Different Things An Agency Can Do And Not Do For You In Health Care

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When it comes to caring for the health of the seniors there is a lot that needs to be done that requires constant care and attention. Quite naturally, if you do not have the time to devote to such errands, the home health care agencies can do it for you.

These agencies can actually do a lot for you as well as for the patients. Having a wide network and a long-standing association with several qualified professionals, they can handsomely contribute to the health aspect and the quality of life of senior patients.

  • Most of these home health care agencies operate in a specific geographic area, counties or statewide, that ensures easy availability of such services. They also offer thei4r services in smaller and less densely populated areas making these services available for all.
  • Most of these agencies receive federal funding under the Older American Act and therefore have the necessary funds and resources to supplement the needs of the people locally or statewide as well as get their revenues.

Each of these agencies typically provides a wide and different suite of services according to their service policies.

Specific helps provided

Though there are a few common and basic home health jobs near me that maybe the same across all agencies, there are a few other services that may be included in their list. These include:

  • Transportation: This is specific assistance provided by understanding and coordinating shared and non-medical transportation services.
  • Nutrition: This type of service includes counselling and congregate or home-delivered meals as well.
  • Caregiver support: This is to provide respite care and caregiver education and training.
  • Care management: This includes in-home care assessments and developing a proper care plan.
  • Information and referral: This provides the people with relevant information regarding home care and community-based assistance programs such as Medicaid or referrals to administrators.
  • Long Term Care Ombudsmen: This involves the investigation of formal complaints and information about long term care facilities.
  • Insurance counselling: This assists the seniors in understanding and exploiting the benefits of their health care insurance to the maximum especially Medicare.

A lesser yet a significant percentage of the home health care agencies also provide the families of the patients with help in completing the applications for any specific assistance programs such as respite care, Medicaid, and a few other specific programs for the veterans.

Finally, and more selectively, the agencies can provide valued services such as case management along with other types of help.

Things they do not do

Though the home healthcare agencies in most of the times do everything possible and related to providing the best health care and improving the quality of life of the patients, there are a few specific things that they may not include in their service list.

It is very important for you to know about these exclusions from their list of services especially if you are planning for long-term care. These services include:

  • Hands-on care: They will not provide hands-on care barring some very specific and rare instances. However, if you really in need of such service what they can do is sub-contract a local provider to provide such services.
  • Medicaid planning: As it is, Medicaid has some very stringent and restrictive financial eligibility criteria. The care agencies may help you to understand these requirements and explain these to you but may not offer any assistance to comply with it or tell you how you can meet with those requirements of Medicaid.
  • Veterans benefit planning: This is much similar to Medicaid. These VA programs also have some restrictive rules for your financial eligibility. The agencies may not advise you or your family on how you can re-structure your income and assets so that you can qualify for such beneficial programs.

However, all hopes may not be over if you have financial crunches because the care agencies know about such situations that a patient may face and therefore can suggest for alternative assistance options.

The public alternatives

You may be suggested to go for a specific public alternative such as the Aging and Disability Resource Centers, or ADRCs. They typically serve as a single point of entry for patients and their families to know more about long-term health care and home care support services that are available to them. These support services could come in any form such as:

  • Federal
  • State or
  • Other local programs.

The ADRCs will also provide more objective and free counselling services. However, unfortunately, the ADRD system though very helpful, is not available nationwide and is still in its developing stage. Moreover, in a few states, the ADRC Agency can act as the Area Agency on Aging or AAA and in some states however these agencies can have a separate entity.

The private assistance programs

Alternatively, you can also select a few different private assistance programs as well as suggested by your care agency. Out of the many such private assistance programs available, the two most common programs that are often suggested are:

  • Medicaid planners: This is a specific private assistance program that offers the senior patients and their families very useful assistance when it comes to dealing with the most complex Medicaid application process. In addition to that, these programs also help patients and their families more important to structure their finances. This enables them to meet with the stringent financial requirements of Medicaid to qualify for a benefit provided by it and have some respite from the rising cost of continual health care.
  • Veterans benefits planners: These VA benefit planners is another common private assistance program often suggested. These planners typically help the families and patients to know and understand the different and often conflicting benefits that they may be due legally. The agencies also help to calculate and re-structure the assets and income so that you can meet with the program requirements.

Therefore, hiring the services of a home health care agency is beneficial not simply for health care and support reasons but for other allied services as well. It all depends on which agency you choose.