What do I do if a service isn't showing up?

Start with the provider

The agency that employs the helper is the only party who can send someone this afternoon. That makes them the first call, even when the family’s instinct is to go straight to the case manager.

Ask three things, and write down the answers:

• What happened to today’s visit?
• Is cover being arranged, and by when?
• Will the missed time be made up?

Keep a note of the date, the time, and the name of the person you spoke to. That takes thirty seconds and it changes what happens next, because a pattern with dates is actionable and a general complaint is not.

Most missed visits are a staffing problem, and most staffing problems get better once the provider knows a family is keeping a record.

Then the case manager

Escalate to the case manager when any of these are true:

• It has happened more than once
• The provider does not return calls
• The hours actually delivered are consistently short of what the plan of care says
• The service is the wrong fit – wrong time of day, wrong tasks, a worker the member will not accept
• The member is unsafe because the help is not arriving

Monitoring whether the plan of care is being delivered is part of the case manager’s job, not a favor. When you call, give the record: dates, what was missed, who you contacted and what they said. Then ask directly what will be done and by when, and ask for it in writing if that will help you follow it up.

The case manager can take this up with the provider, look at whether the plan itself needs changing, or set out the other providers available in your area if you would rather move.

Then the formal route

If the provider will not fix it and raising it with the case manager has not worked, the next step is a formal complaint. That is not a nuclear option and it does not put anyone’s services at risk. It creates a record that somebody has to answer.

There is more than one route, and they run in parallel rather than in sequence: the case management agency’s own complaint process, the Area Agency on Aging, and the state. Which is appropriate depends on who the complaint is about. The complaints page sets them out, including how to complain about this agency.

A complaint about a service being denied, reduced or stopped is a different thing again. That is an appeal, and it runs to short deadlines stated on the written notice. See what to do if a service is denied or reduced.

Changing the provider

A member may change their EDWP provider at any point, with or without a reason. It is a right, not a remedy of last resort, and it does not require a complaint first. It is also slower than a fixed schedule, so it is usually worth trying the quick fix before the structural one. The page on changing a provider explains how.

Keep a one-page log

If problems are recurring, one sheet of paper does more than any amount of frustration on a phone call. Four columns: date, what was supposed to happen, what actually happened, who you told.

Take it to the next case manager visit. It is the single most effective thing a family can do, and it is also what the annual reassessment needs in order to record the situation accurately.