Should I need to pay for an initial in-home assessment to a prospective home-care company when I’m not sure if they can meet my needs?

Hmm. When I interviewed a care agency for Mom an RN and a social worker came to her NH and spent over an hour with us. When they found a suitable aid the RN brought her for a meet and greet which lasted about another hour. I was never charged for any of this time. However they did ask me for 2 weeks of charges up front which would be reimbursed after Mom passed away or their services were otherwise not needed. They said that they sometimes have a hard time collecting their last bills from the remaining family after a LO passes so they collect a little money in advance just in case. And they did reimburse me with no problem. Perhaps that’s what your $160 is for, not the assessment. You may want to clarify if it’s reimbursable. .

Isnt Medicare going to cover this?

I think that the doctor actually does a needs assessment and then you hire an agency that can provide the aide that the doctor says is needed.

I don't pay anyone to meet with me and see if I want to hire them, it's like a job interview. You are interviewing them to see if they meet your needs and are willing to fulfill your expectations. Can you imagine telling a prospective employer that they will need to pay you for the interview? Weird.

NO!    In my area, there's so much competition that a good company wouldn't dare pull that.

The best company that I wanted (which I couldn't hire b/c after discussion internally they decided they couldn't and wouldn't handle dysphagia care) came to a care meeting at the rehab facility, free of charge.  

Your words "so they have the info to tell me IF they can meet my needs with a comparable home care provider" make me wonder if this is a company that screens and then contacts other companies?    Or if it just collects screening fees and then says it can't meet your requirements?  

There's a remote possibility that it's a legit and highly qualified company and wants to ensure it can in fact meet your needs, but I've found after contacting a lot of companies that they're usually able to make those determinations even before coming out.  If not, I wonder how much experience they have. 

Are you in a rural area?   I can't help wondering if this is a legit agency or one that just wants to scan your house and see what's available.      Do you have any background info or research on the agency?

I think this is a bad omen; back away, quickly.


Just remembered: the only company, actually a well known agency, that pulled something like this sent out a so-called RN who didn't even know what a psychotropic drug was, decided the living room needed about $50K worth of repairs, for which she felt their in-house estimator/contractor would be appropriate.

I had already interviewed him for work at my house; his estimate was 3 times the estimate of the good contractor I hired.   And he insisted that more needed to be done than I wanted.  (I'd had this done repeatedly and knew well what the work scope was.)

My knee-jerk response is "NO! Outrageous!"

Unless - is there anything very unusual about your home or your circumstances? Would they have to send a suitably qualified assessor to some remote location or anything like that?

If they're planning to spend an hour and a half to two hours conducting the assessment, it sounds as if it will be quite thorough (and tiring for you - make sure the appointment is at a time of day when you're at your liveliest) which is no bad thing. But then again, I would expect any reputable agency to do this essential preparation thoroughly and to send you somebody with adequate qualifications and experience, and I would not expect there to be an upfront charge.

I don't know if it is customary, but I sure wouldn't be paying it, IMO you should be able to go over your needs with a simple phone call. Have you contacted more than one agency?