Before any agency gives you a figure, write your household's own week on one page. List each block of hours, the days, the start and end times, whether any block runs overnight, and whether you expect weekend or holiday blocks. Count the blocks. This page is the only thing you bring to every call, so each agency is quoted against the same schedule instead of its own sample week.
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.
Ask for Each Line by Name
A quote that shows one total hides the lines that move it. Ask each agency to name every line that could apply to your page and to say when each one applies. Find out the following:
The shortest visit the agency will book, and whether a shorter need is billed at that minimum. The start-up line, including whether an intake or first-visit assessment is charged and whether it repeats if the plan changes. The weekend and holiday line, and the exact days the agency counts as holidays. Any overnight or live-in line, and whether it is billed by the block or by the hour. Any line for a second worker, a substitute worker, or a change in visit length. Any line that starts when a worker arrives rather than when the visit begins, such as travel or waiting time. Finally, the notice terms: when a called-off shift still bills.
Compare Two Sheets, Not Two Impressions
Once each agency has written its lines against your page, lay the two sheets side by side. Mark every place where the same booking triggers a line on one sheet and not the other. Two agencies can show similar headline figures and still differ on minimums or notice. Do not decide from memory of a phone call. Ask the agency to attach the sheet to its written quote, and check that the sheet and the agreement use the same wording for each line.
Where the Public Files Fit
The public files this desk checks cover licensing and Medicare certification status. They do not list an agency's private booking lines, so nothing in them tells you what your schedule will add up to. Treat the line sheet as the only source for that question. On this desk, anything that came from a public file is marked as a file entry, and anything that is the desk's own reading or the family's reading is marked as editorial. If you are not sure which kind of record you are holding, see Home health versus non-medical home care: which record to check. For the public lookups themselves, see How to check any home health agency in five federal lookups.
Questions to Ask Before You Sign
Ask the agency which of its lines apply to the schedule on your page, which lines apply only if the plan changes, whether a called-off shift is billed, and whether the same question gets the same answer when you ask the office again. Write each answer into the agreement itself, not only into your notes.
A ranking or a star rating is not a line sheet. Use a list to decide whom to call, then use the sheet to decide what the week will actually add up to.