Check the Agency's Paper Before the Sales Call: License, Medicare Status, and Inspection Record

Agencies are good at the first call. Your job is to check what they say against records that a state or federal agency keeps. You are not ranking anyone here. You are confirming that the paper matches the claim. If it does, the interview can focus on fit. If it does not, you have a question to ask before you sign.

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.

Step 1: Get the legal name and any license number

Ask the agency for its exact legal name, its address, and any state license number it holds. Write them down. Compare the legal name to the name on the sales sheet and to the name on any contract. If the names differ, ask why before you go further.

Not every in-home service in Missouri needs a state license. Ask which license, if any, applies to the work the agency does. If it holds one, ask to see the license. Check it on the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services licensing lists. If the agency says it does not need a license for its services, ask it to explain its screening and training in writing. Missouri statute and DHSS rules set what each kind of license covers, so read those pages before you decide what the answer means.

Step 2: Check Medicare status

If the agency says it is Medicare-certified, search for it on Medicare's Care Compare site and confirm that the name and address match. Medicare-certified agencies provide skilled services billed to Medicare. Private-pay companion or aide help is a separate service with separate paperwork. Ask which of the agency's services fall under each.

Care Compare lists publicly reported quality measures for home health agencies. Read what each measure actually measures, and do not treat any single figure as the answer. The measures are a starting point for your questions.

Step 3: Read the inspection record

Ask for the agency's most recent state inspection or survey report. Read it for what was found and for what the agency did afterward. A report with findings is not automatically a warning sign. A report with findings and no documented correction is a question to ask the administrator directly. Write down the date of the report, the findings and the correction in your own notes, so you can refer back to them.

Step 4: Get the screening and insurance answers in writing

Ask what background checks each aide gets, who runs them, and how often they are repeated. Ask for proof of liability insurance and bonding. If the agency employs its own staff, ask for proof of workers' compensation coverage too. Ask the agency to confirm all of these answers in an email before you sign. Save that email with the contract, so you can compare the two later. The general rule about keeping papers together is covered on this desk's How We Write page.

Step 5: Compare the three answers

Put three things side by side: the sales claim, the public record, and the written answer. If all three agree, you have a provider that has held up to a check. If one of them is missing, ask for it. If two of them disagree, do not sign until someone can explain why. You can do this in a single evening, and the notes you make are the same notes you will need when a question comes up later.