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Care Protocols Overview

CareSupport uses 16 specialized care protocols to coordinate every aspect of caregiving. Each protocol handles specific situations and triggers automatically when relevant messages arrive.

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How Protocols Work

Protocols are intelligent workflows that:
  • Auto-activate based on message content and context
  • Coordinate actions across your care team
  • Enforce safety rules for medication and emergency situations
  • Track decisions with timestamps and attribution
  • Adapt to your family while maintaining clinical safety
Protocols work together seamlessly. A single message like “Mom fell and missed her evening meds” triggers both emergency-response and medication-management protocols simultaneously.

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The 16 Care Protocols

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Critical Safety Protocols

These protocols have hard safety rules that are never overridden.
What it handles: Track, remind, update, and verify all medicationsWhen it triggers: Any medication-related message - taken, missed, changed, refill, side effects, or questionsKey features:
  • Drug interaction checking before any medication change
  • Requires prescriber order + primary caregiver confirmation for changes
  • Automatic refill tracking and reminders
  • Hospital-to-home medication reconciliation
  • Medication hold management during emergencies
Safety rules:
  • Never update medications without prescriber order
  • Always check drug AND food interactions
  • Always include drug name AND dose in reminders
  • Never relay medication advice - coordinate with providers
View full documentation →
What it handles: Urgent and life-threatening situationsWhen it triggers: Immediately on keywords - fall, chest pain, can’t breathe, help, 911, choking, unresponsive, seizure, bleedingKey features:
  • Responds within one message, no delays
  • Notifies all full-access members simultaneously
  • Provides address and emergency information instantly
  • Three-tier escalation (life-threatening, urgent, concerning)
  • Emergency access override for on-scene caregivers
Safety rules:
  • Emergency keywords trigger unconditionally (false positives acceptable)
  • Never tell someone NOT to call 911
  • Act first, gather context second
  • Condition-specific protocols stored in family file, not left to inference
View full documentation →
What it handles: Hospital admission, inpatient stay, and discharge coordinationWhen it triggers: Any report of hospital admission, ER visit, or ambulance transportKey features:
  • Suspends all home medication reminders during stay
  • Verifies admission vs observation status (affects insurance)
  • Coordinates care team during transition
  • Mandatory medication reconciliation at discharge
  • Reschedules all affected appointments
Safety rules:
  • All home medications moved to Hold Log during hospitalization
  • No medication reminders resume until reconciliation complete
  • Discharge medication list must be verified before resuming care
View related protocols →
What it handles: Any modification to the family care file - medications, schedules, team changes, preferencesWhen it triggers: When information needs to be added or changed in the care planKey features:
  • Draft/approval pattern for all changes
  • Timestamped audit trail with attribution
  • Conflict resolution when new info contradicts existing data
  • Full access required to approve changes
Safety rules:
  • Every write requires confirmation (except logging meds taken)
  • Only full-access members can approve
  • Medication changes route through medication-management protocol
  • Never silently overwrite conflicting information
Learn more about care plan management →

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Care Coordination Protocols

These protocols manage day-to-day coordination and scheduling.
What it handles: Create and manage recurring reminders - medications, appointments, check-ins, shift handoffsWhen it triggers: Setting up, modifying, or deleting scheduled tasksTwo schedule types:
  • Agent schedules (needs reasoning): Daily check-ins, wellness analysis, needs assessments
  • Script schedules (deterministic): Medication reminders, appointment reminders, shift alerts
Default schedules:
  • Morning check-in (8am): Ask about overnight and today’s plan
  • Evening check-in (8pm): Day summary and tomorrow’s prep
  • Medication reminders: Per medication schedule
  • Weekly summary: Week in review to primary caregiver
View scheduling guide →
What it handles: Regular wellness check-ins with care teamWhen it triggers: Scheduled morning/evening, or when asking about sleep, meals, mood, wellbeingMorning check-in:
  • How did care recipient sleep?
  • Any concerns this morning?
  • Reminder of today’s schedule
Evening check-in:
  • Day summary (meals, meds, mood)
  • Missed items flagged
  • Tomorrow’s first task reminder
Proactive scanning: Each check-in also checks for upcoming medication refills, appointments within 2 days, overdue follow-ups, and condition tracking thresholds.View check-in workflows →
What it handles: Schedule, remind, confirm, and prepare for medical appointmentsWhen it triggers: Messages about appointments, doctors, visits, check-ups, or schedulingFeatures:
  • Day-before prep checklist (insurance, meds, allergies, questions)
  • Morning-of reminder with address
  • Auto-surfaces “For Next Visit” items from care plan
  • Post-appointment follow-up for changes
  • Routes medication changes to medication-management protocol
Learn about appointment management →
What it handles: Shift transitions between caregiversWhen it triggers: Scheduled shift change or manual handoff requestHandoff includes:
  • Last meal (time and what)
  • Medication status (confirmed or missed)
  • Mood and behavior
  • Any incidents or concerns
  • Next upcoming task
  • Emotional context (“She’s been asking about her sister”)
Special features:
  • Auto-generates handoff if outgoing caregiver doesn’t respond
  • Identity verification for rotating professional staff
  • Enhanced orientation summary for first-time caregivers
View handoff procedures →

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Communication Protocols

These protocols manage information flow between family, providers, and systems.
What it handles: Relay information to/from doctors, specialists, pharmacistsWhen it triggers: Family needs to communicate with provider or prepare for visitsFeatures:
  • Visit summary preparation (meds, changes, concerns, questions)
  • Urgent provider messages with structured format
  • Medication list generation
  • Inbound provider message routing
  • Provider follow-up tracking for monitoring data
  • Enhanced telehealth prep with longitudinal trends
Key difference from other tools: Always gets family approval before contacting providers. The family is the customer, not the doctor.View provider communication guide →
What it handles: Track ongoing wellness data - meals, sleep, mood, vitals, bathroom, painWhen it triggers: Any wellness data point reported or pattern analysisData tracked:
  • Sleep (hours, quality, wakeups)
  • Meals (what, when, how much)
  • Mood (happy, anxious, confused, agitated)
  • Pain (location, severity 1-10)
  • Vitals (BP, temp, weight, O2)
  • Bathroom (frequency, assistance)
Collection style: Passive extraction from natural conversation, not clinical interrogation. “How’s she doing?” not “What was her blood oxygen saturation?”Pattern alerting: Flags concerning trends to primary caregiver with suggested actions.View wellness tracking →

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Administrative Protocols

These protocols handle team management and system setup.
What it handles: Set up new families - create care file, onboard team, establish schedulesWhen it triggers: New family signs up or texts STARTOnboarding flow:
  1. Collect care recipient info (name, conditions, living situation, mobility)
  2. Gather care team members (names and phone numbers)
  3. Create and confirm family care file
  4. Set up default schedules (check-ins, medication reminders)
  5. Send intro message to each team member
  6. First-week needs assessment (days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7)
View onboarding process →
What it handles: Manage care team membership - add, remove, update roles and accessWhen it triggers: Care team composition changesOperations:
  • Add team member (requires confirmation, triggers onboarding)
  • Remove team member (marks inactive for audit trail)
  • Update access level (drafts old → new level)
  • Transfer primary caregiver (requires current primary confirmation)
Access levels:
  • Full access: Can approve care plan changes
  • Schedule + meds: Receives reminders and updates
  • Schedule only: Receives schedule coordination
  • Providers: Clinical notifications
Learn about team management →

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Support & Navigation Protocols

These protocols help families access resources and benefits.
What it handles: Medicaid applications, insurance appeals, community resources, VA benefits, financial assistanceWhen it triggers: Families need help with coverage, costs, applications, or finding servicesScope:
  • Medicare/Medicaid eligibility and applications
  • HCBS waiver navigation
  • VA benefits for veterans and caregivers
  • State-specific aging/disability programs
  • Community resources (day programs, respite, meals)
  • Insurance appeals and prior authorization
  • Medication and equipment financial assistance
  • Observation vs admission status alerts
Critical alert: When hospital stay reported, immediately advises about admission vs observation status differences for Medicare coverage.View benefits in protocol overview →
What it handles: Coverage questions, claims, prior authorizations, benefits trackingWhen it triggers: Messages about insurance, coverage, cost, copay, deductible, authorization, claimsFeatures:
  • Coverage verification from care file
  • Prior authorization guidance and tracking
  • Deductible tracking and alerts
  • Integration with insurance systems when available
  • Guides family through manual processes when needed
View insurance in protocol overview →
What it handles: Health information search, provider email, file conversionWhen it triggers: Need to look up conditions, medications, or general health questionsTools available:
  • Health information search (NIH, Mayo Clinic, WebMD sources)
  • Email to providers (with family approval)
  • File conversion (discharge summaries, insurance docs, lab results)
Safety notes:
  • Never presents search results as medical advice
  • Always frames as “Here’s what I found - talk to your doctor”
  • Logs all PHI-containing communications
View available tools →

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System Protocols

These protocols support system functionality and development.
What it handles: Create new care protocols with proper structure and safety classificationWhen it triggers: Creating or editing protocol filesSafety levels:
  • Critical: Health/safety impact, hard rules enforced, cannot override
  • Standard: Important but adaptable, agent can adjust to context
  • Informational: Reference material, no behavioral constraints
Protocol structure:
  • PROTOCOL.md with frontmatter (name, description, safety_level, requires_approval)
  • HARD RULES section (for critical protocols)
  • Triggers (what activates it)
  • Workflows (step-by-step procedures)
  • Message Templates (standard formats)
View protocol source files →

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Protocol Interactions

Protocols work together automatically:
1

Message arrives

System analyzes content and identifies relevant protocols
2

Multiple protocols activate

Example: “Mom fell and missed her evening meds” triggers emergency-response + medication-management
3

Protocols coordinate

Emergency-response handles immediate safety while medication-management tracks the missed dose and reschedules
4

Actions execute

Appropriate team members notified, care plan updated, follow-ups scheduled

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Safety Levels

Critical protocols have hard rules that are mechanically enforced and cannot be overridden by reasoning:
  • Medication Management
  • Emergency Response
  • Hospitalization
  • Care Plan Updates
These protocols protect health and safety through code gates, not just prompt instructions.
Standard protocols follow guidelines by default but can adapt based on family context and agent reasoning. Informational protocols provide reference material and tools without behavioral constraints.

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Protocol Development

New protocols are created when:
  • A care pattern emerges that isn’t covered
  • A family has unique needs
  • A provider requests specific monitoring
  • Simulation reveals a coordination gap
Every protocol is developed from real care coordination needs, documented in family simulation transcripts.

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Next Steps

Medication Management

Deep dive into medication tracking, reminders, and safety

Emergency Response

Learn how emergency situations are handled

Scheduling

Master care schedules and appointment coordination

Check-Ins

Understand daily check-ins and caregiver handoffs

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