Skilled home health has higher documentation and compliance pressure than private duty. You’re coordinating clinical services, protecting patient rights, managing medications, training licensed and unlicensed staff, and proving your processes are consistent—especially if you pursue Medicare certification, Medicaid programs, or accreditation.

CarePolicy helps home health agencies across the United States get organized with a complete home health policy and procedure manual that’s built around real agency workflows—so your team can implement it, train to it, and maintain it as requirements change.

Choose your state (A–Z State Finder)

Browse state-specific policies and procedures packages

Schedule a licensing consultation (sold separately).

State-Specific Home Health Policy and Procedure Manuals Collection

29 products

How CarePolicy helps home health agencies

Home health agencies don’t struggle because they “don’t have a document.” They struggle because policies are incomplete, hard to apply in the field, or disconnected from staff training and documentation habits.

CarePolicy packages are designed to help you run a consistent operation with:

  • Clear structure that matches how HHAs work (admission, plan of care, visits, documentation, supervision, discharge).
  • Built-in accountability through defined roles, responsibilities, and standard workflows.
  • Operational forms that support real use (patient rights, complaints, incident reports, training logs, competency checklists).
  • State alignment through your state’s provider type and required topics, using the State Finder and state collections.

If you provide non-medical companion or personal care only, you’ll typically want a non-medical (private duty) manual instead of a skilled home health manual.

What you get (manual + operational forms)

CarePolicy home health documentation is delivered as a digital download. Many state-specific products include a preview so you can review the table of contents before you purchase.

  • Home health policies and procedures manual organized for agency operations
  • Common operational and clinical forms used in day-to-day workflows
  • Document control concepts (so your team isn’t using outdated versions)

Need edits tailored to your agency structure, services, or terminology? Manual customization and consulting are available as separate services.

Explore manual customization options

What a home health policies and procedures manual should include

A strong policies and procedures manual for home health care includes both:

  • Policies (the standards your agency follows)
  • Procedures (how staff carry out those standards step by step)
Manual area What it supports Examples of topics
Administration & governance How the agency is organized and managed Organizational structure, governing responsibilities, document control, contracts, liability/insurance expectations
Patient rights & privacy Patient protections and communication Patient rights, grievance process, confidentiality, consent and authorizations
Clinical care delivery Consistency in skilled services Skilled nursing, therapy services, aide services, supervision and care coordination
Care planning & documentation How care is planned and recorded Plan of care processes, visit documentation standards, clinical notes, record retention
Medication management Medication handling and safety Medication reconciliation (as applicable), administration processes, storage/disposal expectations
Infection prevention & safety Risk reduction in the home setting Infection prevention, communicable disease procedures, incident reporting, emergency preparedness basics
Personnel, training & competency Staffing quality and consistency Hiring and onboarding, job descriptions, competency evaluation program, training documentation
Quality improvement Ongoing performance monitoring QAPI approach, audits, corrective action, complaint trending and follow-up

Medicare and CMS alignment (when applicable)

Some home health agencies operate under state licensure only, while others pursue Medicare certification and additional payer requirements. If your agency is Medicare-certified (or preparing for certification), your manual and implementation plan typically need to align with CMS Conditions of Participation and home health quality reporting expectations.

CarePolicy helps you organize your documentation around the core areas that Medicare-certified agencies commonly need to demonstrate, including patient rights, care planning, coordination of services, clinical documentation practices, infection prevention, emergency preparedness, and quality improvement.

Important: Requirements vary by state and payer program. Always confirm your exact provider type requirements with your state licensing authority and applicable payer guidance.

Accreditation readiness (optional)

Some agencies pursue accreditation as part of their growth strategy. If you’re working toward accreditation, your manual should be organized, consistent, and easy to train to. CarePolicy documentation can support your readiness by making sure your policies, procedures, and forms reflect how your agency operates.

Accreditation standards and expectations can differ by accrediting organization, so use this manual as a foundation and confirm the specific standard set you’re following.

Key clinical and operational workflows to document

Skilled home health becomes manageable when your team follows repeatable workflows. Your manual should make these workflows clear for office staff and field clinicians.

Admission, start of care, and discharge

  • Referral intake and acceptance criteria
  • Start of care documentation expectations
  • Discharge and referral procedures

Plan of care and care coordination

  • Plan of care creation and update process
  • Communication with physicians/allowed practitioners (as applicable)
  • Coordination among nursing, therapy, and aide services

Clinical documentation and patient records

  • Clinical note standards and required elements
  • Record security, privacy expectations, and access controls
  • Record retention and version control for policies and forms

Medication management and safety

  • Medication handling processes (as applicable to your services)
  • Documentation expectations for medication-related tasks
  • Adverse events and escalation procedures

Infection prevention and emergency preparedness

  • Infection prevention expectations for field staff
  • Communicable disease procedures
  • Emergency preparedness plan basics and staff responsibilities

Training, competency, and supervision

  • Onboarding and role-based training plans
  • Competency evaluation documentation
  • Supervision cadence and corrective action steps

Quality improvement (QAPI) and complaints

  • Complaint intake, documentation, investigation, and follow-up
  • Incident reporting and internal review
  • Performance monitoring routines and corrective action tracking

Make it state-ready

Home health licensing categories, required policy topics, and terminology can differ across states. CarePolicy supports agencies in all 50 U.S. states by giving you a strong home health framework, then routing you to the right state requirements for your provider type.

Select your state in the A–Z State Finder and review the state collection for your location.

If you prefer a checklist-driven starting point, you can also review: State checklist resources.

How to customize and implement the manual

A policy manual only reduces risk when staff actually use it. Here’s a simple rollout plan:

  1. Customize: update agency name, services, roles, and any state-specific terminology.
  2. Adopt: remove anything you don’t do and clarify who owns each workflow (clinical manager, administrator, supervisor, QA lead).
  3. Train: tie policies to onboarding and keep proof of training (competency checklists and acknowledgements).
  4. Audit: review a few high-impact workflows monthly (admission documentation, plan of care updates, medication processes, complaints, incidents).

If you want hands-on support aligning documentation to your state and payer pathway, licensing consultation is available separately.

FAQs

What are the 4 types of healthcare policies?

For a home health agency manual, policies typically fall into four practical categories: administrative (how the agency runs), clinical (how care is delivered), personnel (hiring, training, competency, supervision), and quality/safety (incidents, complaints, infection prevention, emergency preparedness).

What is the 80/20 rule in home care?

“80/20 rule” can mean different things in healthcare. In home care, it’s commonly used to describe a Medicaid Access Rule provision that requires states to ensure a high percentage of Medicaid payments for certain HCBS services (such as homemaker, home health aide, and personal care) is spent on direct care worker compensation. Implementation details and timelines vary by state, so confirm what applies to your payer programs.

What are examples of home health policies?

Common examples include patient rights and privacy, admission and discharge, plan of care processes, clinical documentation standards, infection prevention, medication management (as applicable), incident reporting, complaints and grievances, emergency preparedness, and competency evaluation.

How often should home health agencies update policies and procedures?

Many agencies set a regular review cadence (for example, at least annually) and also update policies whenever regulations, payer requirements, services, or internal workflows change.

Do you cover all U.S. states?

Yes. CarePolicy supports agencies across all 50 U.S. states. Use the State Finder to align your documentation to your location and provider type.

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Next steps

If you’re ready to move forward:

  1. Choose your state in the A–Z State Finder.
  2. Browse state-specific packages to match your provider type: State-specific templates.

Schedule a licensing consultation if you want guided support (sold separately).