How Home Health Works
To be eligible to receive home health services, you must have an order from a physician. You must have also had a visit with a physician, nurse practitioner, or licensed physician assistant no earlier than 90 days before you are admitted to home health. If you are coming home directly from a hospital or nursing home, the case manager or social worker can send this information directly to us.
When you are admitted to home health, a registered nurse will visit you for approximately one hour. During this time, he or she will examine you from head to toe, make a list of all the medications you are taking, help develop a plan of care based on information sent from your doctor’s office or hospital, and have you to sign several papers that give us permission to treat you and also explain your rights as a home health patient.
You will then receiving ongoing visits from a nurse, aide, and/or therapist depending on your unique needs. Most patients receive several visits each week. The nurse, aide, or therapist will contact you in advance of the visit to let you know that they are coming. We strive to do our best to maintain a regular schedule of visits for you.
Most nurse visits last around 30 minutes. During a regular nurse visit, the nurse will examine you, provide any necessary teaching and/or treatments, and ask if you have had any medication changes. If necessary, we will contact your doctor to keep them up-to-date on your condition.
If you are receiving aide services, the aide visits usually last around 30 minutes and consist of assistance with bathing, dressing, or other activities of daily living. A registered nurse will evaluate the care the aide provides at least once every fourteen days.
If you receive therapy services, a physical therapist will visit you to determine your therapy needs. Either the physical therapist or the licensed physical therapy assistant will make follow up visits to conduct therapy sessions.
Home health care is delivered in 60 day “episodes of care”. Under Medicare and many insurance plans, you are allowed to receive an unlimited number of “episodes of care” as long as you continue to require the services of a nurse or therapist. A registered nurse will visit you within the last 5 days of each “episode of care” to re-assess your need for home health. If you have to go into the hospital or nursing home, a registered nurse will visit you when you return home in order to determine how your needs have changed.
If you have any questions about how home health works, please feel free to call our office at 205-926-3211 for more information.