Home healthcare has become an increasingly popular alternative to hospitalization for seniors who require assistance caring for themselves at home. Home health nurses can ensure seniors remain safe, healthy and comfortable.
How much does hospice cost and who qualifies? That depends on a few variables.
Keeps You Out of the Hospital
Home healthcare allows patients to receive better care while remaining at home, which keeps the cost for both parties in check.
Home health allows patients to return to their regular daily and sleeping routines more easily than in a hospital, where days may become lost in tests, recovery periods and visits from family and friends.
Some health systems are exploring hospital-at-home services, which require providers who are comfortable operating without face-to-face interactions with their patients and continuous monitoring that could eliminate physician house calls. But it remains uncertain whether this approach will succeed; one pilot program run by Clinically Home has failed to recruit enough patients due to physicians in both hospital and community areas being reluctant to refer people for referral into its program.
Gets You Help Managing Your Medications
Medication has contributed greatly to health advancements throughout history. Unfortunately, they can also cause side effects that are harmful and pose serious threats for patients; adverse drug events (ADEs).
Home healthcare providers work tirelessly to ensure their patients take their medications at the appropriate times. They help create an accurate medication schedule, using tools like pill dispensers to avoid missed doses. If any changes arise in a prescription, home healthcare providers immediately inform the appropriate physician so that any potential issues don’t occur.
Medicare and private long-term care insurance generally cover skilled home healthcare services. This allows patients to avoid expensive hospital bills while receiving necessary treatment in their preferred environment.
Helps You Recover Faster
Hiring someone to come help with food prep, shopping and cleaning can alleviate much of the anxiety of living alone while recovering from surgery. Furthermore, having someone visit offers companionship that might otherwise be absent due to being housebound and inactive.
Hospitals are full of distractions and interruptions that can prevent you from sleeping well, delaying your recovery. By sleeping comfortably at home, however, your body will get access to quality restorative rest that it needs for healing.
Undoubtedly, many prefer home health care over traditional hospital, rehabilitation center and skilled nursing facilities for recovery purposes. Home health care offers comprehensive clinical treatments supervised by medical professionals.
Gets You More Social Interaction
Home health care agencies employ teams of nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, medical social workers and aides who work under the guidance of a physician to deliver tailored healthcare to each individual patient in their home environment. Because each team usually only specializes in one case at once, each patient receives personalized attention they require from this care system.
Home care also facilitates more interaction among family members, since visiting hours are unrestricted compared to a hospital or facility. Studies have demonstrated that these interactions help fight loneliness while simultaneously improving overall health.
Johns Hopkins researchers discovered that patients favor telehealth tools that enable them to manage their own healthcare at home more effectively – this could make home healthcare even more efficient, making homecare even more cost-effective; and warrants further exploration in this area.
Keeps You in Your Home
Home health services provide a safe, cost-effective alternative to hospitalization. Their certified nursing care provides access to highly experienced nurses.
Home healthcare also allows patients to remain in their own homes longer. This helps avoid the trauma associated with leaving home for a long-term care facility or transitioning away from it altogether.
Home healthcare can be more economical than hospital visits and often covered by long-term care insurance or Medicare, plus more comfortable than living in an institution setting – leading to greater patient satisfaction and lower healthcare costs overall. Home healthcare should become an emphasis of healthcare in the face of an aging population as a means of cutting costs while simultaneously improving family satisfaction and providing an outstanding patient experience.