Choosing the right home care provider
How can you be certain the provider you choose is one you can trust? Your doctor or hospital discharge planner can often help you find a home care provider to meet your needs. Their recommendations are helpful, but the choice is always up to you.
Here are a few questions to ask home care providers:
- Are the agency caregivers and supervisors – including backup caregivers – available 24 hours per day, 7 days a week?
- How does the provider ensure patient confidentiality?
- Does the provider require criminal record background checks and communicable disease screens for its staff members?
- Is there a written plan of care that the patient, physician and family participate in developing?
- Does the agency educate family members on the care being provided to the patient?
Our mission is to keep your loved one in the comfort of their home by providing compassionate, professional, personalized care.
When is home care appropriate?
Home care is appropriate whenever a person prefers to stay at home but needs ongoing care that cannot be easily or effectively provided solely by family and friends.
Home care is available to those who:
- Are disabled, or recuperating from acute illness
- Are recovering from an illness or injury,
- Are aged, with diminished physical capabilities
- Have a chronic or terminal illness
Who Pays for Home Care?
Home care services can be paid for directly by the patient and his or her family members, or through a variety of public and private sources. Public third-party payors include Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, and Social Services block grant programs. Private third-party payors include commercial health insurance companies, managed care organizations, TRICARE, and workers’ compensation.
Self-pay
Home care services that fail to meet the criteria of third-party payors must be paid for “out of pocket” by the patient or another party. The patient and home care provider negotiate the fees.