For Patients

What services can a home health care agency provide?

Home health care agencies provide skilled in-home services. At Family Care, we provide skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and medical social work. This includes nutritional evaluation, diabetes management, post-op care, medication teaching, IV therapies, community resource coordination, and restorative services. We specialize in cardiopulmonary disease management and non-healing wound care.

Additionally, several of our locations provide hospice care in the comfort of patients’ homes. This includes palliative care and bereavement services. Please visit your office’s page under “Our Locations” to see if this is an option for you.

Some agencies provide non-skilled services, like home health aid or companionship. Family Care provides home health aid, which includes services like grooming, bathing, cleaning, and meal preparation.

Who pays for home health care?

If you are eligible for Medicare-covered home health care, Medicare will fully cover all services. Eligibility is determined during the first patient visit, when an agency staff member assesses your homebound status.

Although Medicare coverage is the most common method of payment, some patients elect to pay out of pocket, or add a private insurance plan.

How long will I qualify for home health care?

As long as you meet Medicare’s definition of “homebound,” you can qualify for home health services indefinitely. Every 60 days, one of our clinicians will reevaluate your need for care. At that time, you will either be discharged, or remain in the care of the agency. Even if Medicare no longer covers your home health services, you can opt to stay with the agency via private insurance or self-pay.

How do I get started?

Anyone can request home health care. Many of our patients come to us by referral. If you’ve recently been discharged from a hospital, assisted living facility, or rehabilitation facility, you may receive a referral from the discharging physician. Some of our patients or their family members contact us on their own, if they’ve experienced a change in their health that makes it difficult or impossible to resume their usual routine.

Once we know you’re looking for home health services, one of our office employees will call you to complete a brief intake form. They will ask you questions about your living situation, your emergency contacts, your insurance, and your medical information.

When our intake process is complete, we will schedule your first in-person visit. One of our clinicians will come to your home to complete a detailed first assessment. They will ask you questions about your health, things you struggle with on a daily basis, and your goals for improvement. During this visit, our clinician will help you determine what types of services you need (like physical therapy or medical social work), and make a plan for future visits.

What control do I have over my care?

The simple answer is: as much as you’d like. We believe independence is an important goal for our patients. That’s why we provide teaching on how to manage your health. When you first become our patient, we will ask a lot of questions about what you hope to gain from your care. Often, a clinician’s or doctor’s goals for their patients are different than what’s important to you. We make it a priority to listen to what you want to take away from your treatment.

If you have a caregiver or involved family member, we can include them in our treatment teaching. It’s important to us that your whole care team has the knowledge they need to help you.

What if I miss a visit?

These things happen! If you are unable to keep an appointment, we appreciate as much notice as possible. This helps us schedule our staff effectively.

If something comes up without warning, there’s no need to worry! We will work with you to determine if the visit can be rescheduled for a different day.

Do you offer translators?

Many of our clinicians are bilingual. If we do not have a staff member who can communicate with you, we can arrange to visit when a bilingual family member or friend can be present. Alternatively, one of our medical social workers might be able to connect you with a translator in the community.

What if I have a problem with my care?

Although we hope it never happens, we take problems with patient care very seriously. We encourage you to call your Family Care office if you have any concerns about the behavior of our clinicians. We can work with you to remedy the situation, change your plan of care, or assign a different clinician if necessary.