Amedisys Home Health- Charleston

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Pros

• The staff were wonderful.
• They helped the patient get moving and back on their feet.
• The patient is now able to shower alone and go up and down the stairs.
• The patient would highly recommend the staff.

Cons

• The reviewer states that Amedysis is the epitome of poor health care.
• The speech therapist did not follow up on services for days after the evaluation and required PCP clearance.
• The therapist appeared defensive and conducted an uncomfortable, unprofessional conversation.
• The reviewer believes communicating about the patient's care via text messages was inappropriate and potentially violated HIPAA.
• There was a month of inconsistent communication, followed by the therapist taking PTO for two weeks.
• The office manager seemed unconcerned about the patient's needs and defended the therapist.
• An evaluator did not return calls to coordinate a re-evaluation and a unified care plan.
• The reviewer had not received the patient's medical records after six weeks.
• Appointments were scheduled late or canceled/missed, with delays of several hours.
• The reviewer would never recommend Amedysis and believes others would be better off with another provider.

Review

The collection of experiences with Amedisys Home Health paints a complicated picture of care, coordination, and communication for a family navigating in-home rehabilitation services. The accounts involve multiple disciplines - occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy - and center on a father's journey through evaluation, planning, and ongoing treatment. Taken together, they reveal a pattern of strong personal care from some staff in some moments, contrasted by inconsistent follow-through, scheduling quirks, and communication gaps that left family members frustrated and worried about whether their loved one was getting the attention and timely services he needed.

In one account, the initial speech therapy encounter set a troubling tone. The speech therapist conducted an evaluation but did not follow up for several days, and when pressed for a prioritized conversation to understand the delay, the therapist reportedly displayed a defensive demeanor. The patient's advocate describes the therapist as having a "chip on her shoulder" and trying to justify handling a heavy caseload rather than addressing the family's immediate concerns. The reviewer also contends that the therapist pressed for communication via text, which they believed violated HIPPA norms, even though the reviewer was not a medical professional. The sense of discomfort during that exchange left a lasting impression, highlighting how critical calm, respectful communication and timely updates are in a home-health setting.

Compounding the frustration was a lack of consistency in scheduling and availability. After a month of irregular communication, the family learned that the speech therapist would be on paid time off for two weeks, a move described as a "straw that broke the camel's back." When the family called the office to explain the ongoing frustration and seek solutions, the office manager appeared to side with the therapist, rather than prioritizing the patient's needs. The reviewer describes feeling surprised by the manager's stance, especially since the office claimed the therapist was the only one available for speech therapy. This exchange underscored a broader concern: the fragility of continuity of care when key personnel are unavailable and administrative responses seem more protective of staff than focused on patient outcomes.

Beyond the speech therapist, another reviewer details a missing link in care coordination. An evaluator who was supposed to facilitate a re-evaluation failed to initiate a crucial connection by calling the patient's surgeon's physician assistant to forge a unified plan. The absence of that critical outreach left the family without a cohesive plan and fuelled the perception that coordination between home health and the patient's medical team was lacking. This gap in communication can be particularly consequential when a patient's condition requires tight alignment between home-based services and surgical or medical oversight, and it adds to the sense that important steps were being missed or delayed.

The issues were not limited to therapeutic services alone; essential administrative tasks also fell short. A separate thread of the narrative concerns obtaining medical records. The family requested the patient's medical records six weeks prior and had not received them, a delay described as more than inconvenient - almost as a barrier to transparent care and a clear record of the patient's health status and plan. In health care, timely access to records is not merely a bureaucratic concern; it underpins informed decision-making, coordinated care, and the ability to participate meaningfully in one's own or a loved one's treatment. The absence of these records contributed to a growing sense that the patient's needs were not being given the priority they deserved.

Scheduling and punctuality emerged again as a source of distress in another account. The reviewer described appointments that were scheduled but never accompanied by timely calls or actual visits, with delays stretching for hours and causing significant disruptions. There were also attempts to discharge the patient from home-health services, followed by late-night calls claiming the clinician's unavailability and the need to reschedule. On multiple occasions, there was a failure to confirm whether the patient or family had other commitments, such as a physician appointment, before scheduling. This pattern of missed calls, late notifications, and lack of situational awareness for a patient's calendar compounds the stress families face when trying to coordinate mobility and daily living supports.

Against these threads of concern, there is at least one reflection of a more positive experience. A final review segment asserts that "the staff was wonderful," enabling meaningful functional gains for the patient. The caregiver notes improvements that extended beyond therapy sessions, including the ability to shower independently and navigate stairs. This kind of progress represents the core objective of home health services - helping a patient regain independence and improve quality of life. The positive closing sentiment emphasizes that, when the right combination of staff and circumstances align, Amedisys can deliver valuable, life-changing support.

Taken as a whole, the narratives present a stark contrast between moments of effective, compassionate care and episodes of miscommunication, scheduling misfires, and administrative delays. For families considering home-health services, these accounts underscore the importance of clear, proactive communication; dependable scheduling; prompt follow-up after evaluations; and a transparent process for obtaining medical records and coordinating with a patient's broader medical team. They also illustrate that positive outcomes are possible, particularly when dedicated staff members are engaged and when the patient's care plan is coordinated across disciplines and with the physician's team. Potential clients may wish to ask about caseload management, fallback coverage during staff PTO, and explicit timelines for evaluations and re-evaluations to better gauge whether a provider can meet their needs consistently.

Restaurants

• Matt's Burgers (0.2 miles)
• Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (0.6 miles)
• The Celtic Knot Pub (0.6 miles)
• Alex's Restaurant (0.6 miles)
• Captain D's (0.6 miles)
• Red Bowl Asian Bistro (0.7 miles)
• Wendy's (0.8 miles)

Physicians

• Optical Shop (0.2 miles)
• Summerville Pediatric Eyecare (0.3 miles)
• Low Country Orthopaedics - David H Jaskwhich MD (0.4 miles)
• Summerville Family Practice (0.5 miles)
• Franklin C Fetter Family Health Center (0.8 miles)
• Palmetto Primary Care Physicians (0.9 miles)
• Sweetgrass Plastic Surgery (0.9 miles)

Pharmacies

• CVS Pharmacy (0.4 miles)
• Walgreens (1.4 miles)
• Walgreens (1.4 miles)
• Medicine Man Compounding Pharmacy (2.1 miles)
• CVS Pharmacy (3.5 miles)
• CVS Pharmacy (3.6 miles)
• CVS Pharmacy (3.7 miles)

Places of Worship

• St John The Beloved Catholic Church (0.5 miles)

Parks

• Nexton Park (2.3 miles)
• The Doggo Manor (4 miles)
• Ashley River Park Site (4.3 miles)
• Wescott Park (6.5 miles)

Cafes

• Starbucks (2.4 miles)

Hospitals

• HCA Healthcare (3.7 miles)
• Lowcountry Outpatient Surgery Center (4.1 miles)
• Davita Kidney Care (4.4 miles)
• Trident Eye Surgery Center (6.5 miles)