Home care can be the best approach to recuperation following discharge from a hospital or as a means of maintaining and supporting disabled or at-risk individuals in their own homes. The decision to request and/or accept home health care services is based on careful consideration of individuals’ health and safety needs at home. Our guidelines, listed below, will help you decide if home care is appropriate. 

• Home care patients must have a physician involved in the plan for home care. Those responsible for the individual requesting care must provide specific doctor's orders to the home health agency staff the best clinical and supportive care possible.
• There should be a need for short-term, intermittent care. Home care cannot take the place of care provided by skilled rehabilitation or nursing care facilities for patients who need 24-hour oversight on a long-term basis.
• There should be support from family members or others who can provide help when needed at times the home health care agency staff is not available. There will be times when home health care agency staff cannot make visits, e.g. during severe weather conditions or critical staff shortages. Home care patients cannot be totally dependent on the home care agency for their health and safety.
• Home care patients need supervision, assistance, or direct intervention with medication management, wound care, therapeutic diets, and/or follow-through on exercise programs that would be prescribed by a doctor. These are examples of care that nurses and rehabilitation therapists provide to homebound patients on a short-term, intermittent basis.
• Home care patients can also need assistance with the activities of daily living, e.g. personal hygiene, dressing and grooming, navigating the home, preparing meals,and performing light personal housekeeping such as making beds and doing laundry. These are functions of a Home Care Aide and/or Homemaker.

If you have questions about home health care and how it can help, please contact the Natick VNA.