood that a certain agency will cause you more headache than they’re worth.
See the following tips for using a search engine to find the best in-home care.
2. Know “Red Flag” Complaints
I don’t like to focus on the negative, but in my experience, home health care gets a bad rap. It’s important to know that not all home health agencies are the same, and without a doubt, not all of them are bad. In fact, some are awesome! However, it’s pretty easy to spot red flag complaints and weed out those companies.
Here are some complaints that I’ve heard from previous clients who have had home healthcare:
1. The therapists never stay the full time (This is very important to pay attention to! Therapists often need their clients to sign off on their time spent at the home, and by leaving early, they are putting their clients in a really uncomfortable position. On top of that, it is against a therapists code of ethics to lie about their time spent with their client, and it indicates that the therapist is not providing adequate, quality care).
2. The therapist is always late (Once again, this is important to note. Sure, we all have had something come up or hit traffic, but if it is happening consistently, there is an issue. This indicates that the therapist is not prioritizing or respecting clients’ time).
3. The therapist always asks to use my bathroom (This may seem odd, but I have heard this one before. The therapist’s job is not to make him/herself at home, it is to help you while in your home. This indicates a lack of professionalism).
4. The therapist doesn’t challenge me/The exercises are too easy (While some may love the idea of an easy workout, remember that the purpose of home health is to help you improve, help you maintain independence, and prevent future setbacks. If the exercises are too easy, you are likely not going to make any gains. Just because you are not at a gym, doesn’t mean the therapist is unable to challenge you. A good therapist is able to use what you have to create an appropriate program specific to your needs).
3. Analyze the Ratings
This may sound a little silly, but if you search “best home healthcare near me” it may seem logical that those agencies with the best ratings show up first in your search results. This is not the case. The agencies that show up first are the ones that paid for their ads to show up. These companies may have high ratings, but they may not. It’s important to scroll down to where there is a list of agencies with their various star ratings next to their names.
From there, click view all, and you’ll get a map and list that looks like this:
Then look at the number in parentheses next to the stars. This indicates how many people reviewed the company. In the example below, the top home health agency has a perfect score, but only one person reviewed, versus an almost-perfect score with 15 reviewers.
The next thing you want to do is look at the specific comments for the reviews. Click on the specific company’s name to have this screen pop up:
As discussed in the previous tip, this is where you search for those “red flag” complaints. If there are consistent red flags, you likely want to look at another company. Other times, a negative review is very personal and may not impact you if you choose to be their client. For example, if someone complains, “Therapist caused me pain when she stretched my knee,” that may be due to a therapeutic need to stretch, which the client was upset about, but nothing to do with the agency itself.
Looking at the reviews should help you narrow down your choices, so you have some top contenders
4. Call the Agencies
Once you have it narrowed down to your top choices, call each agency. I know this can be time-consuming, but these providers are coming into your home or your loved one’s home, so it’s important to really have a feel for who they are. You likely won’t get the opportunity to speak with an actual provider, but generally, the receptionist who is fielding calls can give an impression of the agency.
Additionally, the amount of time you spend waiting for someone to pick up the phone or being placed on hold could be an indicator of the kind of service you will receive/the timeliness of the service.
I made a few calls to agencies with high ratings and just explained to the receptionist that I had a few questions. Some were very friendly and others were not.
If you have your heart set on one agency and you didn’t get a great impression from the receptionist, you don’t necessarily need to go another direction, but maybe ask to speak with a supervisor to get your questions answered. It is likely, however, that a lack of willingness to answer some questions indicates some level of the company’s philosophy on customer service/care.
5. Don’t Be Afraid to Make a Change
We all know everyone isn’t for everyone. The same can be applied to home health care. Despite what an agency may say, the client/patient gets to decide which company he/she wants to work with. If you or your loved one doesn’t like the service he/she is receiving, it is okay to transfer to another company. Yes, there will be paperwork involved, and possibly more researching, but when it comes to your or your loved one’s health, it is worth it!
Also, if you or your loved one are not jiving with a specific care provider, you can likely request to switch as well. Of course, this will depend on the company’s size. For example, if the company only has one or two physical therapists, it could be more difficult to change personnel. Typically though, a change can be made, so don’t be afraid to ask.
