7 Signs It's Time to Change Your Home Care Agency

Nobody switches home care agencies on a whim. It takes a lot — months of frustration, unanswered calls, broken promises — before a family finally says “enough.” But the opposite is also true: families stay with agencies that aren’t working far longer than they should, because switching feels like more trouble than it’s worth.

It isn’t. Switching is easier than living with bad care. Here are the signs that it’s time.

1. You Can’t Get Anyone on the Phone

This is the most common complaint we hear from families transferring to CareChoice, and it’sthe most telling. If your agency doesn’t answer the phone during business hours, doesn’t returnvoicemails within 24 hours, or transfers you through three people before you reach someonewho can help — that’s not a bad day. That’s a pattern.
Home care involves real-time situations: a caregiver who’s sick and can’t come, a paycheck thatdidn’t deposit, a care plan question that needs an answer today. An agency that can’t be reachedwhen you need them isn’t providing service — they’re providing a phone number.

2. Your Caregiver’s Paychecks Are Consistently Late or Wrong

If your family member is the paid caregiver through Participant-Directed Services, CDS, or Home Help, and the paycheck is late, short, or incorrect more than once — the agency’s (or FMSA’s) back-office operation isn’t functional. One error is understandable. A pattern means the system is broken.

In our experience, payroll problems are never “just” payroll problems. They signal deeper organizational issues — understaffing, poor systems, lack of attention to the families they serve. If the agency can’t get the most basic transaction right — paying people — what else isn’t working?

3. The Agency Sends a Different Person Every Time

For families receiving agency-staffed care (not family caregiving), this is devastating. Your mother is comfortable with one aide. She knows their name, their voice, their routine. Then next Tuesday, someone completely different shows up. And the Tuesday after that, someone else.

Consistency is a clinical need, not a luxury. For individuals with dementia, anxiety, or cognitive disabilities, unfamiliar people in the home can trigger agitation, resistance to care, and genuine distress. If your agency can’t provide a consistent caregiver, they’re not matching the care to the person — they’re filling a shift.

4. Nobody Told You About Paid Family Caregiving

This one makes us angry. Families contact CareChoice every week who have been receiving agency-staffed care for months or years without anyone ever mentioning that a family member
could be the caregiver and get paid for it. The daughter who’s been managing her mother’s care on top of her own job. The son who’s been bathing his father every morning before work. They had no idea that PDS in PA, Home Help in MI, or CDS in TX could turn their unpaid labor into areal job.

If your current agency didn’t tell you about these options, ask yourself why. An agency that genuinely serves families would want you to know every option — even if it means the agency loses the account. An agency that withholds information to keep you in the dark is serving themselves, not you.

5. The Care Plan Isn’t Being Followed

Your loved one’s care plan specifies which services are authorized — bathing assistance three times per week, meal preparation daily, medication reminders twice daily. If the agency is cutting corners — skipping tasks, shortening visits, not delivering the authorized services — that’s not a quality issue. That’s a compliance failure.

Document what’s happening. If the care plan says 30 hours per week and the aide is consistently leaving after 25, that’s five hours of authorized care your loved one isn’t receiving. If the plan includes medication reminders and nobody’s doing them, that’s a safety risk.

6. The Agency Doesn’t Understand Your Community

Home care is personal. It involves intimate daily activities in the most private spaces of your loved one’s life. If the agency doesn’t speak your family’s language, doesn’t understand your cultural practices around food, hygiene, and daily routine, or sends aides who are visibly uncomfortable in your home — the fit isn’t right.

This is especially relevant in Philadelphia’s diverse neighborhoods, Detroit’s multicultural communities, Dallas’s Hispanic and South Asian neighborhoods, and Miami’s Cuban, Haitian, and Colombian communities. Cultural match isn’t a preference — it’s a quality-of-care factor.

7. Your Gut Says Something Is Wrong

Sometimes the problems aren’t dramatic. The calls take a little longer to return each month. The aide seems less engaged. Small issues that used to get resolved now linger. The agency feels like it’s running on autopilot.

Trust that instinct. Families who live in the home care system daily develop a sense for when things are trending the wrong direction. If you find yourself making excuses for the agency —”they’re probably just busy” or “it’s not that bad” — that’s the signal. Things that are working don’t need excuses.

What to Do Next

Switching agencies is your right, it doesn’t cost anything, and your authorized services transfer with you. The process takes one to three weeks in most cases, and CareChoice works to ensure there’s no gap in care during the transition.

If you’ve recognized your situation in any of the signs above, here’s the path:

In Pennsylvania: How to switch agencies in PA →

In Michigan: How to change your Home Help provider →

In Texas: How to switch through STAR+PLUS →

Or simply call CareChoice (800-795-7770). We’ll help you sort out which market-specific process applies and start the transition.

You deserve better care. So does your loved one. → Contact CareChoice

Written by Gary Murray, Chief Marketing Officer | CareChoice

7 Signs It’s Time to Change Your Home Care Agency