This is the domiciliary care for in-home patients provided by the professionals that work in the healthcare segment. Informally the care can be given by friends or relatives voluntarily. When licensed personnel perform the formal medical care giving task, it is referred as health care, but when non-licensed personnel perform that’s custodial care or non-medical care.

General classifications of home health care include injury care, wound dressing, medication assistance, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and even emergency management. Services also may include meal preparation, general housekeeping, shopping, transportation, companionship etc and these things are again classified as Activities of Daily living (ADL). Another terminology used is Instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), mainly used in US, refers to the six activities like light housekeeping, telephone operating, money management, shopping, medication help, meals preparation.

There is a certification available in US called “Certified Nursing Assistance” for the workers in Home Healthcare field. Health care association of every state has the authority to provide the certification to the worker after he/she completes any related course. Again the rules and regulations vary from state to state, from country to country.

Home Healthcare providers may bill hourly (like $8-$15/hour) or daily ($100-$150.day). Additional fees can comprise of reimbursement of transportation, urgent medical or any other thing expenses incurred by the provider upon bill submission. If the support is not continuous and requires only a few visits then they would charge few dollars per visit ($20-$30/visit). The compensation structure varies according to the location and the brand of the Home Healthcare provider that you are hiring.

If you are opting for informal Home Healthcare where friends and relatives are taking care of the patient alternatively according to their availability, but nobody of you is qualified and don’t know all the care giving processes, then you can go for online assistance. In this case online healthcare provider will teach you the primary treatment, medication help, emergency management etc. The fees for these types of services are more than the formal, in-person medical care. If it suits you the best, you can go for it.

Last but not least comes the insurance part. It is very important to get at least some money back from the insurance provider. There are various insurance policies available for Home Healthcare. Coverage may be partly or complete coverage depending on the policy’s terms and condition. There are also short term and long term insurance policies available. Private companies mainly cover the medical expenses partly. Other services often pay in excess upon submission of the original bills and receipts and all other proofs of your expenses related to Home Healthcare.

Insurance companies may come to your home for an inspection to make sure of the transparency at both end and so that they can reimburse you correctly. More beneficiary policies, more discounts are available for elderly people who are under Home Healthcare for long time. It is better to do a comparative analysis of all the insurance policies in the market and choose one affordable long term beneficiary insurance plan. Again the terms and condition vary widely in different countries.

By Christine Crotts

The Home Healthcare concept is not new at all. Home Healthcare industry is experiencing a dynamic change or growth in developed countries and also spreading worldwide.

There are a number driving forces that are making Home Healthcare industry leaders to think in a new, creative way to modify their business. There is a need for Home Healthcare providers to redefine and redesign the pattern of their service to match with the increasing demand of the future market.

The data from a recent study has shown that the hospital charges have increased drastically in past 4-5 years. The hospital charges include admission charge, bed or cabin rent, meals (breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner) charges, medicines cost, associated therapy charges, fee for doctor visit, nursing charges etc. The study told that if the same treatment is being carried out at home the charges would be almost half. Then surely one will go for Home Healthcare only.

It is now not only limited to giving medical support to the patient at home. The meaning of Home Healthcare is going to change completely. Various market survey reports suggest that providers should prepare a complete package of Home Healthcare at a very affordable cost. Their Home Healthcare package should include the following services.

Transportation: The patient should be taken home from hospital or from incident place to home. Ambulance should be ready for that.

Initial treatment: First aide treatment should be given in case the patient is just exposed to the illness or faced an accident to give a relief. Doctor should be called at this phase. So, doctors contact list should be available with the providers in case the patient is not in position to recommend any doctor.

Main treatment: As per Doctor’s advice treatment should be provided. All the medical set up should be done at patient’s home quickly to ensure that there is no delay in treatment.

Nursing: Qualified nurse should be appointed to take care of the patient for the whole period. The nurse should take care of medication, track the improvement, follow up with the doctor, and handle any emergency situation, all these with a homely, caring attitude.

Therapy: They should arrange for any required therapy treatment by appointing a good therapist.

Meals: They should provide the meals service also if needed in case patient is alone at home and not able to prepare own food. At the time of providing meals they also may take extra care by taking dietitian’s advice to ensure healthy recovery.

Counseling: Arrange for counseling sessions whenever needed to give mental support to the patient.

Medical technology products: To provide state of the art facility to the client they have to keep themselves updated with all the medical technology discoveries. They can have a stock of new patient care products like Glucose monitoring system, Inhalation system, Automatic Sphygmomanometer, Insulin delivery devices etc to stay ahead in the competition.

By Christine Crotts