Frequently Asked Questions

Right at Home Boston and North has been in business since 2002 and remains independently owned and operated by Rosaleen Doherty and Jay Kenney.

Right at Home Boston and North provides in-home caregiving services delivered by our professional CareTeam members. We provide customized care to your loved one’s exact care needs, and all of our care is overseen by our clinical nursing team. Our office can provide care for a few hours per week to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You are in control over the schedule that you decide to put in place, or if you would like assistance our nursing staff is glad to provide a suggested schedule for your family. Additionally, our on-call coordinators are available nights, weekends and holidays so if an emergency arises, you can rest assured that our team is there to support you and your loved one.

We can support your loved one with hospice supportive care, personal care and ambulation assistance, medication compliance, maintaining nutrition and hydration, transportation to medical appointments and errands, light housekeeping, Alzheimer’s and cognitive supportive care, respite care for family caregivers and skilled nursing care. To see how we may be able to help your family, view our full list of available services on our services page.

Our office is situated in the city of Somerville adjacent to Assembly Row shopping center, and is just a couple of miles from Spaulding Rehab in Cambridge, Cambridge Health Alliance and Mass General Hospital. We can provide care to adults living in the following areas:

Allston, Back Bay, Boston, Brighton, Cambridge, Everett, Longwood Area, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Reading, North Reading, Somerville, Stoneham, Wakefield, Watertown .

Yes, every caregiver is a Right at Home Boston and North employee. To help ensure the safety and well-being of our clients, we perform a criminal history background clearance, office of inspector general check to review credentials, and then cover each of our caregivers with general liability and workman’s compensation insurance. This helps protect your loved one in case a CareTeam member becomes injured.

We also professionally supervise our CareTeam members to ensure your loved one is receiving the best care possible. We are bonded in case of theft. We provide our home health aides (HHA), CNAs, personal care attendants (PCA), homemakers and companion caregivers with continuing education as well as ongoing training and support. Our training programs include Hospice Supportive Care, Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care, as well as monthly in-services through Right at Home University.

Yes. We do our best to take the guesswork out of matching the right caregiver with you and your family by using our proprietary screening and selection system. CareTeam members are matched to you based on clinical assessment, services, care-plan, CareTeam member availability and logistics. However, you must be satisfied. We will always do our best to accommodate any requests you may have for a change in caregivers (as allowed by law).

Our office works to find the best team possible to assist your loved one. Continuity of care is of utmost importance to us. We understand that a strong rapport and trust with a caregiver is vital to a successful home care experience. We take into consideration the schedule and hours per week to determine how many CareTeam members are assigned to the case.

If your loved one receives care for many hours in a day or at different times of the day throughout the week, it may be necessary to schedule more than one caregiver in a given week. If your family requires multiple caregivers, our goal is the same: we want you to be satisfied and happy. We'll do what it takes to make sure we achieve that goal.

Our local office can assist in reminding individuals to take their medications. In fact, medication reminders are one of our most requested services. We can also report any side effects and assist with pre-measured medication packages (bubble packs etc.), this is all part of our RightMeds program. Medication non-compliance is one of the major factors of hospitalization in our elders due to multiple psychological and physical challenges and the amount of medications being prescribed per individual. Contact us today to determine if we can provide the exact service that will best support your medication needs.

You can change the number of hours or type of service we provide your loved one whenever it's necessary. We understand the care situation can quickly change, so we're as flexible as possible with your loved one's care. Plus, you're never bound to a long-term contract, so you can discontinue your relationship with Right at Home Boston and North at your discretion.

Right at Home Boston and North uses several tools to track our caregivers. First, we use daily activity sheets which are filled out by each caregiver and signed by you or your loved one. In addition, we use a combination of Internet-based solutions and telephony systems to verify time and attendance. This allows you to have a written record of services within the home where care is provided and the time in which our caregiver was present in the home. Also, our itemized invoices are always sent after services are complete. This lets you ask any questions about time or date of care, and it allows us to make any schedule adjustments before your invoice is sent.

No. You don't need pre-authorization, pre-qualification, certification or even a prescription for Right at Home Boston and North's services. You choose the services you want, when to start those services and how often those services are used. If you require assistance with billing a private insurance policy (such as long-term care insurance) for our services, we're happy to help with the entire "benefits coordination" process. Learn more about our Long-Term Care Insurance Support and Management Services.

Cost for private duty home care services at Right at Home Boston and North can range from $29.00 per hour to $50.00 per hour for specialty 1-hour care services. We have a six hour per week minimum over a 7 day period. Also, we require a two-week deposit which is held until the end of services and is 100% refundable at the end of services and invoices are generated weekly. Invoices are due upon the date they are received. Invoices can be received via email, regular mail or both. Every family we serve receives a Custom Care Plan specific to their needs. Several factors help to determine the exact cost, including:

• Number of hours of care per week
• Level of home care services provided
• Payment method

Our home care services are billed on an hourly basis which makes it easy to create a Custom Care Plan for you. To discuss the services your loved one may need, give our local office a call 617-623-9300 or contact us online.

We accept major credit cards such as VISA and MasterCard. We also accept checks and ACH which is an auto debit out of a checking or savings account. Using the ACH payment option allows families to receive a $1.00 per hour discount and we only require a one-week deposit as opposed to a two-week deposit.

We also have provided many ways that you can pay for our services on the Paying for In-Home Care page.

While Medicare will provide in-home skilled nursing services such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, or wound therapy services, they do not pay for hourly personal care services that Right at Home Boston and North provides. Long-Term Care Insurance will typically reimburse for the services provided by Right at Home Boston and North and if you complete an Assignment of Benefits form (A.O.B.), we will manage the invoicing and reimbursement process for you. We also support programs like the Veterans Aid and Attendance Program, which is an additional pension benefit paid directly to Veterans and/or surviving spouses who require our services. In addition, we are also approved vendors for the local state home care program through Mystic Valley Elder Services and Somerville Cambridge Elder Services.

No. You (or an authorized representative) are only invoiced after the completion of services. Usually, this happens weekly. You never have to pay caregivers directly. And you'll never be asked to pay an additional fee to any employee.

We adhere to all applicable federal and state guidelines related to privacy of personal and healthcare information. This starts once we have a formal services agreement, before a caregiver even comes to your family member's home. The written service agreement stipulates the exact restrictions on the use of your information, which clarifies that even unauthorized individuals will not be given access to information without a client's – or legally authorized representative's – formal consent.

Your information is never sold to a third party under any circumstances. In fact, only the office personnel and caregivers who are directly involved in your services will have access to information related to the care of your loved one.

Referrals come in to our local office from a wide range of organizations, businesses and personnel. Most of our referrals come directly from local Boston Area Hospitals such as Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospital. We also receive referrals from local rehabs and skilled nursing facilities, assisted and independent living communities, geriatric care managers, home health agencies such as visiting nurse.

To engage with Right at Home Boston and North's services, please call Right at Home Boston and North directly and a member from our team will come to meet with client, family and/or responsible party to set up services and discuss service options. To begin services, the client and or client responsible party will sign a Service Agreement with Right at Home and a HIPAA form. Based on the schedule, service type and type of payment, client and or client representative will give a two-week security deposit. Invoices will be generated to client and or client’s responsible party weekly via email mail or both. Never is there to be money or payment passed onto Right at Home caregivers. For questions regarding this process please contact our office directly at 617-623-9300.

You may call Right at Home Boston and North during normal business hours: Monday-Friday 9:00am-5:30pm with any customer service questions including care, schedules, invoices, etc.. You may also call Right at Home Boston and North after hours 5:00pm-9:00am, on weekends and on holidays for emergencies. Right at Home Boston and North employs an emergency on-call support team to answer your questions, comments and concerns. Emergency on-call is for clients and caregivers with emergencies only. If you call after hours with non-emergency questions you may leave the inquiry in our general mailbox which will be answered during the next business day.

Selecting someone to care for your loved one can be an overwhelming task. We believe the process of selecting someone to care for your loved one should be simple and transparent. We believe the process of starting home care should be a comfortable transition for the person receiving care and for your family. We believe you should be part of your loved one's care, but not have to actively manage all aspects of their care. The main difference between an agency and a registry comes down to managing the caregiver. In addition, all of our office staff are specially trained in case management through Boston University School of Social Work to best be able to meet your needs. At Right at Home Boston and North, you have our whole agency behind you supporting you every step of the way. We are experts in senior care services and can help your loved one age in place. From one hour per day to 24 hours seven days per week, we have the capability of providing excellent care with positive outcomes. 

Give Right at Home Boston and North a call, or contact us online. We will arrange a time to visit you, your family and/or any authorized representative to fully discuss your particular home care situation and how Right at Home Boston and North might help. Together, we'll go over the care your family needs and the care we provide. We'll answer all of your questions regarding in-home care services and costs. Then, we'll begin putting together your Custom Care Plan and matching your loved one with the right caregiver. Usually, care can begin within a matter 24 hours or less!