There’s a lot of confusion between home care and home health. Even health professionals that we encounter don’t quite know the difference between what home health covers and what home care provides for. I’m Chris Mihm and today we’re going to talk about the differences between home care and home health.
Home care is service that is provided in the home by a team of caregivers. The caregivers will assist with activities of daily living such as housekeeping, Personal cares, transfers, toileting, medication reminders, medication administration. They can help with shopping, taking your loved one out on errands, and companionship.
Home care services are generally provided in blocks of four hours or longer. And when it comes to payment, home care services are a private duty out of pocket, or they can be reimbursed by long term care insurance. There are also a number of programs such as Veteran Benefits that can help cover the cost of home care.
So what is home health?
Home health is generally going to be more skilled services. So you might see an RN or a physical therapist, occupational therapist, that’s going to come out to the home. Generally, these shifts are going to be shorter in time frame, one hour at maximum. And the services are generally paid by either private insurance or Medicare.
How home care and home health can work together.
At Freedom Home Care, we have a great dual discharge program. So if your loved one happens to be at a rehab facility and they’re going to be discharged home, they’re going to be discharged home more than likely with home health services. And those services are only going to be provided several days a week at a very short duration. Our home care services can help support the transition home and support the home health aid that’s provided that skilled nursing.
An example may be your loved one is being prescribed treatments, exercises, and all those routines that the physical therapist is coming into the home and helping with on a very short duration. Whereas after they leave, they may need additional support. To do those exercises, it’s very likely that once the physical therapist leaves the home, there’s no one there to hold your loved one accountable for the exercises that they’re going to be doing. Our caregivers can actually help out with that, plus support them with other activities of daily living that are difficult during this rehabilitation process.
At Freedom Home Care, we provide home care services, and if your loved one is in need of home health, we have a network of partners who we can refer to.
