Home Health Care Services, Benefits and Costs
Contents
Home Health Care is a broad term for medical care provided in the patient’s home by professionals such as nurses, physical and occupational therapists, speech therapists and trained home health aides. It is usually ordered by a doctor for someone recovering from an illness, injury or hospital stay. For many patients, it can be more convenient and less costly than care in a hospital or facility. It can also include medical social services and help from a home health aide, under a care plan set by a doctor.
The medical care environment at home differs from the hospitals or other institutional environments where a whole team is working. In the hospital, nurses, physicians, surgeons, and pharmacists work together to make sure the patient takes the right dose of medication at the right time and intervals. At home, the patient may choose to take medication on their own schedule, despite the advice given. In other words, a clinician's efforts may not always lead to the desired outcomes in home health care.
Patient safety and quality of care at home therefore need extra attention. Six areas are especially important:
- Quality of life and health care outcomes
- Medicine management
- Nurse, physician work environment
- Wound management
- Fall prevention
- Ulcer management
Goals Of Health Care Home
Why are medical services provided at home rather than in the hospital? This is a frequently asked question. Home health care has several goals:
- It helps people regain function and independence.
- Patients often feel more comfortable in their own home and may cooperate better with care.
- It promotes the patient’s optimal level of well-being.
- It can help avoid hospital admissions and readmissions.
- It can benefit people with mental health conditions or disabilities.
- Older adults can get care without leaving home.
- The home environment avoids the busy setting of a hospital, where many seriously ill patients come and go.
- Care is planned around each patient's individual needs.
Medical Services Provided At Home
Home health care is usually provided part-time or intermittently, not around the clock. Common reasons people receive it include heart and lung conditions, recovery from surgery or injury, musculoskeletal diseases, and disabilities. Services can include skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language therapy and medical social services.
Health Care Services Examples & Type Of Assistance
- Monitoring of your temperature, blood pressure, blood sugar, respiratory rate, urine output.
- Safe, healthy, pleasant and comfortable environment maintenance for the patients
- Mental health support
- Nutrition management
- Counseling of patients and his family
- Education about the disease and its management
- Speech therapy
- Occupation therapy
- Regular observation and assessment
- Provide healthy social interaction
- A good relationship between the patient and care team
- Wound management
- Infection prevention
- Personal hygiene education
- Maintain the self-confidence and self-esteem of the patients
- Medical social care management
- Pain management
- Health Care may also involve helping older people engaging with the activities of daily life, such as eating, bathing, cooking, and dressing.
Paying For Home Health Care
The cost of home health care varies across and within states. It also depends on the type of professional needed. Home health care can be paid for directly by patients and their families or through private insurance and public programs.
In the US, Medicare covers home health care at no cost to you if you are homebound, a doctor orders it, you need part-time or intermittent skilled care, and a Medicare-certified agency provides it, according to Medicare's home health coverage rules. Medicare does not cover 24-hour care at home, meal delivery, housekeeping, or personal care such as bathing and dressing when that is the only care you need. For many patients, care at home costs less than a hospital stay, but check your coverage with your plan.
HP Thoughts: Communication, too, plays a role in healthcare services! Know how effective a healthcare practitioner could become: Why Healthcare Industry Needs Communications Experts?
Sources
- Home health services, Medicare.gov (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
- Home Care Services, MedlinePlus
