Home Health Care

Home health care includes such care activities as changing wound dressings, checking vital signs, cleaning catheters and providing tube feedings. Home health care staff also may provide some personal care services and light housekeeping.

If the older person for whom you are caring for is recuperating from an accident, operation, or illness, he or she may be able to receive home health care assistance through a Medicare certified home care agency. If older persons cannot care for themselves because of physical functioning, health problems, or because they no longer are able to mentally process things, they may be eligible for skilled nursing care or physical, speech, or occupational therapy. In these cases, home health care also may be available. Ask your older relative’s doctor if your family member is eligible for these services. Medicare usually pays for home health care services for two or three hours a day, several days a week, and for the medical care provided by a doctor, nurse, or other health professional. Such care tends to be for a limited time.

If the person for whom you are caring has a limited income and assets, he or she may be able to receive home health care, personal care, or hospice services as well as occupational, physical, or speech therapy through Medicaid (a federal-state program, administered by CMS at the federal level). Some older persons with limited assets and income are eligible for help through both the Medicare and the Medicaid programs. If this is the case, your care receiver may be able to obtain personal and/or home health care services on a long-term basis instead of being cared for in an extended care facility. Otherwise, in-home and community-based services may be available through an Area Agency on Aging.

Middle and higher-income persons often pay out-of-pocket for personal and home health care services.

If you hire staff through a home care agency, ask the agency how they screen their staff and if staff is bonded. Agencies charge you for the costs of doing business; i.e., for management, administration, and recruiting workers. This can be quite expensive, but there are ways to make help more affordable. For example, you can explore the possibility of directly hiring a personal or home health care assistant. If you choose to hire help, be sure to check their qualifications and references carefully. Remember, you will then be an employer, and you may need to cover Social Security and other benefits.

Source: U.S. Administration on Aging