Questions to Ask Orlando Home Health Care Agencies
Doing your research ahead of time on the proper type of home care services your family member needs is crucial. You should also be interviewing your top choices to help narrow down home care service options. You don’t want any surprises or to find out later that the service you chose has a lot of complaints. At the Law Offices of Shea A. Fugate, P.A., we help clients just like you with all their Orlando elder law needs.
Before meeting with various agencies, we recommend that you create a checklist and include essential questions you want answers to. You can ask each agency the same or similar questions. This checklist will help you narrow down your options and choose the best home care agency possible.
Potential Questions to Ask Each Agency
Some of the most important questions you can ask agencies you meet with include the following.
Questions on Licensing and Billing
- Are you licensed by Florida state?
- Are you Medicaid/Medicare-certified?
- Can we please see your “Patient Bill of Rights”?
- How long have you been providing home care services?
- Can you please explain what type of coverage Medicare, Medicaid, or other insurance will cover and what we will be expected to pay?
- Do you provide us with written statements that break down all the applicable costs and what our payment plan options are?
Questions on Training and Employees
- How do you recruit and train your staff?
- What type of background checks do you perform on potential employees?
- Do you have comprehensive personnel policies for your employees? What kind of benefits do they receive?
- Do you carry malpractice or liability insurance?
- Who evaluates my family member’s home care needs? Are there consultations with physicians and family members?
- How are problems handled? What kind of follow up do you do?
- How do you handle allegations of misconduct or substandard care?
- Do you assign any supervisors to oversee how things are going? Is anyone looking into the quality of care patients are receiving at home?
- If visits are made to check on services, how often these visits scheduled?
- What are your standard procedures to handle emergencies?
- How available are your caretakers? Is someone on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week? If not, what is your schedule? Do you have guaranteed replacement care coverage if the person who is assigned to your family member is unable to come to work?
Check Their References
You also want to check references for any agency you meet with. You can ask them to provide you with a list of people, including clients, family members of clients, doctors, hospital discharge planners, and more. Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and contact these references directly. You should be able to ask them questions about how many people they refer to this agency. Is their relationship based on a contract, or are these personal referrals? What type of feedback have they received regarding the level of care, etc?
Contact an Orlando Elder Law Attorney
If you need assistance with elder law matters like preparing for Medicaid eligibility or choosing between home care services and a nursing home, let an Orlando elder law attorney help. Contact the Law Offices of Shea A. Fugate, P.A. today to schedule an initial consultation.
https://sheafugate.com/what-to-expect-at-your-orlando-elder-law-consultation/
