Holding a start of care until it is ready

What it is. On a family's Start of care page in Client intake, Ready to start lists your agency's start-of-care requirements with Done, Missing or Does not apply, one plain line each, and a link to the page where that item is done. Nothing on the list is ticked by hand: each item reads its true state from the record. Assessment visit done reads the visit marked done on the Assessment visit page. Consents signed and Service agreement signed read your own consent and agreement PDFs from Intake settings, Packet files, signed on the tablet or by link under Consents and service agreement (a file the office skipped for this family does not count against it, but at least one must be signed). Payer authorization on file reads Billing, Authorizations for the client's home when the payer is not private pay; private pay reads Does not apply, and a family with no payer chosen yet reads Missing. First professional assigned and Ready to work reads the professional picked under Match a professional, placed on the client's team from Manage, with Ready to work showing no open item. Emergency plan recorded reads the in-home intake's Emergency contacts, doctor and pharmacy section marked done, or the client's Emergency card with someone to call. Care plan started reads the in-home intake's Care plan draft with tasks or days, or the client's care plan.

The hold. In Intake settings, Start of care hold, an administrator turns on Hold the start of care until every required item is complete and ticks which of the seven items are required. While the hold is on and something is missing, Mark care started and a hand move to Start of care or Care started on the board are refused, and so is the first shift for that client, whether it is added from Start of care, the client's page or the agency's Schedule, or published from a draft: the page says the start is held and lists the missing items with their links. Creating the client's account, matching a professional and the in-home intake all go on as before, because those are how the items get done.

Who starts with it on. A new agency starts with the hold on and all seven items required. An agency that joined ExpressAgain before November 4, 2026 keeps the hold off until an administrator turns it on, so nothing changes under it; with the hold off, Ready to start still shows the list and nothing waits on it.

Start anyway. When the hold holds a family and care must begin, tap Start anyway under Ready to start and type why in a few words; the reason is required. Who tapped it, when and the reason are kept on the family's intake record and shown under Ready to start, the timeline carries the same line with the items that were missing, and the agency's access log records that care started anyway with how many required items were missing (the reason itself stays on the intake page). After that, Care started and the first shift go ahead for that family.

Delayed starts. On Sources and conversion (Reports, or the Sources and conversion tab in Client intake), Delayed starts counts the families past their planned start date (the care plan draft's start date, else the inquiry's) whose care has not started, grouped by the item still missing, with a line for families where nothing is missing, and the median number of days from the inquiry to Care started across every family that started. These are counts and days only: no dollar figure, no health answer.