When your doctor orders home health care, you will be asked which agency you want. Many families have never thought about it and simply take the first name offered. Yet the agency you pick decides who comes to your door, how well your care is coordinated and how your family is treated. This guide explains how to choose a home health care agency in Tampa with confidence: how to check credentials, how to use Medicare’s Care Compare tool, and what to ask before you say yes.
Signs your loved one may need home health care
Sometimes the first question is whether home health care is needed at all. Signs that it may be time to talk with the doctor include:
- A recent hospital or rehab stay, or a new diagnosis
- Falls, near-falls, or trouble getting up from a chair or bed
- Missed or doubled medicines, or a cabinet full of bottles no one can explain
- Weight loss, an empty refrigerator or skipped meals
- A wound that is not healing
- New confusion, or a home that has slipped from how it was usually kept
Home health care is short-term, skilled care ordered by a doctor, so these signs are a reason to call the doctor first. For the full list and tips on how to bring it up, read signs an aging parent needs home health care.
Who qualifies for home health care?
Before you compare agencies, it helps to know whether your loved one is likely to qualify. Medicare covers home health care when all of these are true:
- A doctor or allowed practitioner orders it. This can be a doctor, nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist or physician assistant. They certify the need for care at home and review the plan of care.
- Skilled care is needed on a part-time or intermittent basis. That means skilled nursing, physical therapy or speech-language therapy, or continued occupational therapy.
- The person is homebound. Leaving home takes considerable and taxing effort. Short, infrequent outings for medical care, religious services or adult day care are OK.
- There was a face-to-face visit with the doctor or allowed practitioner about the main reason for care, within 90 days before or 30 days after care starts.
- The agency is Medicare-certified.
Medicare does not cover 24-hour care, meal delivery, or help with bathing and housework when that is the only care needed. If that is the kind of help your family needs, ask any agency you call to say plainly whether it provides it, and where else to look if not.
You have a choice, so use it
With Original Medicare, you can choose any Medicare-certified home health agency that serves your address and accepts you. When you leave a hospital, the discharge planner should give you a list of agencies that serve your area and respect the one you pick. Medicare Advantage plans may require you to use an agency in their network, so call your plan or ask the agency to check.
It is fine to tell your doctor or discharge planner, “I would like this agency.” It is also fine to change agencies later if the care is not working for you. If you can, make a few calls before a hospital or facility discharge, so you are not choosing in a rush on the last day.
How to choose a home health care agency: check credentials first
Before you compare anything else, confirm the basics. They are easy to verify and they rule out a lot of risk.
Florida license
In Florida, home health agencies must be licensed by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). The license means the agency met state requirements to operate. You can look up licensed providers and inspection reports on AHCA’s consumer website, Florida Health Finder. If an agency is vague about its license, move on.
Medicare certification
Medicare certification means the agency meets federal home health rules and is inspected to confirm it. Medicare only pays certified agencies. If you plan to use your Medicare home health benefit, this is not optional. Our Medicare home health page explains who qualifies.
Accreditation
Accreditation is voluntary. An agency chooses to be measured against an outside organization’s standards on top of what the state and Medicare require. The Joint Commission is one of the best-known accrediting bodies in health care. Its reviews cover areas such as patient safety, infection control, medication management, staff training and emergency planning. You can confirm an agency’s status on The Joint Commission’s Quality Check website. Our article on what Joint Commission accreditation means explains more.
Accreditation does not promise a perfect experience. It does tell you the agency invited outside review and has formal systems for safety and quality.
How to use Medicare Care Compare
Medicare’s Care Compare tool, on medicare.gov, lets you look up home health agencies by ZIP code. Choose home health services, enter your ZIP code, and you will see agencies that serve it. For each agency you can see:
- Quality measures, such as how often patients got better at walking, bathing and getting in and out of bed, and how often patients had to go to the hospital
- Patient survey results, based on a standard Medicare survey about how well the team cared for people, communicated and handled specific care needs
- Services offered, such as nursing, therapy, medical social work and home health aides
A few tips for using Care Compare well:
- Compare agencies with each other and with the state and national averages shown on the page.
- Look at the measures that fit your situation. If you are recovering from surgery, the walking and transfer measures matter more to you than an overall summary.
- Read “not available” carefully. A smaller or newer agency may not have enough data for some results. That is not the same as poor results.
- Use it as one input. The data describes past results across many patients and is updated over time. Check the current information for every agency you are considering.
Questions to ask any agency before you choose
A short phone call tells you a lot. Here are the questions worth asking:
- Do you serve my address? You want a clear yes or no, not “probably.”
- Do you accept my insurance, and will you explain costs before care starts? A good agency verifies your benefits and tells you plainly what to expect.
- Which services do you provide with your own team? Nursing, physical, occupational and speech therapy, medical social work and home health aides under one roof make coordination easier.
- Who will be coming to my home? Ask whether you can expect a consistent nurse and therapist rather than a new face every visit.
- How do you screen and train your staff? Ask about background checks, licenses and ongoing training, and who supervises aides.
- Can your clinicians speak my language? Ask whether they have bilingual staff, not just access to an interpreter.
- How do you communicate with my doctor? Listen for specifics: who sends updates, and how changes in your condition are reported.
- How will you involve my family? Ask whether caregivers can join visits and get teaching.
- What should I do if I have a concern between visits, or after hours? You should get a clear number and process.
- How do I raise a complaint? A confident agency explains this without hesitation.
Write the answers down. After two or three calls, the differences become clear. Pay attention to how you were treated, too. Patience, clear answers and respect on the phone are a good preview of the care to come.
Communication with your doctors
Home health care is ordered by your doctor, and the agency works under that order. Strong communication looks like this: the agency sends your plan of care promptly for your doctor’s signature, reports important changes such as a worsening wound or a fall, and asks for new orders when your needs change. When your care involves a heart doctor, surgeon or wound specialist, the agency keeps them in the loop too.
Ask who your main contact will be. Knowing one name makes it much easier to get answers.
Language and cultural fit
Home health care is mostly teaching: how to take a new medicine, how to care for a wound, how to move safely. That teaching only works if you understand it. Many households in the Tampa area prefer Spanish, and older adults often understand health instructions best in their first language, even when they speak English well. If that applies to your family, ask for bilingual clinicians and written materials you can read.
Service area and distance
Every agency serves a defined area. Some focus on one city; others cover several counties. If your loved one lives in an outlying or rural part of a county, confirm that the agency regularly sends clinicians there. Ask whether they currently care for patients near you, because steady visits depend on it.
Red flags to watch for
Be cautious with any agency that:
- Pressures you to sign up quickly, or calls you without being asked
- Offers gifts or rewards for choosing them
- Makes promises about cost before checking your benefits
- Says it can start care without a doctor’s order
- Is vague about its license, certification or who will visit
- Asks for your Medicare number before you have decided to use them
How Making Memories Home Health can help
Making Memories Home Health Inc is a Florida-licensed, Medicare-certified home health agency accredited by The Joint Commission. We are family-founded by experienced ICU and emergency nurses from our Tampa office, and our team speaks English and Spanish. We provide skilled nursing, physical, occupational and speech-language therapy, medical social work and home health aide services; see all of our services.
We serve Hillsborough, Polk and Manatee counties. We accept Traditional Medicare, plus long-term care plans and private pay. Medicare Advantage coverage and our participation depend on your specific plan, so we verify both before care starts. Call (813) 931-0015 to verify your coverage, or see our insurance page.
Comparing agencies? Call us at (813) 931-0015 and ask us every question on this list. Doctors and case managers can send a referral online. Once you have chosen, our guide on how to start home health care explains what happens next.
Frequently asked questions
Can I pick my own home health agency, or does the hospital choose?
With Original Medicare, you can choose any Medicare-certified agency that serves your address and accepts you. The hospital should give you a list of options and respect your choice. Medicare Advantage plans may limit you to agencies in their network, so check with your plan.
What is the difference between Medicare certification and accreditation?
Medicare certification means an agency meets federal home health rules and can bill Medicare. Accreditation, such as from The Joint Commission, is a separate, voluntary review by an independent organization that checks the agency against its own quality and safety standards.
What if an agency shows little or no data on Care Compare?
Care Compare shows some results only when an agency has enough patients to measure. A newer or smaller agency may have results marked as not available, which is not the same as poor care. In that case, lean more on licensing, accreditation and the answers you get to your questions.
Can I switch home health agencies if I am not happy?
Yes. You can change agencies during your care. Tell your doctor and the new agency that you want to switch, and they will coordinate the transfer so your visits continue. If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, check that the new agency is in your network.