How Do You Partner with Assisted Living, Hospice and Home Health Providers?
Fill the hands-on hours each partner cannot bill for, start within 24 hours, report back, and never pay for a referral. What each partner needs from you.
By Caregiver Scheduling Team ·
Partner by filling the hours they cannot: one-on-one time for assisted living residents, respite and personal care hours for hospice families, and help between skilled visits for home health patients. Each partner refers to the agency that starts fastest, follows its rules and reports back. Never pay or gift your way into a referral; when Medicare or Medicaid is involved, that is a federal crime.
What gap does each partner need you to fill?
Each partner is paid for a defined service and has clients who need more. You are the more.
| Partner | What they are paid for | Gap you fill | What they need from you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assisted living | Housing, meals, scheduled help for all residents | One-on-one hours, escorts, overnight sitting | Caregivers who follow community rules, proof of insurance, clear billing to the family |
| Hospice | Intermittent nursing, aide and social work visits | Respite, extra personal care hours, overnight presence | Starts within 24 hours, comfort with end-of-life care, updates to the hospice nurse |
| Home health | Physician-ordered skilled visits for a limited episode | Personal care on days without a skilled visit, help after discharge | Reliable coverage, written reports of changes in condition |
Lead with the gap. “We cover the hours between your visits” lands better than a brochure.
Why do hospices refer out personal care hours?
Because the Medicare hospice benefit pays for intermittent visits, not continuous presence, and families often need both. In 2024 more than 1.8 million Medicare beneficiaries received hospice from about 6,700 providers. Hospice aides are tightly regulated: under 42 CFR 418.76 they need at least 75 hours of training and an RN supervisory visit at least every 14 days. The hospice cannot stretch those aide hours into eight-hour shifts, so the family pays privately or through long-term care insurance for yours.
The hospice team needs caregivers who can sit with a dying person calmly, call the hospice nurse rather than 911 for expected symptoms, and never touch medications. Put that in onboarding. See can caregivers give medication.
What do home health agencies need from you?
Coverage on the days they are not there, and a report when something changes. Home health is skilled, intermittent and time-limited. Aide services under 42 CFR 484.80 are supervised by a nurse at least every 14 days and end when the skilled need ends. A patient recovering from a hip replacement may get three skilled visits a week and still need help bathing every day. That daily help is your referral.
Send a short written note when a client’s condition changes: a fall, a new wound, confusion, a missed medication. Build it from your visit notes and incident reports, not memory.
What do assisted living communities need?
A vendor who follows their rules and does not create liability. Assisted living is state-regulated, and most communities require outside caregivers to sign in, wear identification, carry proof of liability insurance and workers’ compensation, and stay out of tasks the community’s own staff perform. Ask for the outside-provider policy before the first visit.
Residents who get one-on-one help stay longer, which is the community’s interest. Yours is a building with 80 potential clients and one front desk. Give the executive director one contact at your office and a same-day answer on every request.
Can you pay or reward a partner for referrals?
No. The federal Anti-Kickback Statute, 42 U.S.C. 1320a-7b(b), makes it a felony to knowingly offer or pay anything of value to induce referrals of business paid for by a federal health care program, with fines up to $100,000 and up to 10 years in prison per violation. HHS OIG stresses that remuneration means anything of value, including free rent, meals and gifts. Hospice and home health are Medicare businesses, so this reaches your relationship with them even when your own clients pay privately.
Many states have their own anti-kickback and patient brokering laws that reach private-pay care too. An educational lunch-and-learn or a branded notepad is generally fine. A gift card to the discharge planner, a referral fee or a “marketing agreement” paid per client is not. See home care referral sources.
How do you keep a partner referring?
Speed and feedback. Partners try two or three agencies, then send everything to the one that answers.
| Partner expectation | Your standard |
|---|---|
| Answer the referral call | Live, during business hours; callback within 1 hour after hours |
| Assess and start care | Same day for hospice, within 24 hours for others |
| Confirm the start | Email or text to the referrer when the first visit is scheduled |
| Report changes | Written note to the referrer within 24 hours of a change in condition |
| Decline honestly | Say no within the hour if you cannot staff it, so they can place it elsewhere |
Track referrals by source monthly and visit partners who have gone quiet.
How Caregiver Scheduling handles this
A new referral goes into the schedule in minutes, and the map shows which caregivers are nearest so the first visit lands the same day. Caregivers dictate visit notes in the app and the AI drafts the note, giving you a record to send the hospice or home health nurse when something changes. Verified check-ins show the partner the care happened. $199/month for up to 10 caregivers or $299/month for up to 50, free for 30 days.
FAQ
Can a hospice pay my agency directly for extra hours? Rarely. Extra personal care hours are usually paid by the family, long-term care insurance or a Medicaid waiver.
Can I give a discharge planner a gift card as a thank-you? No. Anything of value tied to referrals of Medicare or Medicaid business can violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, and many states extend similar rules to private pay.
What is the fastest way to lose a referral partner? Taking a referral you cannot staff. Decline within the hour so they can place the client.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Check your state’s anti-kickback, patient brokering and assisted living rules.