Home health referral and intake software: what to look for (2026)

How home health referrals arrive, the federal clocks that start when they do, and how the main intake tools describe themselves. Five questions to ask.

Author

Enzo Health Team

Enzo Health

Details

Read Time: 5 min read

Date: November 5, 2026

The short answer. Referral and intake software takes a referral from wherever it arrives, by fax, a hospital portal or an upload, checks it, and gets an accept or decline decision made before another agency says yes first. Look for a tool that reads the whole packet, flags what is missing and hands the accepted patient to scheduling. Enzo is a home health EHR, and Enzo Intake does exactly that: it pulls referrals from eFax, hospital portals and direct uploads, checks the full package on arrival, and tells your scheduler once a referral is accepted [7].

Key takeaways

Ask any vendor which referral sources it reads today, by name, and what it checks before you accept.
When home health is needed, hospitals must give patients a list of Medicare-participating agencies that serve their area, and may not limit it [1].
The initial assessment visit is due within 48 hours of referral, or of the patient's return home, unless the physician orders a later start of care date [2].
The face-to-face encounter must fall within 90 days before or 30 days after the start of care [3]. Intake is where a missing one gets caught.
The Notice of Admission is due within 5 calendar days of the start of care [4].

How do referrals reach a home health agency?

Three routes, the same three Enzo Intake pulls from [7].

Fax and eFax. A packet of orders, notes and demographics.
Hospital referral portals. Discharge planners send the referral through a portal.
Direct upload. A physician office sends the packet straight to you.

Whichever way it comes, the 48-hour clock for the initial assessment visit starts at the referral [2].

What should intake software check before you accept?

Six things decide whether the referral becomes a billable admission.

Eligibility and payer. Is the coverage active, and is it the payer you think it is? For a Medicare Advantage patient, does the plan require prior authorization before the first visit?
Homebound and skilled need. Does the record support that the patient is homebound and needs intermittent skilled care? Without both, Medicare does not cover home health [10].
A diagnosis you can bill. Under PDGM the primary diagnosis sets the clinical group. A vague code is a problem you inherit.
The face-to-face encounter. Inside the 90-day or 30-day window, with the right content [3].
Service area and staffing. Can you get a clinician there inside 48 hours [2]?
A physician who will sign. Orders you can't get signed stall the whole episode.

Run these at the same time, not one after another.

How do the main options describe their intake?

Axxess. "Manage intake, scheduling, human resources, documentation, family communication, and billing with one simple solution" [5].
Commure Orchestrator. It "automates home health referral intake, from first fax to admitted patient," from "every source: fax, portal, EHR, hospital discharge planners, and email" [6].
Enzo Intake. "Enzo automatically pulls and organizes every referral, whether it comes via eFax, portal, or direct upload," and "checks the full package the moment it arrives." Once a referral is accepted, the scheduler is notified and the first visit is assigned [7].
Homecare Homebase, Intake Central. Uses AI-assisted extraction to "populate more than 60 referral data points automatically" [8].
Mosai. Says it automates referral intake, using AI to pull out the referral's data and set its priority [9].

Ask each vendor how fast a referral reaches the person who decides on it.

Five questions to ask before you buy

Which referral sources do you read today? Name the fax lines and portals. Ask about the ones you get most. Enzo Intake reads eFax, hospital portals and direct uploads [7].
What does it check, and what does it leave to us? Eligibility and authorization, homebound and skilled need, diagnosis, face-to-face, service area, signing physician.
Can two people review at once? Clinical and billing review in parallel, not in a queue.
What happens after accept? Does scheduling see it, and does the first visit get assigned without re-typing?
Do we see why we declined? Decline reasons, logged, tell you which referral sources you are losing and why.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

42 CFR 482.43(d)(1) and (d)(2), Condition of participation: Discharge planning. law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/42/482.43 (read Nov 2, 2026)
42 CFR 484.55(a)(1), Initial assessment visit. law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/42/484.55 (read Nov 2, 2026)
42 CFR 424.22(a)(1)(v), Face-to-face encounter. law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/42/424.22 (read Nov 2, 2026)
42 CFR 484.205(j)(1), Notice of Admission. law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/42/484.205 (read Nov 2, 2026)
Axxess, Home health. axxess.com/home-health (read Nov 2, 2026)
Commure, Orchestrator referral management for home health. commure.com/orchestrator-referral-management/home-health (read Nov 2, 2026)
Enzo, Intake, including its FAQ. enzo.health/intake (read Nov 4, 2026)
Homecare Homebase, Intake Central. hchb.com/?p=18801 (read Nov 2, 2026)
Mosai, home page. mosai.com (read Nov 2, 2026)
42 CFR 409.42, Beneficiary qualifications for coverage of services. law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/42/409.42 (read Nov 2, 2026)