Elderly home health care provides services like companionship, assistance withlight cleaning. Services offered may also include help with running errands,picking up prescriptions, shopping, and helping to prepare meals. Personalservices performed by home health nurse's aides may include help with grooming,dressing and eating.
Services may also be available to help Mom with her bath or mobility issues, oroffering limited supervision with those diagnosed with a cognitive impairmentsuch as that caused by dementia or stroke.
Some of these services may require supervision or help from trainedprofessionals, while others are designed to improve independence and quality oflife for the elderly in a home-based environment.
What to Look For In an Elderly Home Health Care Service
When looking for a home healthcare service, go with your gut instincts. Thismeans:
* Checking the references and business history of the agency
* Performing background checks on employees charged with caring for Mom
* Monitoring services on a regular basis
* Employees trained and certified to provide care
Whenever possible, research the agency, ask questions, and don't hesitate tocontact the Better Business Bureau or other state certification andaccreditation agencies to make sure there are no standing complaints orlawsuits against the agency. Take the time to do your homework and make surethat you're getting exactly what you're paying for.
Paying for Elderly Home Health Care
Mom may need limited services or a full range of services depending on herphysical capabilities and her mental cognitive levels. Costs are determined bywhether trained help or merely companionship services are required. Costs arealso determined by the amount of hours per day or the days per week this helpis required.
Elderly home health care agencies often charge between $15.00 and $25.00 anhour. Daily rates may range from $110 to $200 a day. Monthly rates may rangefrom $3,000 dollars to nearly $6,000 a month, again depending on the level andfrequency of care. Most rates are calculated on a typical 8-hour day, but manyseniors don't require services for a full 8 hours, which will drastically cutdown on costs. Home health care agencies may stipulate a minimum hourlyrequirement however.
In many scenarios, 2 to 3 hours a day is all that are required in order toprovide adequate services for seniors not diagnosed with severe medicalconditions or those that require specialized treatment or supervision.
Medicare does not cover the cost of most home health care services except undercertain situations that must meet eligibility criteria as determined byMedicare. These include:
* Mom is homebound, with a doctor's certification that she's homebound; meaningthat she can't leave the home without a wheelchair or walker, the help ofanother person, or that leaving the home requires considerable effort.
* A doctor's certification that Mom needs therapy or intermittent skillednursing care.
* A doctor's care or treatment plan regularly reviewed by Mom's physician
* A home health care agency must be approved and certified by Medicare.
Intermittent skilled nursing care is defined by Medicare as services needed onless than seven days a week and less than 8 hours a day over a three weekperiod or less, unless special circumstances are involved.
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