What's home health care?

The most common form of home health care is some type of nursing care depending on the person's needs. In consultation with the doctor, a registered nurse will set up a plan of care. Nursing care may include wound dressing, ostomy care, intravenous therapy, administering medication, monitoring the general health of the patient, pain control, and other health support. Some patients may need help relearning how to perform daily duties or improve their speech after an illness or injury. A physical therapist can put together a plan of care to help a patient regain or strengthen use of muscles and joints.

“They become part of the family because they’re spending hours— multiple days of the week—with the person.” Sometimes the patient and home health caregiver even vacation together, he says. Depending on a person’s needs, home health care can consist of medical care like wound care and/or non-medical care like help with bathing or meal preparation. Our website services, content and products are for informational purposes only. While our team of experienced journalists and medical experts offers timely wellness insights, news and reviews, we do not provide medical advice, diagnoses or treatment.

A doctor may visit a patient at home to diagnose and treat the illness. He or she may also periodically review the home health care needs. 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. For this reason, Sun says it’s important for families to plan ahead for the resources they might need in the future. But to make it happen, additional care is often necessary, which is why some families turn to home health care services. Often called Meals-on-Wheels, many communities offer this service to patients at home who are unable to cook for themselves.

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Home health care is a wide range of health care services that can be given in your home for an illness or injury. Home health care is usually less expensive, more convenient, and just as effective as care you get in a hospital or skilled nursing facility . BrightStar Care offers home health care to all age ranges, says Sun—including pediatrics. Some families, for example, might have a child on a ventilator and need assistance at home, she says. It’s also common for people who were injured on the job to need home health care services.

This means they must communicate regularly with you, your doctor, and anyone else who gives you care.

Care needs to be intermittent, which means fewer than seven days a week and for less than eight hours each day, for up to 21 days. Non-medical care, such as meal prep and bathing assistance, doesn’t qualify. Home health care also reduces loneliness among seniors, which can improve their mental and physical health, says Pecora. He points out that during the coronavirus pandemic, home health care aides were often the only people patients saw.

She helped launch the popular Best Diets rankings and continued to oversee the franchise throughout her time there. Angela has also written about health and wellness for publications such as the Washington Post, USA Today, Everyday Health and Verywell Fit. She’s passionate about helping people make healthier decisions through accurate journalism that delivers the facts and puts them in context. Based on the responses you receive, you should be able to partner with a home health care agency that adequately meets the needs of your loved one. If you answered “no” to any of these questions, it may be time to consider support from a home health care agency.

The compensation we receive from advertisers does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides in our articles or otherwise impact any of the editorial content on Forbes Health. Volunteers from community organizations can provide basic comfort to the patient through companionship, helping with personal care, providing transportation, emotional support, and/or helping with paperwork. Medical social workers provide various services to the patient, including counseling and locating community resources to help the patient in his or her recovery. Some social workers are also the patient's case manager--if the patient's medical condition is very complex and requires coordination of many services. Most obviously, it allows seniors to stay at home instead of having to relocate to a facility.