The Accessibility Job Intake SOP

Purpose

An accessibility job is decided on the first phone call more often than at the site visit. The office learns, or fails to learn, who the work is for, what they move with, when it has to be done, who else is involved and who is paying, and every one of those answers changes who goes out, how fast, and what they bring. A call taken like an ordinary service request ("two grab bars, Tuesday") sends a handyman to a job that needed an estimator who knows the funding program, or books a site visit for next week on a job with a hospital discharge in four days.

This procedure guarantees that every accessibility request reaches the right person with the six facts that route it, recorded in the job before anyone is dispatched. It also guarantees that the shop does not collect medical information it has no use for.

Scope

Covers inbound requests, by phone, form or email, for work whose purpose is to make a home usable by someone with a mobility, sensory or strength limitation: grab bars, ramps, rails, bathroom and entry changes, door widening, control relocation.

Not covered here:

• The site assessment itself, which belongs to the tech or estimator. See related: The Accessibility Walkthrough with the Person Who Lives There.
• Concerns about the caller or the household (a person who seems not to understand the work being agreed, a relative pressing for work the occupant does not want). Those belong to the library's Safeguarding group; this SOP only records the flag and routes it to the owner.
• A single grab bar booked by the occupant for themselves, which can run on the ordinary booking path plus step 3 of this SOP. See related: Grab Bar and Handrail Installation (Handyman SOP).

Roles and responsibilities

The procedure

1. Identify who is calling and who lives there, and ask to include the occupant. Ask the caller's name and relationship, then whose home it is and whether that person can join the call now or at the walkthrough. Acceptance: the intake note names the occupant and the caller as two fields (they may be the same person), and records whether the occupant knows about and wants the work. Wrong looks like an adult child booking work "for Dad" with the occupant's view unknown. Stop rule: if the caller cannot confirm the occupant wants the work, book nothing beyond a call-back to speak with the occupant; if anything about the call suggests the occupant is being pressured, record it and route to the owner, not the schedule. Hazard: none physical at this step, it is a phone call. If the caller reports someone fallen and unable to get up, or in danger now, tell them to call 911 and end the intake there.

2. Record who will use the modifications, and how many people. Ask who in the household will use the new bath or entry, and whether a caregiver helps with transfers or bathing. Acceptance: each user listed with a one-line description of how they move today in their own words ("walks with a cane indoors, uses the wall"), plus whether a helper is present for transfers. Wrong looks like one user recorded in a house where a spouse with different needs shares the bathroom. Stop rule: a second user with conflicting needs (one stands to shower, one sits) flags the job for the estimator, not the handyman path. Hazard: none at this step, it is a desk task.

3. Record the mobility aids, with their sizes if the caller can measure them. Cane, walker (and whether it has wheels), manual wheelchair, power wheelchair or scooter, shower chair, transfer bench, lift. Ask for the overall width of a walker or chair if someone can measure it today, and note when an aid is expected to change. Acceptance: each aid named, and for any wheeled aid either a width in inches or "not measured" written explicitly. Wrong looks like "uses a wheelchair" with no type, which hides the difference between a narrow manual chair and a power chair that is wider, heavier and does not fold. Stop rule: a power chair or scooter user routes to the estimator in step 8, because ramp, landing and door requirements change with it. Hazard: if the caller is measuring an aid the occupant is using, ask them to do it when the occupant is seated and stable, not mid-transfer.

4. Record the deadline and what drives it. Ask whether there is a date the work must be done by and why: a hospital or rehabilitation discharge, a surgery date, a family member leaving, a funding deadline, or no date. Acceptance: a date or "no date" plus its driver, and for a discharge, the name of the discharge planner if the family has it. Wrong looks like "as soon as possible" written with no date, which reads to the scheduler as routine. Stop rule: a discharge within 10 days routes the same day to the lead under the discharge path (see related: How to Meet a Hospital Discharge Deadline); do not wait for the next scheduling meeting. Hazard: none at this step, it is a desk task.

5. Record whether an occupational or physical therapist is involved. Ask whether a therapist has seen the person or the home and whether there are written recommendations, and get the family's permission to contact the therapist. Acceptance: yes or no, the therapist's name and organization if yes, whether written recommendations exist, and whether contact is authorized. Wrong looks like the shop designing a bathroom the OT has already specified differently. Stop rule: if an OT has written recommendations, the walkthrough is not booked until the office has asked for a copy; it still goes ahead if the copy has not arrived in two working days. See related: Working with the Occupational Therapist. Hazard: none at this step, it is a desk task.

6. Record the funding source and what its paperwork requires before work starts. Ask who is paying: the household, a Medicaid waiver program, a Veterans Affairs grant, a state or local home-repair program, an Area Agency on Aging, insurance, a charity. For anything other than the household, ask what the program requires and whether approval is already in hand. Many programs require a written estimate, approval before any work begins, the contractor's license and insurance documents, and before-and-after photos, and pay only after an inspection; rules vary by program and state, so record what THIS program says. Acceptance: the source named, approval status written as "approved, reference number" or "not yet approved", and the program's required documents listed. Wrong looks like a crew starting on a "the waiver will pay" assurance with no approval, which many programs will not reimburse. Stop rule: no deposit taken, no materials ordered and no work scheduled on a funded job until approval is confirmed in writing; book only the assessment. Funding paths themselves are their own card. See related: Funding Paths for Home Modifications. Hazard: none at this step, it is a desk task.

7. Take diagnosis details only if offered, and record function, not conditions. Do not ask what the person's condition is. If the caller offers it, note only what affects the work ("expects to need a wheelchair within a year or two", "cannot lift arms above shoulder height"), not the medical name. Acceptance: the note describes function and expected change in plain words; no diagnosis appears unless the caller asked that it be recorded. Wrong looks like a medical history typed into a job note that every tech and the customer portal can see. Stop rule: if a diagnosis has been entered, edit the note to the functional description before the job is dispatched. This is a courtesy and a data-minimization habit; whether any privacy statute reaches your shop depends on your state and size, and this is not legal advice. Hazard: none at this step, it is a desk task.

8. Route the job by the answers, and book the walkthrough with the occupant present. Apply the routing below and hand off by name the same day. Acceptance: the job has a named owner and a walkthrough booked at a time the occupant is home and, where involved, the helper or OT can attend. Wrong looks like a walkthrough booked with only the adult child, at their convenience, while the occupant is at a day program. Stop rule: if the occupant cannot be present for the walkthrough, it is rescheduled, not held without them. Hazard: none at this step, it is a desk task.

The record this produces

One intake note on the job, written before dispatch, read by the estimator or tech before the walkthrough and by whoever reconstructs the job later:

• Caller and relationship; occupant; whether the occupant wants the work.
• Users, how each moves today, helper present for transfers.
• Aids, with widths or "not measured".
• Deadline and driver; discharge planner name if any.
• Therapist involvement, written recommendations, contact authorized.
• Funding source, approval status and reference, required documents.
• Functional notes, no diagnosis unless requested.
• Route, owner, walkthrough date and who will attend.

Worked pass: a call from a daughter, Wednesday 10 a.m.

Step 1. Caller: daughter, lives nearby. Occupant: her father, 78, on the line by speakerphone partway through; he confirmed he wants "something so I can get in the shower again." Pass.

Step 2. One user, in his words: "I use the walker in the house and hold the counter in the bathroom." He showers alone; nobody helps with transfers. Pass.

Step 3. Aids: a four-wheeled walker indoors, a cane outside. The daughter measured the walker while he sat: 24 in wide outside the wheels. Pass.

Step 4. No discharge. Driver: he has stopped showering and the daughter wants it fixed "before winter." Recorded as no hard date, target within about 8 weeks. Pass.

Step 5. An OT from a home health agency visited last month and left written recommendations. Contact authorized; office emailed the agency for a copy. Pass.

Step 6. Funding: the daughter said "his Medicaid waiver will cover it, his case manager said so." Asked whether the case manager had approved a specific estimate: no, the case manager had said a contractor needs to submit one. Step 6 failed its acceptance: approval not in hand. Stop rule applied: no deposit, nothing ordered, no work scheduled. Recorded "not yet approved; program requires written estimate, contractor license and insurance, before photos; case manager name and number captured." Only the assessment booked.

Step 7. The daughter mentioned a diagnosis by name. The note records only: "standing transfers now, OT expects seated within one to two years per family." Pass.

Step 8. Route: funded job, so the estimator who runs waiver jobs, named, handed off at 11:15 a.m. Walkthrough booked for the following Tuesday at 9 a.m., his best time of day by his own account, daughter attending, OT invited to attend and her copy requested by then. Pass.

References

• See related: The Accessibility Walkthrough with the Person Who Lives There; Working with the Occupational Therapist.
• See related: Funding Paths for Home Modifications; How to Meet a Hospital Discharge Deadline.
• See related: Grab Bar and Handrail Installation (Handyman SOP).
• Your funding program's own contractor requirements, which govern over anything in this SOP.