Home care is a popular option for long-term care. Most seniors want to age in place at home, which contributes to familiarity and comfort, yet in order to keep a loved one safe at home, it requires planning and evaluation. This guide gives you a detailed understanding of in-home care options, what needs to happen to create e a dramatic, positive impact on you and your entire family.

If you’re a family caregiver, in search of additional senior care, you are among 70 million people who deliver care for a loved one at home. the research concludes by 2050, over one million centenarians – individuals over the age of 100 will live in North America.

With the recent advent of Accountable Care (informally known as ObamaCare), in-home care is a critical post-hospitalization piece to the care transition. Today, discharged patients go directly home.

Even hospice care is at home. If you or an aging loved one has a terminal illness and depleted other treatment options, consider hospice care at home. It gives a loved one and family members comfort and support.

Recent studies, like the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (May 2011) concluded that after certain hospital-based operations, joint replacement, home is an effective strategy over discharge to a rehabilitation facility.

What is Home Care?

Home care is an option allowing older adults the choice to age in place at home with a specified level of care they need for safety, comfort and independence.

Simply described, home care means help with activities of daily living and household tasks. It includes meaningful companionship for older adults. In-home care is the oldest form of healthcare. Today, home care serves as a comprehensive alternative to institutional living.

Home care is commonly presented as a service to assist aging seniors, its a valuable resource when a person at any age has an injury, accident or surgery or is suffering from a chronic illness.

Types of Home Care

Non-Medical Home Care

Trained caregivers give support to individuals with basic activities and functions needs: Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living.

Activities of Daily Living – Measures the Overall Wellness

• Bathing
• Dressing
• Toileting
• Transferring
• Continence
• Feeding

Instrumental Activities of Daily Living

While the Katz Index measures Activities of Daily Living, Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL) assesses independent living skills and most useful when identifying improvement or deterioration over time.

• Ability to Use Telephone
• Shopping
• Food Preparation
• Housekeeping
• Laundry
• Mode of transportation
• Self-direct medications
• Ability to Handle Finances

Respite Care

In-home respite provides a family caregiver a break from care in one’s home. It’s usually offered by a friend of the family, a respite worker or a hired caregiver and provided at home or in a care setting, like adult day care or an assisted living residential facility.

It’s a good way for the family member to get away and relax.

Senior in-Home Companionship Care

Companionship services allow healthy interaction and activity that’s important for seniors, especially those living with cognitive and physical health issues. Companionship care provides care needs, fun and creative activities in the home and community, so families get a break. It’s offered on an hourly basis.

Hospice Care at Home

Hospice care services, delivered by health care professionals to enhance comfort for a terminally ill person by reducing pain and attend to the physical, social, spiritual, and psychological needs. Hospice care gives counseling, respite care and practical support.

Hospice care is available at hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and dedicated hospice facilities.

Medical Home Health Care

Home health care is a wide range of health care services delivered at home by licensed medical professionals. It’s less expensive, more convenient, and just as effective as care you get in a hospital or skilled nursing facility.

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

Options within Home Care

Non-Medical Home Care Agency

• Not a Medicare option – Out of pocket only
• An agency is the employer of caregivers and manages taxes, insurance, liability, etc.
• Provide caregivers with training.
• Current on trends in health and wellness.
• Well developed scheduling and backup procedures for monitoring and care management.
• Out of pocket costs are higher.

Medicare-certified home health agency

Home health care, the Medicare option and generally considered for short-term treatment lasting approximately six weeks. The home health agency must continue to prove to Medicare that the patient has a need for skilled care. Home health care gives on average less than 28 hours per week.

• Applies to Medicare rules and regulations.
• A patient is homebound.
• Co-payments apply.
• Durable medical equipment like wheelchairs and oxygen concentrators, medications are partially paid for by the home health agency.

Family member

• Knows the older adult and the individual feels most comfortable having a family caregiver.
• Time and responsibilities add to heavily taxed family member schedule; job, children, and spouse.
• Stress-related physical and emotional impacts like depression, isolation, and physical symptoms such as back pain.
• No formal training.

Private Hire

• Costs are lower
• The family or older adult is responsible as employer for the private hire and must follow local employment laws; pay unemployment wages to dismissed caregivers.
• Not bonded or insured.
• If one does not show up for work, back up care falls on the senior of family.
• May not have training.