How to choose a home health agency in Jacksonville: the seven questions I would ask

You have the right to choose your home health agency. Hospitals and physicians can recommend one, but the choice is yours, and Jacksonville has dozens. Most families pick whichever name the discharge planner says first. I run the operations side of an agency, so I know what separates a good one from a name on a list. Here is what I would look at if it were my parent.

Start with Medicare's public data

Every Medicare certified agency is scored on Care Compare, the government's comparison site. Search "Medicare Care Compare home health," enter a ZIP code, and you get star ratings and the underlying numbers: how often patients improved at walking and bathing, how often care started on time, how many were readmitted to the hospital, and how patients rated the agency in surveys.

Read the survey questions specifically. "Would definitely recommend this agency" is the one that predicts your experience. National average is about 78%. Look for an agency above it.

Then ask these seven questions

1. Are you Medicare certified, state licensed, and accredited? Certification is the minimum. Accreditation by ACHC or The Joint Commission means a third party surveyed the agency against a higher standard. You can verify a Florida license on the Agency for Health Care Administration's website.

2. Will I have the same nurse and therapist? Continuity is the single biggest driver of satisfaction. Ask how the agency assigns clinicians and how often patients see someone new.

3. Are your clinicians employees or contractors? Both models exist. Agencies with employed staff generally have more control over training, scheduling, and consistency.

4. How fast can you start? Ask for the typical time from referral to first visit, and ask what happens if the referral arrives on a Friday afternoon.

5. Who do I call at 9 pm? Ask whether a nurse answers after hours or an answering service does, and how long a call back takes. Ask them to be specific.

6. How do you communicate with my doctor? The answer should include start of care, every recertification, discharge, and any time something changes. If the agency cannot describe it, it does not happen.

7. What does it cost me? For Medicare the answer should be "nothing for covered services." If an agency is vague about this, keep looking.

Red flags

• The agency cannot or will not tell you its Care Compare scores.
• You are offered a "free" service that seems unrelated to your medical need. Home health is a Medicare benefit, not a promotion.
• Nobody can name who will be visiting.
• Calls go unreturned early during care. It will not get better as time goes on.

What to have ready when you call

The patient's name and date of birth, the Medicare or insurance card, the name of the physician who will sign orders, the diagnosis or reason for care, and the hospital discharge date if there is one. That is enough for any agency to start the process.

Our answers, for the record

I would rather you compare us than take our word for it, so here is where we stand. Access Home Health is Medicare certified, CMS certification number 687026, licensed by Florida AHCA, and accredited by ACHC. In the most recent Care Compare reporting period, 85% of our patients said they would definitely recommend us, 94% improved in getting around, and 98% had care start on time. We serve Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Flagler, Nassau, and Baker counties. We are rated 4.9 on Google from 39 reviews, and you can read every one of them.

If you want to talk it through, call 844-808-9096. If you decide on another agency, that is fine too. The important thing is that you chose.

Care Compare figures are from Medicare's most recent published reporting period and change over time. Check the current numbers at medicare.gov/care-compare.