Home Health Care & Hospice – an Overview

Posted on

Oct 18, 2018

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Assisting people with their health care needs while they remain in their own home is what home health care is all about.
Home Health Care:

Assisting people with their health care needs while they remain in their own home is what home health care is all about. Home Health Care services are provided under the supervision of your physician and are available 24 hours a day.

The type of services provided by home care vary but may include some of the following:

Nursing assessment

Medication management and teaching

Wound care

Diabetic instruction and care

Dietary teaching

Bowel and catheter care

Drawing blood samples

I.V. therapy

Tube feeding

Pain control/management

Rehabilitation services

Transfer and gait training

Strengthening exercises

Emotional support

Financial community resources counseling

Someone may receive home health care in any place you call home. This may include your own home, your relatives home, retirement centers and assisted living centers (some restrictions apply with home health aide services). Home health care has even been provided in hotel rooms when a patient is staying locally to recuperate before returning home. A patient may decide to stay locally after surgery and then return home to another city. Home health care may be provided in both places as long as patient continues to require skilled care and remains homebound.

Home health care is paid by a variety of sources. Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance companies and social services organizations cover qualifying home care services.

Home health care requires a physicians order unless a person is paying privately for home health aide services. After getting an order from a physician, a nurse may assess the prospective patients eligibility for home health care. Home health care is for people who can manage safely in their homes. If a patient lacks the proper facilities, the ability to get meals or does not have a regular support system, a different level of care may be needed. This may include assisted living centers or skilled nursing facilities.

Hospice:

Hospice assists individuals, their families and/or caregivers, achieve the best quality of life through physical, emotional and spiritual care during a life-limiting illness. Hospice patients choose to focus on cares directed toward comfort, not a cure for the illness.

Hospice is comprised of health care professionals and volunteers who together form a caring community helping individuals and their families facing a life-limiting illness. It differs from traditional medical interventions by providing support and care for persons in the last phases of illness so they can live as fully and comfortably as possible with life-affirming dignity.

A patient on hospice does not have to be home bound, and is encouraged, if able, to get out and participate in activities and functions they enjoy. Hospice is for all age groups, including children, adults, and the elderly.

The vision of hospice is to profoundly enhance the end of life for the dying person by ensuring access to exceptional quality care. The services provided by a hospice agency include the following:

Doctor and nursing services

Skilled professional pain and symptom management

Emotional, spiritual, financial and bereavement support services

Medications related to the life limiting illness/comfort

Home health aide

Short-term inpatient care to manage symptoms

Respite services

24-hour on-call doctor and nursing availability

Dietary counseling

Physical, occupational and speech therapy as needed to enhance quality of life

Trained volunteer services

Medication management and education

Standard durable medical equipment

Medical and incontinent care supplies

Bereavement follow-up

Assistance with accessing community resources, preparing medical directives, medical power of attorney, medical treatment plans and funeral planning

Like home care, hospice services are paid for in a few different ways: Medicare (Part A), Medicaid, Health Insurance, and Private Pay. Additionally, Hospice services can be provided in patients homes, skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, assisted living centers, residential care facilities or wherever the patient calls home.

Editors Note: This article was submitted by Rocky Mountain Care

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