A family asking about care at home needs to know what your agency provides and whether it serves the address. Start the page there.
Your home health website should connect the care description, service area and office contact. Keep referral instructions easy to find beside that information.
What a home health reader looks for
Explain the care your agency accepts in words a family can use when calling. Keep the limits attached to the relevant service.
The Medicare home health guide explains covered services and provider referrals. Your agency should supply the instructions for its own care requests.
The things the site must show
The care your agency provides
Write the service list from the care your agency actually offers. Explain what each description means without expecting a family to interpret clinical terms.
Keep questions about accepted care connected to the office. A broad statement about support at home should not replace the service description.
Read the page with the person responsible for its care wording. Check that the headings and paragraphs describe the same work.
The area beside the care request
State the agency's service boundary using the information its office approves. Keep that area beside the contact instructions.
If the site offers a location check, compare its answers with the agency's actual boundary. Explain what the check establishes.
An address inside the service area should not appear to confirm a care arrangement. Keep the office's acceptance process clear beside the result.
Family questions and referral instructions
Give families a way to ask about care without requiring them to complete a professional referral. Name the contact who handles those questions.
Place the agency's approved referral instructions in their own clearly labeled section. Explain the destination before asking a referring office to provide information.
Keep the phone number visible beside each route. Check that a written request preserves whether it came from a family or a referring office.
The mistake to check for
Look for a home health page that offers a broad service area but never states the care available there. The address alone cannot explain the offer.
Read a service description beside the location wording. Follow its contact option and check what the receiving office would need to understand.
What that gap can cost you
Unclear care descriptions can bring requests outside the agency's accepted work. Mixed referral instructions can also leave families unsure where to begin.
Clear care and contact details give the agency a useful question to address.
The next step
Open the home health page on your phone. Find the care offered, area served and family contact before reading the referral instructions.
Related: Home health websites
If you want an outside look at how home health requests reach your agency, start with the free check.