This guide does not place any agency above another. It gives a set of questions to put to two or more agencies, so a family can compare how each one handles a complaint. The answers that count are the ones the agency states and puts on paper.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Why a list position does not answer this
From the desk: an order on a list or a star count tells you how other people rated an agency. It does not tell you what happens when your own family raises a problem. The agency's complaint route is the part that does.
Ask for the procedure in writing
Ask each agency for its complaint procedure as a written document. Check whether it names a contact by role, not only by a first name. Check whether it gives a way to reach that contact outside office hours, and whether it states a time frame for the first reply. Keep a copy with the request in your records.
Test the logging step
Ask what the office writes down when a complaint comes in: who took the call, what the issue was, which worker was involved, and what the family was told. Ask whether the family receives a copy of that record. Ask who reads the log and how often it is reviewed. An agency that keeps a log someone reads is answering a different question from one that keeps notes in a single person's head.
Test the closing step
Ask how a complaint is closed. Does the family hear the result in writing? Does the agency say what changed, or only that the matter is resolved? Ask what happens if the family is not satisfied with the answer and whether a second person reviews the case. A route that ends with the same person who took the first call is a shorter route, and you should note that on the sheet.
Build one sheet for both agencies
Make a sheet with the same rows for each agency: written procedure, named contact role, after-hours reach, logging step, reply step, review step, and copy to the family. Mark each cell as written, spoken, or not stated. Spoken answers stay unchecked until the agency confirms them on paper.
Check the public side separately
The public files on home health agencies are a separate check. They do not replace the agency's own complaint route, and an agency's route does not replace the files. The steps for the public side are set out in how to check any home health agency in five federal lookups.
Decide with both answers in hand
If one agency gives a clear written route and the other does not, the family has a fact to weigh, not a verdict on either company. Write down the gap, ask the second agency to fill it on paper, and decide once both sheets are complete.