Elderly Home Health Care - What Services Are Available For Mom's Care?

By Author: Evonnes Collier
Total Articles: 2
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Elderly home health care provides services like companionship, assistance with
light cleaning. Services offered may also include help with running errands,
picking up prescriptions, shopping, and helping to prepare meals. Personal
services performed by home health nurse's aides may include help with grooming,
dressing and eating.

Services may also be available to help Mom with her bath or mobility issues, or
offering limited supervision with those diagnosed with a cognitive impairment
such as that caused by dementia or stroke.

Some of these services may require supervision or help from trained
professionals, while others are designed to improve independence and quality of
life for the elderly in a home-based environment.

What to Look For In an Elderly Home Health Care Service

When looking for a home healthcare service, go with your gut instincts. This
means:

* Checking the references and business history of the agency

* Performing background checks on employees charged with caring for Mom

* Monitoring services on a regular ...
... basis

* Employees trained and certified to provide care

Whenever possible, research the agency, ask questions, and don't hesitate to
contact the Better Business Bureau or other state certification and
accreditation agencies to make sure there are no standing complaints or
lawsuits against the agency. Take the time to do your homework and make sure
that you're getting exactly what you're paying for.

Paying for Elderly Home Health Care

Mom may need limited services or a full range of services depending on her
physical capabilities and her mental cognitive levels. Costs are determined by
whether trained help or merely companionship services are required. Costs are
also determined by the amount of hours per day or the days per week this help
is required.

Elderly home health care agencies often charge between $15.00 and $25.00 an
hour. Daily rates may range from $110 to $200 a day. Monthly rates may range
from $3,000 dollars to nearly $6,000 a month, again depending on the level and
frequency of care. Most rates are calculated on a typical 8-hour day, but many
seniors don't require services for a full 8 hours, which will drastically cut
down on costs. Home health care agencies may stipulate a minimum hourly
requirement however.

In many scenarios, 2 to 3 hours a day is all that are required in order to
provide adequate services for seniors not diagnosed with severe medical
conditions or those that require specialized treatment or supervision.

Medicare does not cover the cost of most home health care services except under
certain situations that must meet eligibility criteria as determined by
Medicare. These include:

* Mom is homebound, with a doctor's certification that she's homebound; meaning
that she can't leave the home without a wheelchair or walker, the help of
another person, or that leaving the home requires considerable effort.

* A doctor's certification that Mom needs therapy or intermittent skilled
nursing care.

* A doctor's care or treatment plan regularly reviewed by Mom's physician

* A home health care agency must be approved and certified by Medicare.

Intermittent skilled nursing care is defined by Medicare as services needed on
less than seven days a week and less than 8 hours a day over a three week
period or less, unless special circumstances are involved.

www.in-home-care-ideas-for-mom.com provides services like companionship, assistance with light cleaning. Services offered may also include help with running errands, picking up prescriptions, shopping,and helping to prepare meals.For more Informations Please visit our elderly home health care website.