Paid Providers of Long-Term Care in the Home
Personal Care or Non-medical Home Health Care
Non-Medical Care Services In The Home. These providers stand for a quickly rising tendency to permit people needing aid with long term care to stay in their home or in the community instead of going to a care facility. The services offered may include:
- camaraderie
- grooming and dressing
- leisure activities
- incontinent care
- handyman services
- teeth brushing
- medication reminders
- bathing or showering
- light housekeeping
- meal preparation
- respite for family caregivers
- errands and shopping
- reading email or letters
- overseeing home deliveries
- dealing with vendors
- transportation services
- changing linens
- laundry and ironing
- organizing closets
- care of house plants
- 24-hour emergency response
- family counseling
- phone call checks
- And much more.
A look for your neighboring Yellow Pages under "home health agencies" will disclose that a great amount of the advertised providers are personal care or non-medical home health companies. This causes some perplexity since the yellow pages decide the same classification to list non-medical and traditional home health agencies together.
Personal care agencies are different from traditional home health agencies in that they do not provide medical services or skilled services and they are not paid by Medicare.
Additionally, a lot of states do not need personal care agencies to certify with the state health department. In some states a person desiring to begin a business like this requires only market, obtain a business license and begin hiring employees. Alternatively, some states need these companies to get together the same stern rules under which customary home health agencies run. This may comprise hiring trained employees, the use of care plans, periodic inspections by the state health department and bonding.
If you reside in a state which does not have need of rule of these companies, it is imperative for you to ensure the setting and history of these providers previous to using their services. An extra benefit for the public is that a lot of of these companies are ingredient of a national franchise system. There are a number of these home care provider franchises around the country. Being a franchise, it is more likely that you can trust the services of the company and not have to worry about theft or abuse with your loved one.
Many larger traditional home health agencies are integrating non-medical services into their care delivery. This means Medicare and Medicaid are not paying the bill for this portion of a home health agency's business. Also many large integrated facilities providers (combined nursing homes, assisted living and independent retirement arrangements) are offering more non-medical or personal home healthcare.
The number of these companies is literally mushrooming all over the country. It is evident from this growth that there is a growing need for traditional family caregivers to contract help from paid care providers. This is probably due to the fact that many of the traditional caregivers are now employed fulltime or are living a long distance away from their loved ones and find it difficult if not impossible to provide long-term care.
Home Repair And Maintenance Services:
As a general rule most personal care agencies provide only aides to help with personal needs in the home. Very few offer such things as deep housecleaning, home repairs, remodeling or yard maintenance. There is now a growing trend for companies to specialize in providing these additional services for the elderly. And as with personal care agencies many of these belong to national franchises.
It is evident that there is a growing national need to provide services to allow people to remain in their homes as long as possible. The growth of companies providing these services is evidence that this is a preference for the elderly needing care in the community.
Monitoring Services:
These are companies that provide GPS based bracelets or pendants to track the elderly at home who tend to wander. Or the companies may provide alarm devices such as pendants or bracelets which allow the elderly to alert someone if there has been a fall or a sudden health-related attack. In the event of an alarm, a 24 hour monitoring service will alert the family or medical emergency services. In addition there are companies that will install video cameras in the home to monitor the elderly on a 24 hour basis.
Finally, there are companies that will check in with the elderly on the telephone from time to time to make sure that they are all right. The service may also include medication reminders and prompting for the elderly person to make sure meals are prepared and unsafe behavior is avoided.
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