Welcome back to Texas Home Care.  Let’s continue discussing home care and the different types of services that are available.  There’s a lot of misinformation when it comes to “who” provides “what” for senior home care.  Most of us want to live our lives out at home – but may not understand the different services we can choose to continue living independently in our own home.

 

The following list of questions should encompass most care questions that need to be asked when seeking home care. This is a guide to help families and seniors find good, quality, dependable home care.

First what type of home care services are needed such as:

 

Housekeeping

Personal care

Companionship

Nighttime care

Transportation

Geriatric Case Management

Medical Care

Rehabilitation

Terminal Illness

 

PRIVATE DUTY/PRIVATE PAY Agencies

Texas does require that private duty agencies to be licensed and meet regulatory requirements. There are many referral systems that can refer a family or senior to good home care.  And you are able to go directly to a home care agency that provides full services. The medical industry such as physicians and office staff can give a list of qualified providers.  There are also websites that research these options as well.  For example, WorkingCaregiver.com can do it for you at no charge.

 

Before choosing any home care agency, please do your due diligence.  Unmonitored, unsupervised care means a greater chance that care providers can exert undue influence on a frail person for personal financial gain, or the possibility of emotional or physical abuse.  Unfortunately, this happens more often than not.

 

For medical and rehabilitation needs:

 

Certified Home Health Agency – An agency that has been surveyed and certified by the Texas state agency to assure all Medicare Conditions of Participation have been met. These include clinical services, operational, financial, billing, and other organizational issues.

 

Certified agencies can also be accredited by the Joint Commission for Healthcare Organizations (Joint Commission), the Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP), or the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC)—any of the three have “deeming authority”—if an agency meets the criteria for accreditation, it also covers the Medicare certification.

 

In a day or two, we will discuss the options of who will pay what!  Visit often for more updates by WorkingCaregiver.com.

 

Best, Carol@workingcaregiver.com