Exploring Home Care and Home Health Care Determining the Care You Need for Various Life Situations
You or a loved one may need assistance with daily living tasks such as bathing, getting dressed or running errands. Or perhaps you or your family member needs medical care such as skilled nursing, physical therapy or prescription management. Home care and home health care services are available to address all of these needs and to help you maintain your independence and quality of life in your own home. By understanding the differences between these two options, you can craft a care plan that best suits you or your loved one both in terms of the help you need and how you will pay for the care you receive. Home Care Home care services require no doctor’s orders, can be contracted for 24 hours a day and can continue as long as someone wishes. Home care involves custodial care and is sometimes also referred to as personal care, attendant care, non-medical care or companion care.
Home care services can include meal preparation, personal care, light housekeeping, shopping and other errands, and companionship. Some home care agencies offer geriatric care management, a service that oversees and coordinates all the outside services in a client’s home — from hiring a lawn service to coordinating medical-related home health care visits and more. Although often crucial to being able to stay independent at home, home care typically is not covered by health insurance, but it may be covered by a long-term care policy if you or your loved one happens to have one. When looking for a home care agency, ask if the home care agency: • Can provide services within 24 hours of a request; • Offers services any hour of the day and every day of the week; • Sends a substitute home care aide if the assigned aide is unable to come; continued on page 40
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Aging Resources 2020–2021
