Yes. A Medicare-certified home health agency (HHA) is not required to take you as a patient simply because your doctor has prescribed care for you and you qualify for Medicare-covered home care. Agencies are allowed to select which patients they accept, provided that they do not violate discrimination laws.

If you are in a Medicare private health plan, your plan will generally only pay for you to get care from home health agencies that are within the plan’s network.

A home health agency can also limit the kinds of services it provides and the types of conditions it will care for. If you need services that the HHA does not provide, the HHA can decide not to accept you as a patient. For example, an HHA can decide it will not treat patients with dementia.

In addition, an HHA can refuse to take you if it does not believe that it can ensure your safety. For example, if you need round-the-clock personal care in addition to services the HHA provides but are going without that care, the HHA could find your situation unsafe and not accept you as a patient.

Sometimes the HHA will not take you as a patient because it believes your care would not be covered by Medicare or because it has no staff available to take on new patients.

To find out what you can do if an HHA will not take you as a patient, click on the link in the GO TO box.