After-hours home care agency software

The AI talks, collects and clarifies. What happens next is decided by the Playbook: your agency’s own rules, one scenario at a time. For each scenario you set the decision, the timed steps (for example, text the caregiver after 10 minutes and call after 15), who is told and when, what happens when a shift can’t be left uncovered, and which AxisCare updates are switched on.

• Safe defaults. A call-off asks the on-call manager first unless you choose otherwise.
• Nothing new runs until you save it. A scenario that is off, or was never saved, doesn’t start new behavior on its own.
• A person is always behind it. Every scenario has an on-call floor, so someone always hears; a notice with nobody picked goes to the whole team, never to nobody.
• A policy you can print. The Playbook prints as a document your team can review.

Is it fully AI? The voice and text agent is AI. Every consequential action follows your rules and approvals, and a person is always behind it.

The agent never assumes a call is a call-off. The greeting is neutral, and your on-call manager is paged only about a call-off the caregiver actually voiced. Once it is confirmed, your decision applies:

• Ask the on-call manager first (the default). The request goes by text (reply to start or hold outreach) or by email with one-tap links. If nobody answers in time, you choose what happens: ask again, start anyway or keep waiting.
• Start finding a replacement right away.
• Let the on-call manager handle it. No caregivers are texted.

Outreach follows your order: the client’s preferred caregivers, that day’s on-call bench, the same office, then everyone else who is available and allowed. It goes out in waves, waits for caregiver quiet hours to end unless the shift starts within 12 hours, and can carry an offer note such as a shift bonus. Acceptances are held for approval.

A shift is never offered to a caregiver who is blocked for that client, lacks the credential for a skilled shift, works outside the office boundary you set, or is a known mismatch for the client’s gender or pet needs. Your on-call manager hears at the start, again if the shift still isn’t covered, and when it is. With the AxisCare switch on, the replacement is assigned to the visit and a call log is added. More on call-out management.

HeyHomeCare watches your synced schedule. When a shift has started and the caregiver hasn’t clocked in, the caregiver hears first, every time:

• A text with a clock-in link, asking them to reply 1 if they’re there or 2 if they can’t make it.
• An automated call, answered with the keypad.
• Only after that, and only if you allow it, a text to the client or their authorized contact to confirm the caregiver is there.

Answers run your follow-ups. A caregiver who can’t make it can create a call-off, and your call-off rules take over. If the caregiver made it after all (they clock in, the client confirms, or someone presses Undo), everything reverses: the call-off is cancelled, everyone who was told hears, the caregiver is reminded to clock in, and they aren’t charged with a call-off.

Running late works the same way: the client hears only when the caregiver will be later than the limit you set, and clients whose contact goes through family are never contacted directly. HeyHomeCare never clocks a caregiver in or out and never enters care notes; it nudges and sends the clock-in link. See EVV clock-in by phone and text.

Some shifts can’t wait for a replacement: a 24-hour shift, or one that starts right after another visit for the same client. When one of those loses its caregiver, your on-call manager and chosen team hear at once, and the caregiver who is already with the client is asked, by text or automated call, whether they can stay. A “no” reaches on-call right away, and the caregiver who called off is never asked to cover their own gap.

New-client inquiries are business you don’t want to lose at 9 pm. The agent captures the caller’s details first, in case the call drops, then transfers the call live to your on-call, sales or client-care person at any hour, including during quiet hours. If nobody answers, the details go to the people you chose, and an optional text or email sends the caller your agency’s link. On AxisCare, the inquiry can become a lead.

Emergencies (a fall, an injury, an animal bite, harassment or a threat, missed medication, a death, anything unsafe) always go to a person through a live transfer, and your notify list hears if nobody answers. The agent never handles an emergency alone, never gives clinical advice and doesn’t make the emergency call itself.

Caregiver questions about schedules, availability and clock-in problems are answered or taken as a message, as your Playbook says. After hours, payroll and HR questions become a message for the next business day.

Every call-off, late arrival, missed clock-in and new-client inquiry becomes an official record: every text and call sent, every reply, every step skipped and why, every AxisCare update and every reversal. The office opens to:

• Today: what happened overnight and what needs a person now.
• Records: the history for each caregiver, with CSV export, for evaluations and pay disputes.
• Activity: every recent call and text, with transcripts.
• Reports: call-offs, late clock-ins and revenue, month by month.

HeyHomeCare reads your scheduling system and never replaces it. If the sync goes stale, it stops chasing attendance rather than act on old data.

• AxisCare readsVisits, caregivers, clients, each client’s preferred caregiver, responsible parties and clock-in state.
• AxisCare writesOnly three things, each behind a Playbook switch: the covered visit, a call log and a lead. No EVV writes and no visit notes.
• WellSkyWellSky Personal Care connects with WellSky-issued credentials, which take a few weeks. See the WellSky page.
• Other systemsAsk us what can be read today before you plan around it.
• Your numberKeep it: forward it after hours on your phone system, or port it in.

HIPAA and safety

• A BAA is in place before any client information flows.
• Integration credentials are encrypted, logs are redacted, and each agency’s data is kept separate.
• Texts to caregivers and staff name clients by initials only.
• Callers are verified one way: a number on your caregiver roster counts, and an unlisted caller who says they’re a caregiver gives their date of birth and employee ID. Never the last four of a Social Security number.
• A client’s details go only to the caregiver assigned to that visit.

More on security and the AxisCare integration.

Related pages

• Home care answering service that resolves calls
• Caregiver call-out management
• Last-minute shift fill
• EVV clock-in by phone and text
• AxisCare integration
• Security and HIPAA