Find a home health agency

What to ask when you call

• Can you start care this week? What day would the first visit be?
• Do you serve my mother’s address, and which nurse or therapist would come?
• Do you take her Medicare plan, and is there anything she’d pay herself?
• How often will someone visit, and for how long?
• Who do we call after hours or on weekends?
• How do you work with her doctor if something changes?

Home health, in plain English

What does home health cover?

Part-time or intermittent skilled nursing, physical, occupational and speech therapy, medical social services and part-time home health aide care. It is for someone who is homebound and needs skilled care.

Who pays?

You pay nothing for covered home health services under Original Medicare. Medical equipment is separate: after the Part B deductible you pay 20 percent of the approved amount. Medicare Advantage and Medicaid cover home health too, with plan-specific rules.

How do we start?

A doctor or other provider must see her in person, confirm she needs home health and order it. A Medicare-certified agency provides it. The first assessment visit happens within 48 hours of the referral or of her coming home, or on the date the doctor ordered.