What is Home Health Care?

Many people prefer to heal at home rather than in a hospital or long-term care facility. UR Medicine Home Care makes that choice possible, offering expert care in the comfort of home. Whether you’re recovering from surgery, managing a long-term illness, or caring for a child with complex medical needs, home health care can help support you throughout the healing process.

What Is Home Health Care?

Home health care is a short-term medical and therapeutic service provided in a patient’s home. The care is provided by licensed professionals and will follow individualized treatment plans. It allows the care team to see the patients’ day-to-day experiences, which can help tweak treatment plans to best suit their individual needs.

At UR Medicine, Home Care Services include:

• Skilled nursing: treatment, medication management, monitoring, wound care
• Rehabilitation: physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy
• Pediatric home care
• Home health aides: helping with daily living tasks
• Palliative care: curative care and symptom management
• Care management: coordinating care, planning transitions from hospital to home
• Meals On Wheels: nutritious meals delivered to the door for homebound individuals
• Hospice-medical care: for individuals who are nearing the end of life, focus on comfort, dignity, and quality of life rather than curative treatment
  
  

Certified Home Health Care is designed to be intermittent, not 24/7. Visits are scheduled several times per week or as needed. Under the guidance of a physician, a UR Medicine Home Care case manager—such as a nurse or therapist—oversees the care plan and coordinates services tailored to the patient’s needs.

Who Is Eligible for Home Care?

To use certified home health care services, several criteria must be met:

• Referral from a physician

• Need for specialized treatment that can only be provided by a certified medical professional

• Home-bound status, meaning it’s a considerable and taxing effort to leave home

• Recovering from surgery, injury, or illness, without the need for inpatient hospitalization
• Worsening of a chronic condition (e.g. heart failure, diabetes, respiratory disease) that requires ongoing monitoring or therapy at home
• Would benefit from rehabilitation and can do so safely at home
• Medical professionals suggesting home care as part of a discharge or recovery plan

If you think home care may be the right fit, the first step is to speak with your primary care provider or hospital discharge team. If a referral is completed, you will then be assigned a case manager to plan and coordinate at-home services.

Does Medicare Cover Home Care at Home?

Yes. Most insurances, including Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance, will cover skilled home health services when certain criteria are met. UR Medicine Home Care also offers private pay options for additional services beyond what insurance covers.

What Is Hospice Care at Home?

When the goal is to manage symptoms rather than further a recovery, hospice care can offer comfort, dignity, and expert care in a familiar environment at the end of life.

UR Medicine Hospice provides:

• Pain and symptom management
• Emotional and spiritual support
• Help with transitions to comfort care homes or skilled nursing facilities
• Bereavement support for loved ones

Hospice care is usually provided in the patient’s home, but UR Medicine also offers options for comfort care homes, skilled nursing facilities, or hospital settings.