What is Home Health Care?
What is Home Health Care?
Home health care aims to make it possible for people to remain at home rather than use residential, long-term, or institutional-based nursing care. Home health care providers render services in the client's own home. These services may include some combination of non-medical personal care and professional health care services from professionals such as skilled nurses and physical therapists. Imagine being disabled or too ill to care for yourself or have a condition that requires regular medical attention. Most people assume that a hospital or nursing facilities are the only options for care. However, with assistance from a home health care agency, people can receive care in the comfort of home. Home health care is an excellent, cost-effective alternative to nursing facility costs. Service is based on the individual's need and may range from 4-hours a day just a few times a week, 24-hour round-the-clock care or live-in care, to monthly visits from skilled nurses, therapists and social workers. A study by the AARP in 2005 indicated that 89% of people who are 50 years old or older want to remain at home as long as possible. Geriatricians increasingly believe that older people who stay in their own homes do better emotionally and physically than those who live in nursing homes or other senior living facilities. (Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2006) In addition to the aging population, growth in the home care industry is expected to come from the patient preference for health care delivered at home, changing family structures, medical and technological advances, an expanding marketplace for specialized home care services, increasing physician acceptance of home care, and the cost advantage of home care over institutional care.
What are the advantages of home health care?
In many cases, home health care permits a person to be discharged earlier from a hospital, reduces hospital admissions, assists with a more rapid recovery in the comfort of there own home. Most importantly, the patient is often happier at home and receives more care and attention from family, friends and home health care professionals.
Who uses home health care services?
People of all ages use home health care services - from senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, children with special needs, hospice patients, new or expectant mothers and individuals with chronic conditions.
Where can I receive services?
Home health care services can be provided in a residential home, in an independent living community, in an assisted living community, in a skilled nursing facility or in the hospital. With advance notice and preparations for proper clearances, we can also travel with the client to attend out-of-state graduations, weddings or for a family reunion.
Who provides home health care?
There are two main types of services from home health care agencies: Personal Care and Skilled Care. Personal Care services includes home health aides who assist with bathing, dressing, grooming, companionship, meal preparation, light housekeeping, hobbies and interests and car transportation. Skilled Care services include wound care, ostomy care, use of wound healing equipment, diabetes, including management of diet, medication regime, exercise program, and prevention of complications, intravenous therapy, infusion therapy, psychiatric care, counseling and case management.
What types of professionals comprise the home health care team?
The home health care team consists of coordinated care from physicians, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, home health aides, medical social workers, physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists. A physician, social worker, case manager, patient or family member can initiate service. However, Medicare, Medicaid and most insurance require physician involvement. Once the physician prescribes home health care, he/she authorizes a coordinated treatment plan, commonly called a "plan of care," and periodically reviews services and the patient's progress. If a physician does not prescribe home health care, but the individual still desires services, a private duty agency will develop a plan of care to meet a wide variety of needs.
Who pays for home health care?
Medicare, Medicaid or Long Term Care insurance may cover the cost of home health care services. Some insurance policies will not cover all home health care services unless certain conditions are met, or they may have a waiting period. You can still obtain care without insurance coverage on a private pay basis, which if often how personal care services are paid. The primary source of public funding for personal care services is Medicaid Waiver, but other sources include the Older Americans Act, Veteran Aid & Attendance pension program and some county programs. Medicare does not pay for personal care services in the home, except for bathing visits only if you are receiving rehabilitative care in the home. The home health care agency will be able to assist in determining if the services you need are covered or if you need to make other arrangements.
We provide compassionate care from highly trained professionals for individuals with the following conditions:
Adults:
- Alzheimer’s and Dementia
- Arthritis
- Asthma
- Blindness and vision problems
- Bowel & bladder problems
- Cancer
- Chronic conditions
- COPD
- Diabetes
- Emphysema
- Hearing problems
- Heart failure
- Hospice patients
- Hypertension
- Incontinence
- Loneliness and isolation
- Mood disorders
- Multiple Sclerosis
- New or expecting mothers
- Osteoporosis
- Pain management
- Palliative care patients
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Stroke
- Terminal illness
- Wandering risk
- Weakness and frailty
Pediatrics:
- Autism
- Cerebral Palsy
- Downs Syndrome
- Mental retardation/intellectual disabilities
- Multiple Sclerosis
Real examples of situations that our company has helped with:
- "My dad has Alzheimer's disease and it's getting too stressful for me to provide care for him because his behavior is too unpredictable."
- "My mom fell and is getting discharged from the hospital and I am not available during the day when she needs help around the house."
- "My parents do not drive and need someone to take them to the grocery store and to doctor appointments."
- "My dad lives in a community, but they do not provide one-on-one care. I need someone for a few hours each day to check-in on him to see if he needs anything."
- “My 10 year old son has autism and receives care under the Medicaid Waiver program. I need a reliable caregiver who is trained to provide care to my special needs child.”
- "My sister wants to stay in her own home, but needs help with cooking, bathing and help getting up and down the stairs. I live in another state and cannot help her."
- "I hired a caregiver directly, but I have no backup when they cannot work and I'm confused about all the taxes I might owe."
- "My dad is paralyzed from a stroke and needs a live-in caregiver to help around the clock and provide companionship."
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"I'm taking off too much time from work to care for my parents. I need someone to be there when I cannot."