Shirilevita

Archive for August, 2009

If you or an older relative are having some health problem or can’t find the energy for necessary daily tasks, don’t assume you have to give up.your home. There are home-care services available that may allow you to stay put, if that is what you’d like to do.
Home care covers a broad range of services, offered temporarily or on a regular basis. One person might need regular assistance because of a health condition that limits his or her functioning, such as arthriUs or failing vision. Another might need short-term home care while recovering from an illness or from surgery. Home care can be providat by Visiting Nurses, at a fairly typical cost of $40 per visit, which may be covered by Medicare or other insurance. Skilled-nursing care by the day (or night) is also available through the types of private and public agencies described below. Costs for skilled nurses (R.N.s or L.P.N.s) are highly variable—you may have to pay as much as $25 per hour for a registered nurse, but you may also be eligible for some insurance or Medicare coverage if the service is ordered by your doctor and follows discharge from the hospital.
Many agencies also offer full or part-time home health aide/homemaker services for assistance with personal care and household chores. Fees for home health aides run anywhere from $8 and upwards hourly. Variations in home nursing costs change from locality to locality, but fees differ within localities, too, so it pays to compare. Alternative ways of meeting nursing care costs are described in more detail later on in this chapter.
Home care can also be supplemented by other services, such as Meals on Wheels, outside home maintenance, volunteer visiting, and transportation or escort services. Sometimes it takes just a little additional service to fill in the gaps between what you need and what friends and family already provide.
Ideally, you’ll want to arrange for the type and extent of home care that’s best tailored to your needs. Professionals, such as hospital discharge workers attempt to match their clients’ needs with available services and help clients coordinate with the appropriate agencies. But with a little consumer know-how, you or your family can probably begin the process.
One word of caution: If you or your older relative are anticipating a return home from the hospital, don’t put off planning for home health care. Most third-party payments that cover these services (such as Blue Cross or Medicare) stipulate that the service must directly follow discharge from the hospital. If you wait to see how you fare on your own and then decide help is needed, chances are you won’t be reimbursed. Remember, you can always discontinue assistance you no longer need!
If, during a hospital stay, you think you may need help when you get home, inform to your doctor, since he or she will have to order the service in order for coverage to take effect. If no one from the hospital’s Home Care or Social Services department contacts you, then you should make an appointment to meet with them before going home. And if your hospital doesn’t have such a department, ask a head nurse on your floor how you can obtain needed assistance with home care.