Can Mom Qualify for Home Healthcare?
Dear Toni: Help!!!
My mother-in-law is 85 and lives in an independent living facility on her own. After hospitalization in November, she needs 24-hour medical care when she went home.
We were told by the hospital and the staff at the facility where she lives that Medicare would not pay for 24-hour home health care because she wanted to be at home and not go to a skilled nursing facility which she was offered.
The services the independent living facility offers are not Medicare-certified and she must pay for at-home care herself. We must pay, and it is costing us a fortune.
She has improved and we want to try part-time care in the morning for medication, bathing and dressing, and evening for medication and getting ready for bed. What will Medicare pay for?
I have investigated home healthcare agencies on the Medicare website and found over 700 agencies that are Medicare certified in my area. How can I make a Medicare decision for my mother? Thanks, Sheila, Bellaire, TX
Help is on the way…Sheila:
The 24-hour away from the hospital medical care that Medicare would pay for is skilled nursing that your mother-in-law was offered. With skilled nursing, the first 20 days is at no cost with days 21-100 costing $194.50 per day.
During your Toni Says Medicare® consultation you told me that your mother-in-law had Plan F of a Medicare Supplement which would have paid for skilled nursing. Leaving her with $0 (Zero) out of pocket for her skilled nursing stay if it was medically necessary, that is Medicare’s buzz words, medically necessary.
You also told me that she wanted to go home, refusing to go to the skilled facility. Your husband (her son) made sure she got her wish and as you said, 24-hour care at home is costing you an absolute fortune.
You are correct, trying to find the right home healthcare agency can be a daunting task and with many home healthcare agencies in your county that are Medicare certified you have plenty to chose from.
The National Association of Home Care suggests asking the following questions to help narrow your search:
- Is the agency Medicare-certified?
- Is the agency licensed by the state?
- What are the credentials of the agency’s caregivers?
- Are the healthcare professionals, nurses, and caregivers employees or contract workers for the home health company?
- Will there be a written plan of care for each patient?
Do not forget that there must be a medical need for Medicare to pay for the services provided by a home healthcare company. Medicare does not pay for custodial care such as making sure your mother-in-law has a daily bath, gets dressed or is ready to go to bed. You will pay for custodial care on an hourly basis.
To order home health is not complicated:
- A doctor must order home healthcare and sign the plan.
- The home healthcare agency schedules a face-to-face meeting with the patient and family members to develop what care and services will need.
- The plan of care and certification will last up to 60 days
- And the 60-day recertification periods last if she is improving, and her doctor must sign to the recertification periods.
- Home healthcare includes nursing care, physical therapy, and other medical needs for Medicare recipients who are “homebound.”
The average person is not aware of the services they can receive from Medicare such as home healthcare that can help to enhance their recovery at home.
New 2022Medicare Survival Guide®, which is a simple guide that puts Medicare in “people” terms, is on sale at www.tonisays.com Email questions at info@tonisays.com or call the Toni Says Medicare hotline at 832/519-8664.
