Over the years, the world has witnessed a significant surge in the number of home health care agencies which in most of the cases is beneficial to the patients.
The home health care agencies are especially helpful for the aged and ailing who want to stay in their homes instead of a nursing home or any assisted living facility.
However, most of the people who want to avail the services of such agencies do not understand the significance as well as the working process of these agencies.
They are also unaware of the programs and benefits that they are entitled to.
However, since it is your life, you are the one to decide what type of care services and supports you intend to receive.
But for that, you will need to know a few specific things such as:
- Your rights when it comes to receiving home care
- All the different agencies available that you can hire the care services from as well as
- The types of home health care jobs near me offered that you can choose from.
A little research will help you a lot in this matter and to ensure that you get the right type of care that is required as per your current medical and physical conditions.
In this article you will come to know a lot about such home health care agencies, the different programs and your rights to choose a specific home health care program.
Read on to know more and make the right choice according to your need and affordability.
Article Chapters
The MI Choice
To start with, most people believe, and often this belief is found to be wrong, that opting for a home health care service instead of hospitalization or a nursing home care is a costly proposition.
It is only for the wealthy people and the privileged.
Well, that is not so.
You can avail a specific waiver program, called MI Choice and pronounced as My Choice program.
- This waiver program is specifically designed to support the low-income adults aging 18 years and above.
- This program helps those people who are in need of health care as per the nursing home level but typically prefer not to live in a nursing home but in their homes.
- This program also provides the individual patients with a specific choice to receive the kind of services they need in any other community setting such as an adult foster care home or an assisted living facility instead of in a nursing home.
For those senior and aging patients who qualify for it, the MI Choice program can be really helpful as it will help them to cover specific services such as:
- Personal care
- Home making
- Adult day services
- In-home respite programs for the home caregiver
- Meals on wheels and
- Personal emergency response systems.
However, to avail such a waiver, income and asset limits may be applicable and therefore, you are requested to find out whether or not you qualify for such a program before you request for it.
Explanation of an Agency
Now you should look for a reputed and reliable home health care agency.
At this point you should remember that any and every organization that comes up with a proposal to take care of you or your loved ones at home may not ideally and categorically signify a home health care agency.
Therefore, in order to choose the right agency for your needs, you must know the description of such an agency and what they really do, or do not do as well.
- Ideally, a home health care agency is a nonprofit organization. It is required that they provide such care to the citizens for a considerable period of time by serving any individual and families.
- They need to have proper license and authority to do so and qualify to be a trained health care service provider in the homes of the patients.
According to the deferral rules, sometimes it may also be required by such agencies to provide their care services to people who are economically disadvantaged with 90% of their clients served living at or below the 200% of the federal poverty guidelines.
Mission of the Agencies
The mission of the home health care agencies should be very specific and clear to the patients that they work for.
It should be ideally for providing comprehensive, desired and culturally competent Community Health and related services which they can do by collaborating with the Public Health and Health Service Providers.
Their primary objective should be to ensure a healthy future for the senior patients residing in the specific area they render their services to.
They can engage a team of qualified, trained and experienced personnel and create a home healthcare department of their own. however, this team pf professionals should include:
- Registered nurses
- Licensed healthcare professionals and practical nurses
- Trained home health aides
- Qualified physical therapists and
- An occupational therapist.
The main objective and ulterior goal of this home healthcare department is to keep the patients safely in their homes.
They should work towards it by keeping several specific things in their mind as well such as:
- Preventing unnecessary need for hospitalizations
- Eliminating the chances of accidents that may need emergent care and
- Avoid conditions that may result in a premature nursing home placement.
All of the members of the home healthcare department should work in a perfect harmony and essentially serve under the close supervision and direction of a physician.
Enjoy the Benefits
Now that you know exactly what a home healthcare agency can do for you and how exactly you can choose a reliable one, you should focus on enjoying the benefits that the home healthcare agencies provide.
Well, for that you will need to know their care policies as that may differ from one agency to another.
A few may restrict their service to health care jobs only while a few others may include all other allied services that will help them and the patients to be healthy such as transportation for doctor visits, helping them to move and even in some daily household chores!