A ranking tells you the order in which agencies were placed on a page. It does not tell you that an agency is licensed, certified, or in good standing. This guide shows how to read the order of a list so that it cannot stand in for a check.
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.
The rankings
Every ranking on this site is built from three kinds of input: listing data pulled from Google, the agency's own website, and the public files this desk keeps on Medicare-certified home health. Each line on a page is labeled by its source. A line marked as coming from a file was taken from a public record. A line marked as listing data came from a search pull and may have changed by the time you read it. Anything unlabeled is editorial, meaning the desk's own judgment about how to read the material.
The top slot on this site is a disclosed client placement, and the page says so. Position in the order is therefore not a finding about the agency. If a list of local agencies does not explain how its order was set, treat the order as unexplained and do not use it as a reason to choose.
The check sheet
Before you act on any ranking, write a short sheet with one block per agency. Fill in each block from a source outside the list.
First, the legal name as it appears in the state and federal records, and whether the name on the agency's website matches it.
Second, the type of service the record shows. Medicare-certified home health and non-medical home care are different categories, and an agency may hold one, the other, or both. The guide on which record to check explains the difference.
Third, the office address, and whether the cities and counties you need are listed for that office.
Fourth, whether the agency has changed its name or its owner. A changed name means the lookup has to be repeated under the new name before you rely on it.
Fifth, the day you checked each source, written in your own hand. A list that was accurate on one day may not be accurate on another.
A block with any empty line is not finished, whatever place the agency holds on the page.
Lists from the Google pull
Listing data shows hours, categories, a phone number, and a count of reviews with an average star score, all as the public sees them. These fields are useful for finding an office and for seeing how it presents itself. They do not show what the agency did for anyone. A star average shows how a group of people rated an experience in a short post, not whether the agency is properly registered or how its staff are supervised.
Check each listing against two things. First, the category. A listing that says home health while the agency only provides companionship is describing a service you may not be able to buy from it. Second, the address. An agency may appear under a second listing with an older name or a nearby suite, and the two listings can make one agency look like two.
The public record
The desk's public files on Medicare-certified home health show whether an agency appears on the certified list, the state it reports, and the services it lists. When a file includes a patient survey summary, the stars in that summary come from a survey pool, not from the agency's full history. Read the survey note to see how the summary was built before you give it weight.
A non-medical home care agency will not appear on the Medicare-certified list at all. That absence is expected for that kind of agency and is not a failure. Use the record that fits the service you are considering. The lookup guide on five federal checks walks through each step, and the page on the two categories explains why the same name can show up in one record and not the other.
Verification questions
Put these questions to each agency directly, then compare the answers with the sheet. Write down each answer exactly as given.
What is your full legal name, and is it the name on your license?
Are you a Medicare-certified home health agency, a non-medical home care agency, or both?
Which cities and counties do you serve now, and does that include our street?
Has your name or your ownership changed since the public listing was first made?
Who signs off when an aide is changed, and who do we call when the aide cannot come?
What is in writing about cancellation and about changing the service plan?
Ask the agency to show its license and certification numbers, then match them to the record. If the agency cannot or will not give a number, the sheet stays open. Health questions go to the family's doctor, not to the agency's sales desk.
You have the problem this guide is about if your choice rests on the order of a page or on a star count, and your sheet still has empty lines. Fill the lines first. The order can wait.