HOME HEALTH PAYROLL · MEDICARE-CERTIFIED AGENCIES

Medicare pays the period. Clinicians earn the visit. They meet in WageTime.

WageTime runs payroll for Medicare-certified home health agencies. CMS pays in 30-day periods, clinicians earn in visits and points, aides and office staff in hours: WageTime speaks all three currencies natively.

Built on infrastructure processing $35B+ in payroll & taxes · 4.3M+ W-2s and 1099s filed

Built for Medicare-certified home health agencies. WageTime is a payroll and HR platform; it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CMS or the Medicare program. Medicare payment figures cited are from the CMS CY2026 Home Health PPS final rule.

SOUND FAMILIAR?

The margin on a $1,933.61 period is decided one visit at a time.

Certified home health runs on a currency exchange: CMS pays in 30-day periods, clinicians earn in visits and points, aides and office staff earn in hours. Payroll is the desk where all three settle every Friday, and a generic payroll system speaks only one of them.

THE POINT SHEET

Five visit types, three disciplines, one fragile spreadsheet

Every discipline has its own rate card. A start of care pays more than a routine visit, a recert sits in between, a discharge has its own number, and the point sheet reconciling it all lives in a spreadsheet the scheduler and the payroll clerk both edit. When a nurse questions her check, the audit trail is an argument.

CHARTING OFF THE CLOCK

The 57-minute form nobody pays for

CMS’s own burden estimate puts the OASIS-E data at a start of care at 57.3 minutes, and the real visit runs longer before the late-night sync. Pay per visit and let the charting ride for free, and you are funding a wage claim: mixed per-visit and hourly work needs a genuine overtime true-up, not a shrug.

THE LUPA CLIFF

Two to six visits decide whether the period pays

Fall below the threshold and the 30-day period collapses to per-visit payment. With CY2026 Medicare payments down 1.3 percent in aggregate, the question every administrator is asking (what does a visit actually cost us, by discipline?) is a payroll question wearing a billing costume.

THE SURVEY BINDER

Twelve in-service hours, every aide, every year

The Conditions of Participation put hard numbers on your workforce file: 75 training hours before an aide serves patients, 12 in-service hours every 12 months, competency evaluations, supervisory visits on a 14-day clock. The surveyor doesn’t ask whether training happened. The surveyor asks to see the records.

Four problems, one root: the systems that know your visits don’t run your payroll. Here’s how WageTime closes the gap.
01 · PRICED PER VISIT

How does per-visit pay run without breaking overtime?

WageTime runs per-visit pay as per-unit codes: one rate per discipline and visit type, hourly codes beside them on the same check. When the week mixes both, overtime trues up on the weighted-average regular rate, inside the run instead of a spreadsheet after the fact.

  • One pay code per discipline and visit type; SOC premiums included.
  • Case-conference, QAPI, and in-service hours run hourly beside visit pay.
  • The true-up: total straight-time earnings divided by total hours, premium on top.
  • Exactly what wage-and-hour attorneys audit in per-visit comp plans.
  • We import visit and clock hours so there’s no double entry.
app.wagetime.com/payroll/pay-codes

Pay Codes · Elena R., RN Case Manager · Week of Oct 6

Per-visit + hourly, one checkTrue-up on the blended rate
Every visit rate and hourly code ÷ total hours = the regular rate
Elena R., RN · 43.5 hrs, one check
Overtime hours3.5 OT hrs
Weighted-average rate$30.34
Premium · 0.5 × rate$53.10
Gross · one check$1,373.10
LineRateAmount
Start of care (OASIS-E)2 visits$110.00$220.00
Routine visits11 visits$70.00$770.00
Recertification1 visit$95.00$95.00
Case conference2.5 hrs · hourly$40.00$100.00
In-service training1.5 hrs · hourly$40.00$60.00
On-call stipend2 nights$37.50$75.00
One check, one blended ratepremium paid on the weighted-average rate

Replaces the point-sheet spreadsheet, and the paycheck that couldn’t explain itself.

02 · THE COST SIDE OF PDGM

What does a visit cost you, by discipline?

Straight out of WageTime: every pay dollar coded to a discipline and visit type yields labor cost per visit, reported monthly. With CY2026’s base period at $1,933.61 and aggregate payments cut 1.3 percent, that number is the margin.

  • Cost codes up to 40 characters, matched to your disciplines.
  • Codes reach from skilled nursing, therapy, and aide down to visit type.
  • Labor cost reported per code each month, delivered on a schedule.
  • GL export with configurable segments; QuickBooks posting mapped by department.
app.wagetime.com/reports/labor-by-discipline

Labor Cost by Discipline · October

Coded by discipline & visit typeGL export mapped
Every pay dollar coded to a discipline and visit type
961October visits
$64,756.50Direct labor cost
DisciplineLabor costCost per visit
Skilled nursing412 visits$28,840.00$70.00
Physical therapy186 visits$16,275.00$87.50
Occupational therapy74 visits$6,475.00$87.50
Speech pathology31 visits$2,867.50$92.50
Medical social work18 visits$1,899.00$105.50
Home health aide240 visits$8,400.00$35.00
Coded at the source, not rebuilt latercost per visit by discipline, every month

Replaces the year-end scramble to rebuild cost per visit from twelve months of check stubs.

03 · NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS

How do on-call stipends and weekend admissions get paid right?

WageTime splits on-call into separate pay codes: a stipend for carrying the phone, a per-visit rate when the phone wins, and a premium when the callback becomes a weekend start of care. Every one of those dollars folds into the weighted-average regular rate.

  • Flat weekend stipends, per-callback rates, admission premiums: each its own reportable line.
  • Night, weekend, and holiday differentials configured inside payroll.
  • Premium pay flows into the overtime true-up, never around it.
  • Off-cycle runs cost nothing extra, so missed-visit corrections go out same day.
app.wagetime.com/payroll/on-call

On-Call & Weekend Premiums · Week of Oct 6-12

Premiums inside the regular rate1 weekend admission
Stipend, callback rate and admission premium: each its own pay code
Priya S., RNweekend SOC$172.00
Mon + Wed nights on call1 SOC
Dawn H., RN$317.00
Fri-Sun weekend coverage3 visits
Marcus L., LPN$138.00
Sat coverage2 visits
3 clinicians on call$627.00 premium payall of it in the overtime math

Replaces the on-call ledger in the DON’s notebook.

04 · THE SURVEY FILE

What workforce records does a CoP survey ask for?

The records the CoPs name: 75 training hours before an aide serves patients, 12 in-service hours every 12 months, competency evaluations, current licenses. WageTime keeps that file as a side effect of running your workforce, so the survey answer is an export.

  • In-service and HIPAA training tracked to completion, exportable per aide.
  • Credentials alert at 30, 60, and 90 days, documents attached.
  • New-hire files complete from day one: I-9, E-Verify, e-signatures.
app.wagetime.com/hr/training

In-Service Hours & Competency · Aides · 12-month window

12-hour in-service window tracked2 aides behind pace
Completion records, competency documents and licenses in one file
38Aides in window
2Behind pace
AideIn-service hoursStatus
Gloria P.Competency on file · May 202612.0 of 12Complete
Anh D.Competency on file · Jun 202612.0 of 12Complete
Rob E.Competency on file · Apr 202610.0 of 12On track
Tomás V.Competency on file · Mar 20269.5 of 12Due in 2.5 hrs
Keisha B.Competency renewal Nov 20266.0 of 12Behind pace
12-month in-service window, always currentreminders sent automatically

Replaces the survey-week binder hunt.

PRICING

Simple payroll pricing. No surprises.

Full-service payroll is $10 a month per person paid that month, plus $50 a month per company, with unlimited runs. No long-term contracts, no per-run charges.

  • Full-service payroll, unlimited runs
  • Federal, state & local tax filing
  • Year-end W-2s & 1099s
  • Direct deposit, checks & pay cards
  • Contractor payments & filings
  • Off-cycle runs & bonuses, no extra fee
  • Employee paystubs & W-2 access
  • QuickBooks integration
$10/mo per person paid
+ $50/mo per company

Off-cycle runs and bonuses cost nothing extra. No long-term contracts; cancel anytime.

Example: 50 people paid × $10 + $50 company = $550 for the month

HR & hiring, onboarding, PTO, time tracking, benefits, and workers’ comp are optional add-ons, priced separately when you’re ready.

See a demo
THE INFRASTRUCTURE BEHIND WAGETIME
$35B+
in payroll & taxes paid
2.8M+
employees paid
4.3M+
W-2s & 1099s filed
100%
of tax filings automated

Medicare-certified home health payroll FAQ

Can WageTime pay clinicians per visit and hourly in the same week?

Yes, and that’s the normal case in certified home health. Per-visit rates run as per-unit pay codes by discipline and visit type, hourly codes cover case conferences and in-services, and both land on one check. The week’s overtime then trues up on the weighted-average regular rate across everything earned.

Do nurses paid per visit still get overtime?

Usually, yes. Courts have held that adding hourly pay for meetings or documentation to per-visit pay defeats the fee-basis professional exemption, which typically makes per-visit clinicians overtime-eligible. Whether a specific role is exempt is a question for your employment counsel; WageTime computes the blended-rate overtime either way.

Should a start-of-care visit pay more than a routine visit?

Rate cards commonly price it higher, and the workload explains why: an OASIS-E start of care carries 203 data elements, and CMS’s own burden estimate is 57.3 minutes for the assessment data alone. In WageTime a SOC premium is simply another per-unit rate, and point-based plans map the same way.

Our visits live in Homecare Homebase, Axxess, WellSky, or MatrixCare. How do hours reach payroll?

We import visit and clock hours so there’s no double entry: visit counts and hours land against the right clinician and pay code instead of being re-keyed on Thursday. Tell us your EMR on the demo and we’ll confirm the exact flow for your setup: how visit types and point values map to pay codes, and where SOC premiums slot in.

How do we prove the 12-hour in-service requirement at survey?

Assign in-service training in WageTime’s learning module and completion records accumulate per aide, next to competency documents and license records with expiration alerts. The 12-hours-per-12-months requirement in 42 CFR 484.80 becomes a report you export, not a binder you assemble the week the surveyor calls.

What does WageTime cost for a certified agency?

$50 a month per company plus $10 per person paid that month. Runs are unlimited, weekly pay and off-cycle checks included, and every federal, state, and local tax is filed automatically with year-end W-2s and 1099s. No long-term contracts. Migration is full-service and paid; we scope it on the demo.

Bring one nurse’s point sheet.

Twenty minutes with a payroll specialist on a live demo company: your visit types priced as pay codes, a mixed per-visit and hourly week trued up on the blended rate, labor cost by discipline on a scheduled report, and the in-service tracker your next survey will meet.

Book a 20-minute demo