Medicare & You: Home Health Care
Examples of what the home health
staff should do:
-
Check what you’re eating and drinking.
-
Check your blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, and breathing.
-
Check that you’re taking your prescription and other drugs and any treatments correctly.
-
Ask if you’re having pain.
-
Check your safety in the home.
-
Teach you about your care so you can take care of yourself.
-
Coordinate your care. This means they must communicate regularly with you, your doctor, and anyone else who gives you care.
What to expect from your home healthcare agency.
-
Doctor’s orders are needed to start care. Once your doctor refers you for home health services, the home health agency will schedule an appointment and come to your home to talk to you about your needs and ask you some questions about your health.
-
The home health agency staff will also talk to your doctor about your care and keep your doctor updated about your progress.
-
It’s important that home health staff see you as often as the doctor ordered.
New Study Shows Home Health More Effective than Hospital Stay for Many Patients
The home health community sees the positive impacts that high-quality, skilled home health services provide to patients every day. Now, a new study published in The American Journal of Accountable Care confirms what we’ve experienced firsthand: home healthcare is a tremendously beneficial alternative to hospitalization for millions of Medicare beneficiaries across the country. By examining patients admitted to the emergency room with a serious illness (congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, urinary tract infection, pneumonia, or cellulitis), researchers compared outcomes between those Medicare beneficiaries who were admitted to the hospital following their visit to the ER and those who instead received home healthcare.
The results showed the group of patients who were treated in a home-based setting were significantly less likely to be admitted or readmitted to the hospital. Similarly, the home health group had fewer visits to the emergency room as a whole than the patients who were immediately admitted to the hospital.
Stay Where You Want To Be – At Home.
We know your needs are unique. Whether you are just transitioning home from a hospital or long-term facility stay, or you need extra help managing your chronic illness or navigating home safety hazards, we team up with your physician to build a care team and care plan especially for you, based on your personal challenges and goals.
.jpg)
