Senior Resources 2024 Health Care Guide

H

ome Health Agencies were established to provide health care for individuals who do not require hospitalization, but need care or treatment and have diffi culty leaving their home to seek care in a clinic setting. Agency nurses, physical, occupational, and speech thera pists, as well as social workers and aides bring a wide range of treatment options to the home. Nurses work with patients to manage medications, treat wounds, run infusions, teach tube feedings, manage bowel and bladder programs, and teach patients how to manage disease process. Therapists work to restore lost motor function, from walk ing after a knee replacement, to meal preparation for com promised heart patients, to relearning speech following a stroke. Aides assist patients with activities of daily living while in the recovery phase. Most home health agen cies also provide custodial long term care. Some offer other programs and services in the home such as meals on-wheels, homemaker ser vices, private duty, etc. The delivery of home care is now more high tech and has grown to include remote electronic monitoring of dis ease management and elec tronic patient records. Patients benefit with accurate and up-to-date response times.

H OME H EALTH A GENCIES are subject to the regulations of that licensure. Medicare, Medicaid and most insurance policies cover home health services for home bound patients who require nursing and/or therapy. Some insur ance policies, such as Medicaid and long term care policies will cover custodial care without the requirement of a nurse or a therapist. Many providers are also accredited by an independent outside regulatory body.

home care in their home or apartment, this includes inde pendent living centers. Home care can be provided in assisted living centers also, when the care does not duplicate a service already offered by the center. In addition to home health agencies there are non-licensed agencies that provide only non medical services. These organi zations offer custodial care in the form of cleaning, cooking, errands, bathing and dressing. These services are not covered by Medicare or Medicaid, but may be covered by long term care insurance. Article submitted by Mary T. Haynor, Horizon Home Care and Hospice, Inc.

Most individuals receive

Home Health Agencies are licensed by the State and

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