Confused about Home Care? Home Care is often confused with Home Health and many don’t know the details of what Home Care entails. Read on to understand more about Home Care; particularly the process, pros, cons and costs.
Home care is typically non-medical services that includes companionship, transportation, personal care, housekeeping, transportation and/or personal care. All services take place in the comfortable setting of the patient’s home. As soon as a family member realizes that a loved one needs home care or when an individual realizes they need home care, a simple call can start the process to find the best match. A professional performs an assessment to determine what the individual needs. Then the home care professional creates a care plan to ensure the needs and expectations are fulfilled. The home care agency screens, trains and monitors all caregivers.
The main distinction from Home Health is that Home Health is skilled nursing that requires a doctor’s orders, while Home Care is non skilled and does not require a doctor’s orders. Read our Home Health article for more details about Home Health.
Level of Dependency
In our Senior Care Options article, we provide a short description on each of the different senior care options, and we rank them based on the dependency that a senior needs. Note in the diagram that Home Care falls more to the left of the dependency spectrum. This means that Home Care patients typically are more independent compared to other types of individuals who require more care intensive care and a little less independent than a Home Health patient.
Pros
- Privacy of receiving care from a trained professional in the comfort of their own home
- One on one support with daily activities
- Convenience of receiving support in the patient’s own home can avoid feelings of helplessness
Cons
- Intrusive for other in-home family members or relatives
- Receiving support from trained professionals at home can be costly
- Living at home may place you at a decided disadvantage in case of medical emergency
Costs / Coverage
The primary source of funding for Home Care in the United States is through the patient or his or her family members. Home Care can also be covered through long-term care insurance, workers’ compensation and some armed services if the home care qualifies for reimbursement under the stated policies, and if the recipient has the policies.
The cost of the service will depend on the various level of care needed. The time frames for services range from 4-24 hours per day. Most commonly, in-home care personnel charge rates ranging from $16-$30 per hour depending on the type of care provided.
Los Angeles Home Care Recommendations
Tender Home Health has our own home care agency so if you have any questions about home care, feel free to reach out to us at (818) 894-8974 or email us at info@tenderhomehealth.com.
However, we didn’t want to be biased, so we are you are interested in additional home care agencies; here is a link to several other options:
AAA TLC – They’re fully licensed, bonded, and insured for your protection. They accept long term care insurance, worker’s comp insurance and some medical insurance.
Salus Homecare – A recognized provider that has been Accredited for Quality by the Joint Commission.
https://www.salushomecare.com/san-fernando-valley/
Home Instead – Home Instead Senior Care® of Los Angeles, CA offers trusted home care services at reasonable home care rates.
https://www.homeinstead.com/488
Also, if you were looking for alternative types of senior care options, you can review our senior care options article to get an overview of other senior care options.
Have you had any experience with Home Care? Any other tips or questions you’d like to provide? If so, please add to the comments section, we would love to hear from you.
