Top home health and hospice agencies in Texas, ranked by ChatGPT answers

Places ChatGPT showed

• Amcare Pro Home Health, Palliative & Hospice Care · 4.8★ · Home health care service
• AAdi Home Health & Hospice · 3.4★ · Home health care service
• Varco Home Health and Hospice · 5.0★ · Hospice
• Shoreline Hospice Care · 5.0★ · Hospice
• Remarkable Hospice · 5.0★ · Hospice
• Devoted Care Hospice Inc · 5.0★ · Hospice
• Merit Hospice · 5.0★ · Hospice

Yes. Texas has a large number of home-health and hospice providers, but I would not pick purely by online reviews. The best choice depends heavily on the city, insurance, diagnosis, and whether you need skilled home health, hospice, or both.

Based on current Medicare data and the providers I found, these are good starting points:

Strong Texas options

• Enhabit Home Health — A large, established home-health provider with substantial Texas coverage. Medicare's current Texas data show strong patient-experience scores: 92% said care was professional, 90% rated communication positively, 89% said medicines/pain/home safety were discussed, and 89% rated overall care positively.
• Amcare Pro Home Health, Palliative & Hospice Care — Richardson/DFW provider offering home health, palliative care and hospice, with a particularly broad clinical offering for complex patients. Amcare Pro Home Health, Palliative & Hospice Care
• Aspen Home Health and Hospice Services — Lewisville/North Texas provider offering home health, hospice and palliative care, including veteran-focused services. Aspen Home Health and Hospice Services
• AAdi Home Health & Hospice — Corpus Christi/Coastal Bend provider offering home health, hospice, palliative care and infusion services. AAdi Home Health & Hospice
• Varco Home Health and Hospice — Houston-area agency providing both home health and hospice, which can be useful when a patient may transition from restorative care to palliative/hospice care. Varco Home Health and Hospice
• Shoreline Hospice Care — DFW/North Texas hospice provider; it is independently operated and reports ACHC accreditation. Shoreline Hospice Care
• Remarkable Hospice — Houston/Spring-area hospice provider with a strong local review profile and 24/7 availability listed. Remarkable Hospice
• Devoted Care Hospice — San Antonio-area hospice provider with an interdisciplinary model including nursing, aides, social work and chaplain support. Devoted Care Hospice Inc
• Merit Hospice — Dallas-area hospice provider that has been Medicare-certified since 2018 and focuses on comfort-oriented care in homes and residential settings. Merit Hospice

One important distinction

Home health and hospice are not the same service.

• Home health is generally for someone who is recovering from an illness, surgery or hospitalization or managing a chronic condition and needs skilled nursing and/or PT, OT or speech therapy.
• Hospice is for someone with a terminal illness who is choosing comfort-focused rather than curative treatment. Medicare specifically recommends comparing hospice agencies on family experience and quality-of-care measures.

Also, Medicare's ratings can vary considerably between branches of the same company, so a statewide brand name isn't enough. For example, the current Medicare profile for one Texas Enhabit location shows several measures above Texas averages but also some areas below national averages.

If this is for a specific patient

I can make this much more useful by narrowing it to the best 5–10 agencies for the patient's location and comparing:

• Medicare/CMS quality ratings
• Patient/family satisfaction
• Hospice vs. home-health capabilities
• 24/7 nurse availability
• PT/OT/speech therapy
• Dementia, cancer, CHF, COPD, etc. experience
• Medicare Advantage/private insurance acceptance
• Accreditation
• Local reputation and reviews

Tell me the Texas city or ZIP code (e.g., Dallas 75230, Houston 77024, Austin 78746), and whether you're looking for home health, hospice, or either. I can then rank the best local options rather than giving you a statewide list.

Places ChatGPT showed

• Legacy Home Health Agency · 4.8★ · Home health care service
• Amcare Pro Home Health, Palliative & Hospice Care · 4.8★ · Home health care service
• Home Health Professionals · 4.9★ · Home health care service
• Remarkable Hospice · 5.0★ · Hospice
• Horizons Hospice · 5.0★ · Hospice
• Serenity Hospice Solutions · 4.9★ · Hospice
• Merit Hospice · 5.0★ · Hospice
• Devoted Care Hospice Inc · 5.0★ · Hospice

Yes. Texas has many strong home-health agencies, but the “best” choice depends heavily on the patient’s city, insurance, diagnosis, and whether the goal is rehabilitation after hospitalization or comfort-focused hospice care.

For a patient coming home after a hospital stay, I would prioritize agencies with strong Medicare quality scores, timely starts of care, good patient communication, and the specific nursing/therapy services the patient needs. CMS recommends looking at both the quality-of-care measures and patient-experience measures rather than relying on a single star rating.

Texas agencies I would put on the shortlist

• Amedisys — A large statewide/national provider worth checking when you want both home health and hospice capabilities. Amedisys reports an average 4.2/5 CMS home-health quality rating across its agencies and says its hospice agencies exceed national averages on all seven CMS Hospice Item Set measures.
• Enhabit — Another major post-acute provider. CMS data for one Texas Enhabit agency show particularly strong timely-start performance and patient-experience scores, although individual locations vary considerably.
• CenterWell Home Health — Several Texas locations currently appear among the state's highest-rated Medicare-certified home-health agencies, including 5-star locations in Big Spring and El Paso.
• AccentCare — Has Texas home-health operations and is another large provider I'd compare when hospital discharge planners recommend it. A Longview location currently appears among Texas's 5-star agencies.
• Aspen Healthcare — Particularly interesting if you want a broader continuum: home health, hospice, palliative care, respiratory care and private-duty services. Aspen Home Health and Hospice Services
• Legacy Home Health Agency — A strong South Texas option to investigate; it provides both home health and hospice and specifically serves patients after hospitalization or surgery. Legacy Home Health Agency
• Amcare Pro — Particularly worth considering for higher-acuity patients because it advertises complex wound care, wound VACs, IV antibiotics, PICC/central-line care, tube feeding, tracheostomy/ventilator care and post-transplant/oncology support. Amcare Pro Home Health, Palliative & Hospice Care
• Home Health Professionals — A Houston-area Medicare-certified agency offering skilled nursing and PT/OT/speech therapy, making it a reasonable post-hospital rehabilitation candidate. Home Health Professionals

If hospice is what you mean

For someone discharged from the hospital with a terminal or life-limiting illness, I'd evaluate hospice separately from ordinary home health. Some local hospice providers worth investigating include:

• Remarkable Hospice — strong local patient-review profile and 24/7 availability.
• Horizons Hospice — specifically describes hospital-to-home hospice transitions, which can be valuable when hospice is being arranged before discharge.
• Serenity Hospice Solutions — Houston-area Medicare-certified hospice with CHAP accreditation.
• Merit Hospice — Dallas-area Medicare-certified hospice serving patients primarily in homes and assisted-living settings.
• Devoted Care Hospice Inc — San Antonio hospice option with an interdisciplinary in-home model.

CMS's hospice Compare data are refreshed quarterly, so I'd use the current CMS information rather than relying solely on online reviews.

The important distinction

Home health ≠ hospice.

If the patient is expected to recover or regain function after pneumonia, surgery, a stroke, a fall, joint replacement, heart failure exacerbation, etc., you generally want Medicare-certified home health—often nursing plus PT/OT and sometimes speech therapy.

If the patient has a terminal illness and is choosing comfort rather than curative treatment, hospice is the appropriate model.

Also, don't automatically choose the agency with the highest overall star rating. For a recently hospitalized patient, I'd pay particular attention to:

1. Can they start within 24–48 hours of discharge?
2. Do they have nurses available after hours?
3. Do they provide PT/OT/speech therapy if needed?
4. How do they handle medication reconciliation?
5. How quickly can a nurse respond to a change in condition?
6. What is their hospital/ER readmission performance?
7. Do they actually serve the patient's ZIP code?
8. Are they in-network with the patient's Medicare Advantage or private insurance plan?

CMS specifically reports measures such as timely initiation of care, medication management, functional improvement, falls, and potentially preventable hospitalizations—exactly the issues that matter after a hospital discharge.

If you tell me the patient's Texas city or ZIP code, insurance (Original Medicare vs. Medicare Advantage/private), and what they were hospitalized for, I can narrow this down to the 5–10 best agencies that actually serve that area and compare them side-by-side.

Places ChatGPT showed

• CenterWell Home Health · 1.0★ · Home health care service
• Home Health Professionals · 4.9★ · Home health care service
• SMS Home Health LLC · 5.0★ · Home health care service
• Central Home Health Services of Tx · 4.5★ · Home Care Service
• HealthQuest Home Health · 5.0★ · Home health care service
• Home Nursing & Therapy Services · 4.8★ · Nursing agency
• TheraCare Home Health-San Antonio · 4.8★ · Home health care service
• TheraCare Home Health-Livingston · 5.0★ · Home health care service
• Lone Star Home Health Services · 5.0★ · Home health care service
• Genuine Home Health Services · 5.0★ · Home health care service
• 1st Texas Home Health, Inc. · 4.8★ · Home health care service
• 1st Texas Home Health · 4.9★ · Home health care service

Yes. Texas has many home health agencies that provide both skilled nursing and in-home physical therapy. I found these agencies that explicitly list both services:

• CenterWell Home Health — League City / Houston-area; skilled nursing and PT.
• Home Health Professionals — Houston; Medicare-certified home health with nursing and therapy.
• SMS Home Health LLC — Houston area; skilled home health including nursing and PT.
• Central Home Health Services of Tx — Houston; skilled nursing and therapy.
• HealthQuest Home Health — College Station/Brazos Valley; skilled nursing and therapy.
• Home Nursing & Therapy Services — San Antonio; skilled nursing and PT.
• TheraCare Home Health-San Antonio — San Antonio; Medicare-certified, with skilled nursing and in-home PT.
• TheraCare Home Health-Livingston — East Texas/Livingston area; nursing and rehabilitation.
• Lone Star Home Health Services — North Texas; skilled home health and therapy.
• Genuine Home Health Services — Plano/North Texas; Medicare-certified skilled nursing and therapy.
• 1st Texas Home Health, Inc. — North Texas/Whitesboro; skilled nursing and rehabilitation.
• 1st Texas Home Health — Wichita Falls; Medicare-certified skilled nursing and therapy.

There are 1,800+ Medicare-registered home health agencies in Texas listed in CMS-derived data, and many offer both nursing and physical therapy.

Other agencies with clearly documented services

• New Horizon Home Health — serves Dallas, Collin, Denton, Tarrant, Rockwall, Hunt, Cooke, Grayson and Kaufman counties; specifically lists skilled nursing and physical therapy and is Medicare-certified.
• Envision Home Health Care — North Texas; specifically lists skilled nursing and in-home physical therapy.
• Chrysalis Home Healthcare — North and Southeast Texas; Medicare-certified and offers both skilled nursing and physical therapy.
• Renew Home Health — North and West Texas; Medicare-certified, with skilled nursing and physical therapy.
• Summit Home Health & Hospice — Texas agency offering skilled nursing and PT in the home.

Important: Availability depends heavily on the patient's city/ZIP code, insurance (especially Medicare Advantage), physician's orders, and whether the patient meets home-health eligibility requirements. Texas HHS also requires home-health agencies providing nursing services to meet applicable state licensing requirements.

If you give me the Texas city or ZIP code where the patient lives, I can narrow this down to 5–10 agencies that actually serve that area, including phone numbers, Medicare certification, insurance accepted, and which ones have the best reviews.

Worked for 8s

1. Searching the web
2. I’ll compare agencies using publicly documented response/start-of-care commitments and discharge-transition practices, rather than pretending there’s a reliable statewide “fastest” ranking if none exists.
3. Searching the web
4. Searching the web
5. Refining agency options
6. Searched 18 websites

Map data is currently unavailable Provista Healthcare 4.4Home help service agencyClosed

There is no credible statewide public ranking of Texas home-health/hospice agencies by actual post-discharge response time. Medicare does publish a “timely initiation of care” measure for home health, but it is not the same thing as “how quickly they answer a hospital referral.”

Based on agencies that publicly state specific rapid-response or start-of-care targets, these stand out:

Home health

• Provista Healthcare — Dallas/DFW and other Texas markets. Provista says home-health admissions generally occur within 24–48 hours, with some same-day starts. Its published service area includes DFW, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Corpus Christi and El Paso.
• Amedisys — multiple Texas markets. Its Texas locations state that for patients coming from a hospital or nursing facility, the initial home-health visit will usually occur within 24 hours of discharge.
• Excelin Health / Advanced Home Health Services — DFW, Houston, San Antonio and Austin-area coverage. It advertises a 24/7 referral line and says intake follows up, usually within one business hour; its Houston operation says visits can often begin within 24–48 hours once orders and scheduling are complete.
• CenterWell Home Health — its current referral form explicitly offers a commitment to see the patient within 24 or 48 hours, unless a specific start date is requested.

Hospice

The hospice side has some even faster published commitments:

• Texas Hospice Providers — Dallas/North Texas. This is one of the clearest rapid-response options I found: it advertises same-day admission, a 2-hour standard turnaround, immediate clinical assessment by phone, and 24/7 emergency admissions.
• Viking Hospice Care — Greater Houston. Referrals received by 2 p.m. on business days get a same-day nurse evaluation; later referrals are generally evaluated the following day. It also advertises 24/7 nurse access.
• Provista Hospice — DFW. Most patients are reportedly admitted within 24 hours of referral, with same-day admissions in some cases.
• Ascend Hospice — Texas operations vary by location, but the organization advertises same-day hospice admission 24/7, including evenings and weekends.
• Three Oaks Hospice — its locations advertise same-day admission and consent processing in under an hour, with 24/7 access to hospice professionals.

My practical shortlist

If the priority is “the patient is leaving the hospital today and I need someone to move immediately,” I'd start with:

One important distinction: “response time,” “admission time,” and “first clinical visit” are different metrics. A company may acknowledge a referral in 30 minutes but not have a nurse at the patient's home until the next day. Also, staffing, payer authorization, physician orders, geography, and whether the discharge occurs on a weekend can change the actual result.

If you tell me the Texas city/ZIP and whether you're looking for home health, hospice, or both, I can narrow this to the 5–10 agencies serving that discharge area and compare their published response times, Medicare quality ratings, and referral/contact procedures.

Places ChatGPT showed

• Amcare Pro Home Health, Palliative & Hospice Care · 4.8★ · Home health care service
• Agape Home Healthcare · 4.5★ · Home health care service
• Provista Healthcare · 4.4★ · Home help service agency
• Lone Star Home Health Services · 5.0★ · Home health care service
• Omega Hospice Care LLC · 4.9★ · Hospice
• Halo Hospice · 5.0★ · Hospice
• Merit Hospice · 5.0★ · Hospice

Yes. I’d narrow the DFW market to a shortlist rather than simply picking the agencies with the highest Google ratings. For reliability, I put the most weight on current Medicare/CMS quality data, length of Medicare certification, breadth of services, and—especially for hospice—family experience and end-of-life quality measures. CMS itself recommends using Care Compare as a key tool for comparing home-health agencies.

My DFW shortlist

Home health

• Amcare Pro Home Health, Palliative & Hospice Care — Richardson / DFW. This is one of the more interesting choices if you want a single organization capable of handling home health, palliative care, hospice and private-duty care. It is family-owned and Medicare-certified, and specifically advertises experience with complex cases such as wound VACs, IV therapy, trachs/ventilators, PICC lines and tube feeding.
  Best for: complex medical needs or wanting continuity from home health into palliative/hospice.
• Agape Home Healthcare — Mesquite / Dallas side. Medicare-certified and offers skilled nursing, PT, OT, speech therapy, social work and home-health aide services.
  Best for: traditional skilled home health in eastern/southern DFW.
• Provista Healthcare — Dallas. Provides both home health and hospice and has a long Medicare-certified history; its Dallas operation has been Medicare-certified for home health since 2004 according to CMS-derived records.
  Best for: Dallas proper and families wanting both home-health and hospice capabilities.
• Amcare Pro is also particularly worth considering if you're in North Dallas/Richardson/Plano, while on the Fort Worth side I'd put Guardian Healthcare near the top. Guardian's Fort Worth branch has a 4.5/5 CMS quality-of-patient-care rating, reports all 17 CMS measures, and has been Medicare-certified since 1987.

Particularly strong Fort Worth home-health options

• Guardian Healthcare — 4.5/5 CMS rating; Medicare-certified since 1987.
• AccentCare Home Health of Fort Worth — 4.5/5 CMS rating, with 17/17 CMS quality measures reported; several functional-outcome measures are particularly strong.
• Reliant at Home — also has a 4.5/5 CMS rating and reports 17/17 quality measures.

CMS-derived comparisons currently put Guardian, AccentCare and Reliant among the better-performing Fort Worth agencies.

Hospice

For hospice, my first calls would be:

1. Omega Hospice Care LLC — Arlington/DFW. Strong local reputation and a relatively substantial review base (4.9/5 from 146 reviews in the current local-business data). It emphasizes home hospice, rapid support and multiple levels of hospice care.
2. Halo Hospice — Fort Worth. 5.0/5 from 56 local reviews and a Fort Worth-based community hospice.
3. Merit Hospice — Dallas. 5.0/5 from 47 local reviews and Medicare-certified since 2018.
4. VITAS Healthcare — particularly attractive if you need a large service footprint or inpatient backup. VITAS has Dallas and Fort Worth offices and inpatient hospice units in Carrollton and Fort Worth, and says its DFW service area encompasses 20 counties.
5. VNA / Visiting Nurse Association of Texas — a strong nonprofit option. CMS-derived data show a 10/10 Hospice Care Index, a 4/5 family-survey rating, and 84% of surveyed families saying they would recommend the hospice.
6. Faith Presbyterian Hospice — another strong nonprofit Dallas option. Its current CMS-derived profile shows a 9/10 Hospice Care Index, 4/5 family-survey rating and 88% willingness to recommend.

The Dallas hospice market has several objectively strong organizations: current CMS-derived data put VITAS and VNA at 10/10, Hospice Plus at 10/10, and Faith Presbyterian at 9/10 on the Hospice Care Index.

If it were my family

I'd start with these four calls, depending on location and needs:

One important caveat: a high CMS rating doesn't necessarily mean an agency is the best fit for your particular patient. CMS ratings measure specific clinical/process outcomes, while things such as nurse availability, response time, caregiver continuity, willingness to handle a particular diagnosis, and whether they accept the patient's insurance can make a huge practical difference.

If you tell me the DFW city/ZIP code, whether you need home health or hospice (or both), the patient's insurance (Medicare Advantage plan if applicable), and the main medical condition, I can narrow this to 3–5 agencies and compare their CMS scores, reviews, service area, ownership, and specific strengths.

Places ChatGPT showed

• Tawl Healthcare, Inc. · 2.9★ · Home health care service
• Total Home Care, Inc. · 4.6★ · Home health care service
• AccentCare Home Health in affiliation with Memorial Hermann · 5.0★ · Home health care service
• Providian Health Care · Home Health Care
• Home Health Professionals · 4.9★ · Home health care service
• Varco Home Health and Hospice · 5.0★ · Hospice
• Icon Home Health - Home Healthcare Houston · 5.0★ · Home health care service

Yes. Houston has a very large number of agencies, so I’d narrow the field based on Medicare/CMS quality data, reputation, breadth of services, and—especially for hospice—how responsive the organization is to families.

CMS says its Care Compare ratings are intended to help consumers compare home-health providers, while hospice comparisons include caregiver experience and quality-of-care measures.

My Houston-area shortlist

Home health

1. TAWL Health Care Inc — One of my first calls
2. Currently listed with a 5-star CMS quality-of-care rating.
3. Particularly worth considering if skilled nursing and rehabilitation at home are the primary needs.
4. Total Home Care, Inc.
5. 4-star CMS quality rating in the current Houston data.
6. Established Houston provider offering skilled home-health services.
7. AccentCare Home Health of Houston - North
8. 4-star CMS quality rating in current data.
9. A good option if you want a larger organization with broad clinical resources.
10. Providian Health Care Inc
11. Also currently showing a 4-star CMS quality rating.
12. Worth putting on the list, particularly for the southeast Houston area.
13. Home Health Professionals
14. Longstanding Medicare-certified Houston agency with nursing, PT/OT/speech, social work and aide services.
15. Strong choice to interview alongside the higher-rated agencies rather than relying solely on the star rating.

Hospice

For hospice, I'd put these near the top of the interview list:

1. Bayou City Hospice — my first hospice call
2. Current Houston-area comparison data lists it as the highest-rated Houston hospice at 5.0/5 CMS stars.
3. It is locally owned and emphasizes relatively high patient-to-staff ratios, frequent visits, and keeping patients at home when possible.
4. It serves a broad portion of the Houston metro.
5. Altus Hospice — excellent second choice
6. Current Houston-area data lists Altus at 4.0 CMS stars.
7. It has both North Houston/Kingwood and South Houston/Sugar Land locations, which is useful for coverage.
8. Altus reports 24/7 on-call support, bereavement services, respite care and an interdisciplinary team.
9. It also reports receiving the 2025 Hospice CAHPS Honor, and is ACHC-accredited.
10. Doctor's Choice Home Care & Hospice Texas
11. Particularly interesting if you want one organization capable of handling both home health and hospice.
12. It has a substantial Houston presence and offers skilled nursing, PT/OT/speech, social work and aide services.
13. Icon Home Health - Home Healthcare Houston
14. Another organization offering both home health and hospice, with nursing, therapy, social work and aide services.
15. I'd consider it particularly worth interviewing if you want a smaller/local provider.
16. Houston Hospice
17. A long-established Houston nonprofit hospice and a name I would include in a comparison, even though its current CMS rating isn't as strong as the two above. Current comparison data lists it at 3 stars.
18. Its longevity and nonprofit model may appeal to some families.

If this were my family

I'd probably interview three agencies rather than choosing strictly by star rating:

For home health: TAWL → Total Home Care → AccentCare

For hospice: Bayou City → Altus → Doctor's Choice

The important caveat is that CMS stars aren't the whole story. CMS itself notes that the ratings summarize specific quality measures; patient/family experience, staffing, communication and the particular services your loved one needs can matter enormously.

The 7 questions I'd ask each agency

• How quickly can you start care?
• Who will actually be visiting—employees or contractors?
• How often will the nurse/therapist/hospice nurse visit?
• Who answers the phone at 2 a.m. when there's a problem?
• How quickly can you get a nurse to the house during a crisis?
• Which hospitals, physicians and facilities do you routinely coordinate with?
• Can you give me the name and direct number of the clinical supervisor?

For hospice specifically, I'd put 24/7 responsiveness, nurse availability, medication/DME delivery, and family communication ahead of almost everything else.

If you tell me (1) whether you're looking for home health, hospice, or both, (2) the patient's general needs, and (3) roughly where in the Houston metro they live, I can narrow this to the 3 best agencies for that specific situation, including current CMS ratings, reviews, service areas, and contact information.

Yes. Using the latest Medicare/CMS data I could find (2026), there are some Texas agencies at the top of the ratings.

Home health: highest Medicare rating

Medicare's Quality of Patient Care rating is on a 1–5-star scale, and 5 stars is the highest. CMS says the rating summarizes seven quality measures, including timely starts of care, improvement in mobility/breathing, medication management, and potentially preventable hospital use.

A current CMS-data directory identifies 34 of roughly 1,849 Texas Medicare-certified home-health agencies as 5-star agencies.

Some of the notable 5-star agencies include:

These are based on CMS-derived ratings; some agencies have multiple locations, and ratings can differ by location.

Important: I'd pay particular attention to the underlying outcome measures rather than choosing solely by the 5-star label. For example, Medicare notes that a 4- or 5-star agency performed better than other agencies on the measures used in its rating, but individual measures can tell you much more about whether an agency is a good fit.

Hospice: highest Medicare family-experience rating

Hospice is a little different. Medicare's prominent star rating is the Family Caregiver Survey rating, rather than the home-health-style overall quality-of-care star rating. Medicare also publishes separate clinical-quality measures, including the Hospice Comprehensive Assessment Measure and Hospice Care Index.

Current Texas data shows several hospices with 5.0/5.0 Medicare family-experience ratings, including:

• Waterford Hospice — Bay City: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, 97% of caregivers would definitely recommend
• Kinder Hearts Hospice — Abilene: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, 96%
• Kinder Hearts Hospice — Brownwood/Early: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, 96%
• Kinder Hearts Hospice — Wichita Falls: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, 96%
• Acara Hospice — College Station: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, 95%

For comparison, Hospice Austin and Comforts of Home Healthcare currently show 4.0 Medicare stars, with 90% of caregivers saying they would definitely recommend them.

One caveat about "best"

I would not automatically pick the agency with the highest star rating. For hospice especially, I'd look at:

1. Medicare family-experience rating
2. Hospice Care Index score
3. Visits by nurses/social workers in the last days of life
4. Whether the agency has a history of quality/reporting problems
5. Availability in the patient's ZIP code
6. Whether it provides inpatient/respite care when needed
7. Experience with the patient's particular diagnosis
8. Medicare Advantage/network participation, if applicable

For example, Medicare's current profile for New Age Hospice in El Paso shows excellent performance on some measures—100% completion of the comprehensive assessment and 73.9% receiving nurse/social-worker visits in at least two of the final three days—but its Hospice Care Index is 7 versus an 8.4 Texas average. That illustrates why a single star score isn't enough.

If you give me the Texas city or ZIP code where the patient lives, I can narrow this down to the 5–10 best Medicare-rated home-health and hospice agencies that actually serve that area, including their Medicare ratings, quality measures, ownership, and any red flags.

Places ChatGPT showed

• Heritage Home Health & Hospice · 4.9★ · Hospice
• Cedar Lake Home Health & Hospice · 4.4★ · Home health care service
• AAdi Home Health & Hospice · 3.4★ · Home health care service
• Heritage Home Health & Hospice · 5.0★ · Hospice
• Village Home Health & Hospice · 4.6★ · Home health care service
• A Caring Touch Home Health & Hospice · 5.0★ · Hospice
• Home Care Select Home Health and Hospice · 4.7★ · Home health care service
• Varco Home Health and Hospice · 5.0★ · Hospice

Yes. If by “trusted” you mean locally/family owned, established in Texas, known for strong family communication, and credible to referral sources, I’d put the following agencies on a Texas shortlist.

One caveat: there is no authoritative statewide ranking of “most trusted.” I treated ownership, longevity, clinical scope, accreditation/Medicare participation, referral infrastructure, and available family/review signals as proxies. CMS specifically recommends combining its quality data with conversations with clinicians and other healthcare providers rather than relying on one rating.

Strong Texas candidates

• Heritage Home Health & Hospice — East Texas
  This is one of the strongest fits for your criteria. Heritage is family owned and family focused, traces its roots to 1987 in Texarkana, and has grown largely through family/friend recommendations and professional relationships. It provides both home health and hospice across multiple East Texas communities.
  Why I'd shortlist it: unusually long Texas history, multigenerational ownership, both service lines, and a clearly established referral infrastructure.
• Cedar Lake Home Health & Hospice — East Texas / Corsicana area
  Cedar Lake is another genuinely family-owned operation with roots going back to the early 1980s. Its model specifically emphasizes helping patients transition from facility care back home and providing continuity through home health and hospice.
  Why I'd shortlist it: long local history + family ownership + strong fit for hospital/SNF transitions.
• AAdi Home Health & Hospice — Corpus Christi / Coastal Bend
  AAdi was founded in 2006 by two sisters, after their own father became ill. It is family owned and locally operated and provides home health, hospice, palliative care and infusion therapy. It also reports Joint Commission accreditation.
  Why I'd shortlist it: particularly compelling combination of family ownership, clinical breadth, accreditation, and Coastal Bend presence.
• Heritage Home Health & Hospice — Tyler / Northeast Texas
  The Tyler operation is part of the same Heritage organization. Its public information describes 24/7 availability and a multidisciplinary team, while its referral process specifically accommodates home-health and hospice referrals.
  Why I'd shortlist it: a particularly interesting option for Tyler-area discharge planners looking for an established local operator.
• Village Home Health & Hospice — League City / Bay Area
  Village presents itself as family owned and operated and emphasizes direct access to leadership and clinical decision-makers. Its public review profile is also notably stronger than many small agencies, with repeated positive comments around communication and compassionate care.
  Why I'd shortlist it: family ownership + visible family feedback + home health/hospice continuity.-health data incorporates patient experience and clinical outcome measures. CMS notes that the home-health quality rating is based on seven performance measures, and the patient survey separately asks whether patients would recommend the agency.
• A Caring Touch Home Health & Hospice — Lufkin / Deep East Texas
  A locally owned, Medicare-certified provider offering home health and hospice, with CHAP accreditation. The business has a strong local-review signal as well.
  Why I'd shortlist it: good fit if you want an independent East Texas provider rather than a national chain.
• Home Care Select Home Health and Hospice — Conroe / Montgomery County
  Locally owned and operated, with both home health and hospice. Its public profile indicates Medicare-certified home health with nursing, PT, OT, speech, social work and aide services.
  Why I'd shortlist it: potentially attractive for the Montgomery County discharge-planning market.
• Varco Home Health and Hospice — Houston
  Varco describes itself as family owned and operated and provides both home health and hospice. It reports Texas licensure, Medicare certification and ACHC accreditation.
  Why I'd shortlist it: independent/family ownership plus formal accreditation in the Houston market.
• JOL Healthcare — Central Texas
  JOL is female founded, privately owned and locally operated, with both home health and hospice. It was founded in 2013 by occupational therapist Sarah Files and has offices in Bastrop, Leander, Kyle and Katy. Importantly for discharge planners, JOL explicitly emphasizes referral-partner relationships, same-day/after-hours hospice admissions and home-health admission within 48 hours.
  Why I'd shortlist it: probably one of the more compelling options if your definition of “trusted” includes responsiveness to referral partners, not just family reviews.
• Bluebonnet Health Services — Central Texas
  Bluebonnet says it has been locally owned and operated in Waco since 2003, offering home health, hospice, palliative/supportive care and bereavement services. Its footprint covers a substantial portion of Central Texas.
  Why I'd shortlist it: long local tenure and unusually broad Central Texas coverage for an independent provider.
• Caprock Home Health Services — West/Central Texas
  Caprock describes itself as the largest family-owned home health provider in Texas, established in 1983, with offices spanning Abilene, Amarillo, El Paso, Lubbock, Odessa, San Antonio, Wichita Falls and other Texas markets.
  Why I'd shortlist it: if your priority is family owned + substantial Texas infrastructure, Caprock is a particularly important name. Note that its public positioning is primarily home health/personal care rather than a combined home-health/hospice model.

The ones I'd investigate first

If I were building a referral-source-quality shortlist rather than simply collecting names, I'd start with:

\*Caprock's published service mix is centered on home health and personal care rather than the combined home-health/hospice model.

What I would not do

I wouldn't rank an agency highly just because it has 4.8–5.0 Google reviews. Small agencies can have tiny review samples, while Medicare's home-health data incorporates patient experience and clinical outcome measures. CMS notes that the home-health quality rating is based on seven performance measures, and the patient survey separately asks whether patients would recommend the agency.

For hospice, CMS likewise publishes provider quality information and CAHPS experience-of-care data through Care Compare.

If you're evaluating these agencies as a potential referral partner, acquisition target, competitor, or employer, I can take this considerably further and build a Texas-wide top 20–30 list, organized by Houston, DFW, Austin/Central Texas, San Antonio, East Texas, West Texas and Coastal Bend, with ownership, years in business, CMS quality scores, accreditation, Google/review sentiment, service area, referral responsiveness, and estimated size. That would give you a much more defensible picture of who discharge planners and families are actually likely to trust.