What Is Home Health Care?

If your loved one’s doctor has prescribed home health care, a licensed professional will come to their home to provide the services they need. Typically, the process is as follows:

1. Referral for assessment: Your loved one’s doctor will write an order for them to be assessed by a home health nurse.
2. Care plan development: Once your loved one has been assessed, their doctor and the home health nurse will develop a care plan. You and your loved one should participate in these discussions and decisions.
3. Care delivery: With the care plan in hand, the home health nurse or home health agency will assign providers to your loved one and they’ll start making home visits.
4. Ongoing coordination: As your loved one progresses through their care plan, home health care providers will document improvements and ongoing needs and will share this information with their doctor.

Home health care encompasses a range of services provided by health care professionals.

Skilled nursing care

A home health nurse may be a registered nurse (RN), a licensed practical or vocational nurse (LPN/LVN), or a certified nursing assistant (CNA). The type of nurse who cares for your loved one will depend on the type of care they need. For example, skilled nursing care includes:

• Wound care. This could involve changing the dressings and cleaning the area of a healing surgical wound, but it also applies to treating pressure wounds or bed sores.
• Ostomy care. This involves changing the ostomy bags and cleaning the surrounding skin to help ensure it stays free from infection.^[01]
• Nutrition therapy. This may involve counseling and patient education about the dietary needs of their condition. It may be prescribed for seniors with diabetes, heart disease, Crohn’s disease, or other conditions.^[02]
• Intravenous (IV) therapy. This may involve delivering medication through an IV, but IVs are also used to deliver hydration and nutrients.
• Injections. This could be an insulin injection or medication.
• Health monitoring. This involves keeping track of vital statistics, such as blood pressure and heart rate. It’s especially helpful for seniors who have a serious illness.

Aside from providing care, the nurse caring for your loved one will also document the care they provide and share those records with your loved one’s doctor and other members of their care team.

Physical therapy

The most common goal of physical therapy is to recover functional mobility. A doctor may prescribe physical therapy for seniors recovering from an injury or health emergency, such as a stroke. Physical therapists and physical therapy assistants visit patients’ homes and work with them on things like:^[03]

• Gait reestablishment or adjustment
• Transfer training — for instance, down and up from the toilet, in and out of bed, etc.
• Fall prevention
• A home exercise program

According to the American Physical Therapy Association, it can be easier for therapists to clearly define what the most relevant functional goals are when they can see a patient’s home.^[03] In this regard, in-home therapy can offer a real advantage over therapy in an outpatient setting. Depending on what your loved one needs, they may be encouraged to practice the exercises independently or under supervision between sessions.

Occupational therapy

Occupational therapists can help seniors in various ways, including relearning everyday actions, such as brushing hair when challenged by a limited range of motion. Occupational therapy can also help with the following, and much more:^[04]

• Routines associated with diabetes management, such as blood sugar monitoring, hygiene, and foot care
• Strategies for seniors with heart failure or COPD to conserve energy while incorporating activities into their daily life
• Stress management for seniors with cognitive or behavioral health conditions

Speech therapy

If your doctor has prescribed speech therapy, a speech-language pathologist can come to your loved one’s home to help them. A speech-language pathologist can help with the following:^[05]

• Swallowing techniques
• Spoken language expression
• Motor speech, or coordinating the muscles of the face, tongue, and larynx

Patient education and medical social services

If your loved one has a new, significant diagnosis, a medical social worker may be asked to help them understand their health condition and care plan. They can also direct you to helpful resources. While you might work with different agencies and caregivers, you could use a mixture of home care and home health services to meet your loved one’s needs.

Let our care assessment guide you

While home health care and home care sound similar, they’re quite different. Whereas home health care involves medical services delivered by health care professionals, home care is designed to help people with activities of daily living (ADLs) — such as bathing or transferring — or help with chores around the house.

A nonmedical home care provider, whether independent or hired through a home care agency, typically assists with:

• ADLs
• Transportation to appointments
• Tidying up around the house
• Grocery shopping and meal preparation
• Running errands
• Medication reminders
• Companionship

One of the biggest benefits of home health care is the convenience of receiving it in a familiar and comfortable setting. Especially when the goal of this care is rehabilitative — such as with physical, occupational, or speech therapy — it can be helpful to have sessions at home because that’s where the patient will spend most of their time and perform those essential daily actions and activities.

Also, because home health care is provided by health care professionals, it’s typically of the same quality as care your loved one would receive in a skilled nursing facility.

One drawback to home health care can be the time it takes to get durable medical equipment, such as oxygen or nebulizers, delivered to a patient’s home. Another concern may be the home. The home itself may not be conducive to treatment in some cases; for example, if it’s cluttered or too small to perform rehab exercises.

Once you find a home health nurse or therapist, it can take some time for your loved one to feel comfortable having a stranger in their home. This is especially true in cases where they need a nurse with them for many hours at a time. Ideally, given some time, they’ll form a strong bond with their caregiver.

According to Genworth’s annual cost of care survey, the monthly median cost of a full-time home health aide working 44 hours per week is $6,483.^[06] Many families look to insurance or other payment options, such as reverse mortgages, to help cover the costs. Other funding sources include:

• Medicare. As a health insurance plan, Medicare will typically cover only short periods of home health care following an illness or hospitalization.^[07]
• Medicaid. Each state handles home health care coverage differently, but many states support elderly residents receiving these services so they’re able to age in place.^[08]
• Long-term care insurance. Policies differ, but many long-term care plans will cover at least some home health care services.

Talk with a Senior Living Advisor

It’s important to choose a home health agency that’s a good fit for the care your loved one needs, such as being a Medicare-approved agency. Ask the agency these questions to help you make this determination:

• Do you have RNs, LPNs, and/or CNAs on staff?
• What’s your backup plan if a nurse calls out sick or is unavailable?
• Do you try to match nurses with patients based on personality or shared interests?
• Can we interview nurses before choosing who would be the best fit for our loved one?

You’ll also want to ask about which insurance the agency accepts to help ensure they’re in-network, plus discuss payment options.

A Place for Mom’s Senior Living Advisors can help you find a home care agency that will provide the right amount of care for your loved one, whether you’re looking for round-the-clock assistance or simply need someone to help out for a few hours a week. Best of all, this service is available at no cost to you.