An agency statement is the only written record of what the agency says happened in your home. If nobody opens it, nobody checks it. Fix the reader before the first one arrives.

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Name the reader and a backup

Pick one person by name. Pick a second person who can take over when the first is away. Write both names on the contact page of your house binder. A statement sitting in a shared inbox with no owner is a finding in itself.

Check each statement against the visit log

Put the statement next to the visit log for the same period. Look for three things:

  • Visit dates that match days a shift actually happened.
  • Start and end times that match the sign-in and sign-out record.
  • Any line for time, service, or fee you never agreed to in writing.

Find out how a disputed line gets raised

Ask the agency four questions before you need the answers. What is the deadline to question a line? Who takes the call? Does a dispute have to be in writing? How is a correction shown, as a credit on the next statement or a separate note? Write the answers on the front of the statement file.

Keep every statement in one folder

Use one folder, in date order, paper or digital. Keep the signed agreement at the front. When the arrangement ends, that folder is the record you will want.

Watch for the change that breaks the chain

When the agency changes its billing contact, the names printed on statements, or the way visits are grouped, note the change the day it happens. A change you did not record is hard to trace later. Ask the agency to tell you in writing whenever its billing contact changes.

Plan for the reader to stop

If the reader moves, gets busy, or stops answering, the backup takes over that same day. Do not wait for a missed statement to discover the chain was broken.

For the questions to settle before the first statement exists, read how to read a home care quote.