Who to Call for What — Home Health Training

You are alone in a house and something needs a decision. This page exists so you are not working out who to call while it is happening.

Put these in your phone today

	Number
Main office	1-816-373-7442
Office fax	1-816-373-7444
Poison control	1-800-222-1222
Behavioral health crisis intervention	1-800-811-4760
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline	988 (call or text)
Child abuse and neglect hotline (Missouri)	1-800-392-3738
Adult abuse and neglect hotline (Missouri)	1-800-392-0210

Two different hotlines, and they are easy to confuse. Missouri runs a child abuse and neglect hotline through the Children's Division (1-800-392-3738) and a separate adult abuse and neglect hotline through the Department of Health and Senior Services for elderly and disabled adults. Most home health patients fall under the adult hotline — 1-800-392-0210. Check which one applies before you dial; the two numbers differ only in the last four digits.

The rest are in Teams

Your Field Supervisor / Territory Manager, the on-call nurse, scheduling, intake, QA, the Clinical Manager / DON, supply orders, and IT are all in Teams. They are deliberately not published here, because this site is public.

Do this on day one, not the first time you need it. Open Teams, find each of those contacts, and save them into your phone under names you will find under pressure — "HH On-Call", not a bare number. Standing in a driveway at 4pm with a deteriorating patient is the wrong moment to be searching Teams.

Emergencies

Call 911 first for:

Unresponsiveness, or a significant change in level of consciousness
Chest pain with concerning features
Severe respiratory distress
Suspected stroke — any FAST sign
Uncontrolled bleeding
Serious injury after a fall
Any threat to your own safety

Then call your Field Supervisor. Then document everything with times.

Mental health crisis

For a patient in psychiatric crisis who is not in immediate physical danger — severe distress, acute psychosis, escalating agitation, or a patient expressing suicidal thoughts without an immediate plan or means:

Behavioral health crisis intervention: 1-800-811-4760
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988

Call 911 instead if there is an immediate threat to life, a weapon, an attempt in progress, or the patient cannot be kept safe where they are.

Stay with the patient if it is safe to do so. Do not leave someone in crisis alone while you work out who to call — dial, then decide. Notify your Field Supervisor and the physician, and document what was said, what you did, and who you contacted, with times.

Do not spend minutes deciding whether it is "bad enough". It is easier to explain an ambulance that was not needed than a delay that was.

Clinical questions

Situation	Call
Vital signs outside parameters	Physician — see Vital Sign Parameters
Critical lab value	Physician immediately; if unreachable, Field Supervisor and on-call pathway
Patient needs something not on the plan of care	Physician for an order — see Verbal Orders and Clarifications
Unsure whether something is a skilled need	Field Supervisor
Unsure how to answer an OASIS item	QA / coding, before you submit
Wound is not healing as expected	Physician; consider a wound care referral
Patient refusing care	Field Supervisor, and document the refusal
You think the patient should be discharged	Field Supervisor, then case conference
You think the patient needs hospice	Field Supervisor and physician — see Transitions

Practical and scheduling

Situation	Call
You cannot make a visit	Scheduling, as early as you can
Patient not home	Office — and see Missed Visits and Non-Admits
You are running badly late	Patient first, then scheduling
Supplies missing or wrong	Supply contact
EMR down or you cannot log in	IT, then chart on paper and enter it later
Equipment failure — pump, oxygen, VAC	DME supplier, then the physician if care is affected
Car trouble during the day	Scheduling, so visits can be covered

Safety

Situation	Call
You feel unsafe in or near a home	Leave first. Call your Field Supervisor from the car.
Threat, aggression, or weapons	911, then Field Supervisor
Dog you cannot get past	Leave; call the patient and the office
Needlestick or body fluid exposure	Wash immediately, then Field Supervisor — the protocol is time-sensitive
Motor vehicle accident while working	911 if needed, then the office
Suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation	State hotline — you are a mandated reporter — and Field Supervisor. See Incidents and Occurrence Reporting

Leaving is never the wrong call. No visit is worth your safety, and nobody will second-guess you for driving away.

After hours

Outside office hours, the on-call nurse covers clinical questions and patient calls. Know:

The on-call number
What time the switch happens
How to hand over a patient you are worried about before you go off
What to do when you are the one on call

If you are worried about a patient at the end of the day, call the on-call nurse and tell them — do not rely on them reading your note.

Keeping this current

Editors: internal numbers stay in Teams, not on this page. If a role changes or a new contact route appears, update the role names here and make sure Teams is right — do not paste numbers in.

When you genuinely do not know who to call

Call your Field Supervisor. That is what the role is for, and asking is never the wrong move. Nobody has ever been criticised for one unnecessary phone call; the other kind of mistake is much more expensive.