What is home care?

Home care and home health care include a range of medical and non-medical caregiving services provided in your home. Services can usually be arranged to meet your needs – a few hours a week up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week and could be done by be a single person or a team. Medicare generally doesn’t pay for long-term care but will help pay for skilled nursing or home health care if you meet certain conditions. Use the Medicare Eligibility Tool to check your eligibility.

Typical home care services include:

• Aides, homemakers and chore workers who help with chores around the house but usually do not provide personal or medical care for your loved one.
• Homecare aides who provide personal services such as bathing, dressing, toileting, making meals, light cleaning and transporting patients to the doctor.
• Therapists who work with patients to restore or maintain their motor, speech and cognitive skills.
• Registered nurses (RNs) who provide skilled medical care, including giving medications, monitoring vital signs, dressing wounds, and teaching family caregivers how to use complicated equipment at home.