Right at Home Reviews: Costs, Fees, and How to Judge Your Local Office

Right at Home provides in-home care for seniors and adults with disabilities through independently owned franchises. On its franchise site the company says it has "780+ locations worldwide" across five countries. That ownership structure is the single most important thing to understand before you read any review of the company: the office in your town sets its own prices, hires its own caregivers, and runs its own scheduling, so a company-wide star rating tells you very little about the care you would actually receive.

Right at Home doesn't publish hourly rates. Each franchise sets its own pricing and its own policy on minimum shifts and weekly minimums, and there's no national rate card to compare against. Before you sign anything, ask your local office for a written quote that spells out the hourly rate, the minimum booking, any weekend or holiday differential, and what happens if a caregiver cancels or is unavailable.

What is Right at Home and who is it for?

Right at Home was founded in 1995 by Allen Hager, a hospital administrator who saw patients struggle after returning home from treatment. He believed that with proper support, they could recover and live independently. The company started in Omaha, Nebraska, and began franchising in 2000.

Company background and mission

Right at Home says it operates 780+ locations worldwide across five countries. Each franchise is locally owned and operated, though franchisees receive training and support from the corporate office in Omaha, Nebraska. The stated mission is to help seniors and adults with disabilities age in place and keep their independence.

Hager's first client was a retired farmer who needed someone to drive him around in his 1958 Chevy truck. That focus on meeting individual needs still guides the company today.

The company's own framing is that aging well is about more than staying safe, and that a care plan should follow what matters to the individual rather than a standard template.

Target audience: seniors and adults with disabilities

Right at Home serves seniors who want to stay in their homes and adults with disabilities who value independence. The company works with people age 18 and older who need support to live safely at home.

The company also helps adult children who live far from aging parents, work full-time, or are raising their own kids. A trained caregiver can check in on your loved one, handle day-to-day tasks, and give you peace of mind.

Right at Home publishes guides on adult caregiving, aging in place, dementia, in-home care costs, fall prevention, grief, and family communication.

• Adult caregiving
• Aging in place
• Dementia and cognitive change
• Payment options for in-home care
• Fall prevention
• Understanding grief
• Family communication

Franchise model and location coverage

Right at Home operates through independently owned franchises in the US and abroad. Its franchise site states that a prospective owner must have "previous management experience and access to at least $150,000 in liquid assets to invest into the business." Local ownership means the person setting your rate and assigning your caregiver is a business owner in your area, not a corporate department.

That same independence is why the standards for training and care are set nationally but applied by whoever happens to own the office near you.

Types of care services offered

Right at Home's services fall into three categories: personal and companion care, specialty care for specific conditions, and skilled nursing. Each service is customized to fit the client's needs.

Personal and companion care

Companion care is the lighter end of it, meant to keep your parent engaged and independent rather than to handle anything hands-on. Services include light housekeeping, meal prep, grocery shopping, transportation to appointments, and medication reminders. Caregivers also provide social interaction, reading, games, walks, outings, which matters especially for people living alone.

Personal care

Personal care goes further, adding hands-on help with hygiene, mobility, and safety. Caregivers also encourage light exercise and activities that keep the mind sharp.

Specialty care for Alzheimer's, dementia, and Parkinson's

• Right at Home trains caregivers in dementia and cognitive support. They develop customized care plans combining personal care, companionship, and homemaking delivered by certified providers.
• For Parkinson's disease, caregivers help with mobility challenges, balance and strength exercises, nutrition planning, home safety, fall prevention, and transportation. They also offer respite care so family caregivers can take breaks.

Skilled nursing and medical support

Right at Home provides skilled nursing overseen by registered nurses. Services include medication management, IV administration, wound care, catheter and ostomy care, vital sign monitoring, and chronic disease management. In some states, many caregivers are also licensed nurses, so clients get medical expertise within their home.

A care plan isn't fixed. It gets rewritten as your parent's needs change.

Right at Home pricing: what you need to know

How pricing works

Right at Home doesn't publish national rates, and neither do its franchisees as a rule. What you pay depends on your local office's rate card, which is shaped by the local labor market, the length of the shift, the day of the week, and the level of care. The only accurate number is a written quote from the office that would serve you.

For a sense of the wider market, CareScout's 2025 Cost of Care Survey put the national median for non-medical in-home caregiver services at $35 an hour. That is a median across every agency in the country, not a Right at Home price, and individual quotes land on both sides of it.

Minimum hour requirements

Minimums are set office by office, and they matter more than most families expect, because they set the floor under your monthly bill. A four hour minimum visit means a one hour errand still costs four hours. Ask your local office three things: the minimum length of a single visit, the minimum number of hours per week, and whether either can be waived.

Weekend and holiday pricing

Many offices charge more for weekends, evenings, and holidays, and many charge less per hour for longer shifts. Neither the premium nor the discount is published nationally, so ask for both in writing. If your loved one needs weekend coverage, price the week the way you'll actually use it rather than at the weekday rate.

Insurance and payment options

Medicare Parts A and B do not cover help with the activities of daily living, which is most of what Right at Home provides. Long-term care insurance often does, depending on the policy wording. Other ways families pay include out-of-pocket savings, state Medicaid programs, and VA benefits. Veterans who already qualify for a VA pension may receive Aid and Attendance, which VA.gov describes as "monthly payments added to the amount of a monthly VA pension" for people who need help with everyday activities. It's cash added to a pension, not an allotment of caregiver hours.

For context on what care costs generally, CareScout's 2025 Cost of Care Survey put the national median for non-medical in-home care at $35 an hour, a nursing home semi-private room at $315 a day, and a private room at $355 a day. Those are national medians across all providers and not prices quoted by any particular agency.

Right at Home reviews: why a company-wide rating misleads

Experiences vary widely from one Right at Home office to the next, because the franchises operate independently. Some families are devoted to their caregiver. Others describe problems with office management and scheduling. Averaging those together into a single national star rating hides exactly the thing you need to know, which is how the office near you performs.

What tends to go right

Continuity is what families consistently value: when the same caregiver works with the same client week after week, trust builds and the care gets better. Ask a prospective office how it staffs a regular schedule, how often clients see the same caregiver, and what its caregiver turnover looks like.

What tends to go wrong

The recurring complaints in home care are rarely about caregivers and usually about the office: late arrivals without notice, poor communication from schedulers, a rotating cast of caregivers, and billing disputes. Ask directly how the office handles a caregiver who calls in sick, how much notice you get, and who answers the phone after hours.

What caregivers say about working there

Caregiver experience is worth paying attention to, because management quality shows up in client experience. An office that pays and schedules its caregivers well tends to keep them, and continuity is what families notice most.

How to check the specific office near you

Look up the individual office rather than the brand. Read recent reviews for that location, check whether it's licensed by your state's home care licensing agency, and ask the office for references from current clients in your area. If the agency is Medicare-certified for home health, you can also look it up on Medicare's Care Compare. A national average tells you nothing about the branch that would send someone to your parent's house.

Pros and cons of choosing Right at Home

Pros: skilled care, wide availability, custom plans

Right at Home offers a broad range of services, including skilled nursing from licensed professionals who can handle medical tasks beyond personal care. With locations in most parts of the country, there's usually an office within reach. Whether that office is a good one is a separate question, and worth answering locally.

The company says it matches caregivers to clients by interests, personality, and needs, and that offices maintain backup caregivers to cover gaps. Ask your local office how the backup actually works in practice, since that's the promise most likely to be tested.

Cons: inconsistent quality, hidden fees, franchise variability

Because franchises are independently owned, quality and price vary between locations, and the brand name isn't a guarantee of either. Rates are set locally and aren't published, weekend and holiday hours often cost more, and minimum shift and weekly hour requirements can push a monthly bill well above what a quoted hourly rate suggests.

Caregiver turnover is high across the industry, so continuity is the thing most likely to break down. An agency also costs more per hour than a privately hired caregiver, because the overhead and the regulatory compliance are priced into the rate.

How to decide

Right at Home can be a good fit for seniors and adults with disabilities who want to stay in their own homes. The franchise model cuts both ways: local ownership builds community ties, and it also means quality, pricing, and responsiveness differ from one office to the next.

The pattern across in-home care is that individual caregivers earn praise while office management, scheduling, and communication draw the complaints. That is why choosing well means evaluating a specific office rather than a brand.

Expect the rate to be set locally and quoted only after a consultation. Watch for minimum hour requirements, which push the monthly cost above what the hourly figure suggests.

• Before signing up, research your local office. Read recent reviews for that location, get pricing in writing, and ask how they handle caregiver cancellations and backup coverage. The right office can mean reliable care. The wrong one adds stress at an already hard time.
• Right at Home works well for people needing specialized care for dementia or Parkinson's. Success depends on finding a well-managed local franchise with transparent pricing and reliable caregivers.

Sources

Primary sources for the figures and guidance on this page:

Right at Home franchise site - the company's statement of 780+ locations worldwide across five countries, its Omaha headquarters, and the $150,000 liquid asset requirement for franchisees.

Medicare.gov, Home health services - what Medicare does and does not pay for at home, including 24-hour care, homemaker services, and custodial care, and the part-time or intermittent limits of up to 8 hours a day and 28 hours a week.

VA.gov, Aid and Attendance benefits and Housebound allowance - the definition of Aid and Attendance as monthly payments added to a monthly VA pension, rather than an allotment of care hours.

CareScout Cost of Care Survey - the 2025 national medians used here: $35 an hour for non-medical in-home care, $315 a day for a semi-private nursing home room, and $355 a day for a private room.

Medicare Care Compare - where to look up a Medicare-certified home health agency before choosing one.