Home Instead Senior Care

‘Mom’ was in Hospice from 3÷17÷15−3÷23÷15 when she passed away. We used Home Instead (HI) Seattle to assist in care for her for 5 evenings before she died.
After she dies, we sent a nice note and were mostly happy with our experience (two of the three Home Instead caregivers were really great — the third was a warm body and was not a natural fit).
For over two months now, we have requested copies of Mom’s care notes and the billing statement be submitted to Mom’s long term care insurance company (we provided everything needed from our end nearly 6 weeks ago).

The timeline:
* Six weeks after Mom’s passing, we called HI to find out where this paperwork was as the insurance company said they were still waiting for it. The person at HI said the employee who handles these things was «on vacation». We asked if someone else could follow up on our request/​paperwork.
* We received a message two days later saying that someone at HI would follow up.
* 10 days after that call, we still hadn’t heard from anyone so we called again. The person at HI was very apologetic and said the person who had been on vacation was back the «next day» so we should be able to get this taken care of. We asked that she contact us as soon as she got back.
* Two days later we received a voicemail from the Client Care Supervisor saying that they had forgotten to pick up the caregiver notes after Mom died. We arranged to have them picked up the next day. (They wanted to schedule an appointment since the caregiver notes were «legal documents» but that would have meant arranging our schedules to be home so we left the notes on the porch. They could not have been too concerned about these being «legal docs» as they were at our house for two months).
* Five days after the notes were picked up we called again to talk to the person who had been on vacation. She informed us she’d been gone for over two weeks (18 days I believe) and «just got the paperwork» the previous week. (Can a business afford to not have someone able to process paperwork while someone is on vacation for that long?) She was neither concerned nor empathetic and when pressed as to when we could expect her to submit the appropriate paperwork to the insurance company we were told, «Sometime this week».
* That same day we sent a detailed letter to the manager of the Home Instead team thinking he/​she would be appalled by our experience and would apologize and explain what might have occurred. In short, we thought they may care; however, after they received our letter we received the following three messages from Home Instead (same morning) without a single apology or mention of our journey on any of them:
1. They received our letter and would process paperwork once they got the care notes (remember the ones that were left at our house for 2 months)?
2. They researched and it looks like the info was faxed to Insurance on the day before we called (again) the person who had been on vacation
3. The insurance company received info the day after we called that last time.
No apology, no explanation, nothing. Interesting… the Home Instead website says, «For dependable warm-​hearted care…» and the only thing we have been able to depend on is the lack of organization, follow-​through and empathy.
They also state, «We work with many long-​term care insurance companies to bring you the covered services you need over the short or long term» but we certainly have not experienced that in our multiple communications (most of them initiated by us).
We were very close to Mom and this devastating time has been made all the more difficult because of lack of follow-​through from Home Instead. The fact that no one at the Home Instead office seemed to be able to put themselves in our place and just take a few minutes to copy the care notes and billing info and fax it off to the Insurance company pretty much sums up their lack of concern and professionalism.
A little integrity would have gone a long way but obviously it would need to be leadership that sets the example and expectations and just as obviously, that is not the way this company operates.

I was very pleased with Home Instead Senior Care. The caregiver who was matched with my parent was thoughtful kind and aware of every need. I had peace of mind knowing my parent was in the hands of someone so considerate, understanding and professional. They were always on time and anticipated my parent’s needs. Thumbs up all the way!

Extremely disappointed with the quality of caregiver we had. I recommend looking elsewhere for reliable, compassionate, and affordable caregiving.