Serving your Health with Excellence

Home health care is a wide range of health care services that can be given in your home for an illness or injury. Home health care is usually less expensive, more convenient, and just as effective as care you get in a hospital or skilled nursing facility (SNF).

Examples of skilled home health services include:

• Wound care for pressure sores or a surgical wound
• Patient and caregiver education
• Intravenous or nutrition therapy
• Injections
• Monitoring serious illness and unstable health status

The goal of home health care is to treat an illness or injury. Home health care helps you get better, regain your independence, and become as self-sufficient as possible.

Who's eligible?

All people with Medicare who meet the following conditions are covered:

• The home health agency caring for you must be Medicare-certified.
• Your doctor must certify that you're homebound.
• You must be under the care of a doctor, and be getting services under a plan of care established and reviewed regularly by a doctor.
• You must need, and a doctor must certify that you need, one or more of the following:
• Intermittent skilled nursing care (other than just drawing blood)
• Physical therapy, speech-language pathology, or continued occupational therapy services(covered only when the services are specific, safe and an effective treatment for your condition. The amount, frequency and time period of the services needs to be reasonable, and they need to be complex or only qualified therapists can do them safely and effectively. To be eligible, either:
• your condition must expected to improve in a reasonable and generally-predictable period of time, or
• you need a skilled therapist to safely and effectively make a maintenance program for your condition, or
• you need a skilled therapist to safely and effectively do maintenance therapy for your condition.

You're not eligible for the home health benefit if you need more than part-time or "intermittent" skilled nursing care.

Note: Home health services may also include medical social services, part-time or intermittent home health aide services, medical supplies for use at home, durable medical equipment, and an injectable osteoporosis drug.

Doctor's orders are needed to start care. Once your doctor refers you for home health services, the home health agency will schedule an appointment and come to your home to talk to you about your needs and ask you some questions about your health. The home health agency staff will also talk to your doctor about your care and keep your doctor updated about your progress. It's important that home health staff see you as often as the doctor ordered.

Examples of what the home health staff should do include:

• Check what you're eating and drinking.
• Check your blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, and breathing.
• Check that you're taking your prescription and other drugs and any treatments correctly.
• Ask if you're having pain.
• Check your safety in the home.
• Teach you about your care so you can take care of yourself.
• Coordinate your care. This means they must communicate regularly with you,your doctor, and anyone else who gives you care.

People of all ages use home health care services-from senior citizens to young children. Some examples include: Those who are able to be discharged from a hospital or nursing home but need additional care, those who are terminally ill and want to live their final days with dignity surrounded by their loved ones in the comfort of their own home, those who have short-term health needs, those who need assistance, due to age or disability, to remain at home, those who need education about the disease process and training on how to best care for themselves.

In Florida, there are (2) main types of home health care agencies-certified agencies and private duty (or non-certified) agencies.

Certified Agencies

Certified home health care agencies comply with Medicare and Medicaid regulations. An individual's Medicare benefit defines the conditions that qualify for service. The need for service typically arises after hospitalization or a significant change in medical condition. Care is prescribed by a physician and is generally restricted to skilled services that may include nursing; physical, occupational or speech/language therapy; medical social work; and/or home health aides to assist with personal care needs. While a physician must prescribe care, the patient has the right to select the provider of his/her choice.

Private Duty Agencies

Private duty agencies offer a wide variety of services including medical and nonmedical care. For example, private duty services, in addition to nursing, could include assistance with shopping, laundry, meals and companionship. The patient/family generally incur the cost of care, although some insurance plans may also cover all or a portion of it.

The home health care team consists of physicians, nurses, home health aides, medical social workers and therapists who coordinate care based on an individual's needs.

Your costs in Original Medicare

$0 for home health care services.
20% of the Medicare-approved amount for durable medical equipment.

Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and/or Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) covers eligible home health services such as intermittent skilled nursing care, physical therapy, speech-language pathology services, continued occupational services, and more. Usually, a home health care agency coordinates the services your doctor orders for you.

Medicare doesn't pay for:

• 24-hor-a-day care at home
• Meals delivered to your home
• Homemaker services
• Personal care

A physician, patient or family member can initiate service. However, Medicare, Medicaid and most insurances require physician oversight. Once the physician prescribes home health care, he/she authorizes a coordinated treatment plan, commonly called a "plan of care," and periodically reviews services and the patient's progress.

If a physician does not prescribe home health care, but the individual still desires services, a private duty agency can suggest a plan of care to meet a wide variety of needs and budgets. While some insurances may pay for private duty services, typically, they are an out-of-pocket expense.

Information regarding home health care services can be obtained from many sources. The Healthcare Association of FL (HCAF)is an excellent reference and can be contacted at (850)222-8967. Other resources include: hospital discharge departments, your physician, public health departments, telephone directory yellow pages under "home care," "home health care" or "nursing" or through Web site search engines using similar headings.

Alpha Home Care is proud to have been serving the Brevard county since 2007, and have staff who have 15+ years experience in the home health care arena.

Alpha Home Care has several brochures describing its programs and services. Call (321) 254-1070 to receive brochures on our Medicare-certified home health care and hospice services.

Alpha Home Care's visiting staff are bonded and insured. Employees' are screened through background checks. In addition, they receive regular company-provided training.

A patient's first visit consists of a thorough assessment of physical, mental, emotional and social needs. From this assessment, an individualized plan of care is developed with input from the family and authorization from the patient's physician.

Alpha Home Care always welcomes family involvement in a patient's care. Medicare guidelines require physician consultation, and in instances where Medicare is not used, ALPHA HOME CARE will contact the patient's physician at the individual's request.

Yes. A patient's course of treatment and progress is documented at each Alpha Home Care home visit.

Yes. A copy of the patient's plan of care, along with a list of patient's rights and responsibilities, and an emergency plan is left in the patient's home.

Yes. Education is an important part of Alpha Home Care 's patient care plan and family members are an integral part of the care team.

Yes. ALPHA HOME CARE case managers regularly supervises each patient's care.

ALPHA HOME CARE patients and family members can call (321) 254-1070

ALPHA HOME CARE follows a structured process to follow up and resolve problems---List information from the Policy and Procedure manual.

ALPHA HOME CARE staff can assist the patient and family in determining if Medicare, Private insurances and other funding will meet costs or if private pay becomes an option

An emergency plan is developed for every patient and left at the patient's home after admission to services.