Getting Started with CareWave

This guide walks you through setting up your agency on CareWave and shows what each part of the platform does.

Welcome to CareWave

CareWave runs the office side of a home care agency: scheduling, EVV, visit notes, billing, and payroll from one set of verified hours. It works for a single-office agency and for agencies with several locations.

User management

Staff profiles, roles, and permissions

Smart scheduling

Shift matching and open-shift fill

Caregiver app

Schedule, clock-in, and voice visit notes on the phone

What you get

  • Built for home care agency workflows
  • HIPAA compliance with a BAA on every plan
  • WaveAI visit notes that caregivers review and approve
  • One web app for the office, one mobile app for caregivers
  • Real-time team messaging and alerts
  • Performance dashboards and the weekly Wave Digest

Quick start checklist

Follow this checklist to get your agency set up on CareWave:

Complete account setup

Verify your email, set up your organization profile, and configure basic settings.

View setup guide →

Add your team

Invite staff members, set up roles and permissions, and configure user profiles.

How staff & client management works →

Configure scheduling

Set up your scheduling preferences, create shift templates, and configure notifications.

How scheduling works →

Get the caregiver app

The CareWave app for iOS and Android is coming to the stores. See what caregivers will use it for.

About the app →

Setup complete

Once these steps are done, your agency is ready to schedule, clock in, and bill from CareWave. If you get stuck at any point, email hello@carewave.us and we'll help.

Core features overview

Here is what the platform covers, and where each piece lives:

Staff management

  • User roles and permissions
  • Caregiver profiles and credentials
  • Transparent staff ratings
  • Certification and compliance tracking

Smart scheduling

  • Shift matching by availability and skills
  • Open-shift fill with Lisa, the AI voice agent
  • Real-time schedule updates
  • Conflict detection

Caregiver app

  • Schedule and client care needs
  • GPS-verified clock-in and clock-out (EVV)
  • Two-minute voice visit notes
  • Real-time messaging

Compliance & security

  • HIPAA-compliant infrastructure with a BAA on every plan
  • Certification and compliance tracking
  • Audit trails and logging
  • Data encryption and backups

Also included

  • WaveAI visit reports from the caregiver's voice note
  • Wave Digest, a weekly plain-English summary of your numbers
  • Performance dashboards and reports
  • API and webhook access on Growth plans and up
  • Family portal with same-day care reports
  • Automated payroll and client invoicing from verified hours
  • Staff ratings caregivers can see and understand
  • Multi-location support on Pro and Enterprise plans

Next steps

Once the basics are in place, here is where to go next:

Keep going

Start with the basics and add the rest as your agency grows. The next guide covers system requirements and account setup.