Your parent may normally live in South County. For the first week, she may stay at your house in Kirkwood.

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.

That changes more than the driving route.

The home health referral needs the address where she will receive care. Equipment needs to reach that address. The pharmacy needs to be usable from there. Follow-up offices need a phone number for the person managing the week.

Before you commit to your house, choose one discharge address. Then put it through the whole plan.

Day 0, still in the bed

Write the address where your parent will sleep after discharge. Include the apartment or unit number, entry instructions, and the name on the door.

Give that paper to the nurse and discharge planner. Say, “This is the address where she will stay. Please check every referral and order against it.”

Ask the discharge planner to show you the address in the record. Do not settle for “We know she is going with you.” Look at the actual street address.

This is part of discharge planning. The hospital must evaluate whether appropriate post-hospital services are available and whether the patient can access them. The plan must also be discussed with the patient or representative. That is in 42 CFR 482.43(a).

Make a short address list:

Sleeping address
Primary phone
Backup phone
Name of the person answering the door
Where equipment may be left
Where the parent usually lives
Expected move-back plan, if known

Do not guess at the move-back day. Write “not decided” if that is the truth.

Check each service before you say yes

Start with home health, if it was ordered. Ask, “Does the agency serve this exact address?”

The hospital's home health list is supposed to cover agencies available to the patient and serving the geographic area where the patient will reside. A patient with a managed care plan should also verify which providers are in the plan network. Those requirements appear in 42 CFR 482.43(d).

This is an address check, not an agency acceptance check. You are confirming that the referral matches the place where care is supposed to happen.

Medicare's home health manual says a residence can be a relative's home. It also says a person may have more than one residence. The homebound requirements must be met at each place where services are provided. See the CMS Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 7, section 30.1.2.

Ask the discharge planner to confirm these items:

Which address was sent with the referral?
Which phone number will the agency call?
Does the agency know this is a temporary stay?
Who should the agency contact if your parent does not answer?
What must happen before services can follow your parent to another address?

Then check equipment. Read the delivery address on each order. Ask whether delivery requires a signature, whether someone must be present, and whom to call if the truck goes to the usual home.

Check prescriptions next. Confirm which pharmacy will receive them. Ask whether your parent can use that pharmacy from the discharge address. If a prescription requires pickup, assign the person who will go.

Check follow-up care. Write down the office location, the person providing transportation, and the phone number the office should use. If the office offers a remote visit, ask where your parent must be located and what device or connection is required. Do not assume a remote visit has been arranged.

Check the house you are offering

Walk through the exact rooms your parent will use. You are deciding whether this address works for the written plan.

Check the entrance, sleeping space, bathroom route, lighting, and a place to keep papers and supplies. Note any stairs. Note any locked doors, pets, gate codes, or building rules that could stop a visitor or delivery.

Ask the hospital staff which tasks your parent is expected to complete and which tasks require another person. Compare that list with the house and the people who will actually be there.

If the plan depends on a room, bathroom, person, or service that is not available at the discharge address, say so before discharge. Ask for the discharge planning evaluation to be updated. Federal rules require the plan to be revised when the patient's condition or discharge needs change. See 42 CFR 482.43(a).

Day 1, the car pulls in

Before your parent gets settled, confirm that every expected service has the correct address.

Call from the discharge paperwork, not from an old contact list. State your parent's name, the service ordered, the discharge address, and your callback number.

For each service, write one status:

Address confirmed
Address corrected
Waiting for a callback
No referral found

If no referral is found, call the hospital unit or discharge contact listed in the papers. Give the name of the missing service and ask where the referral was sent. Keep the question narrow.

Put the discharge papers near the main phone. Add a note with the door instructions. Tell everyone in the house who may arrive and who is allowed to receive equipment.

Day 2 to Day 3, the first full days

Compare what arrived with what the discharge plan listed.

Do not treat a phone message as a completed visit. Record the caller, the agency, the purpose of the call, and the next step.

If a clinician or supplier arrives at the wrong home, correct the address with both the provider and the hospital contact. Ask the provider to read the corrected address back to you.

If your parent will split time between two homes, tell each visiting service before the move. Medicare rules do not automatically disqualify a person merely because the person uses more than one residence, but eligibility conditions and service arrangements still have to work at each location. See the CMS Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 7, section 30.1.2.

Ask these questions before moving:

Can the service continue at the second address?
Does the agency serve that area?
Does the plan or insurer require notice?
Who updates the care plan and schedule?
Can the equipment move safely and legally?
Which supplies must travel with your parent?

Day 3 to Day 7, the week

Decide whether the discharge address is still the working address.

If your parent will remain with you, update offices that still have the usual home as the active contact location. Keep the permanent mailing address separate from the temporary care address when a form allows both.

If your parent will return home, do not move first and notify people later. Call every visiting service and equipment supplier. Give the destination, the planned move, entry instructions, and the new contact person.

Make one final address sheet. Put the temporary care address at the top. List every service beneath it with a confirmed phone number and status.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services maintains the state licensing and regulatory information for home health agencies. Its materials also point patients to home health rights under 42 CFR 484.50. Use the site's Sources page to find the agency and federal references behind this guide.

The useful question is not only, “Can she stay with me?”

It is, “Can the discharge plan reach her at my address?”

Before You Commit to Your House, Put the Discharge Address on Every Order