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Home healthcare is the provision of healthcare services
to patients who are homebound.
Home healthcare may involve a single skilled service
(such as Skilled Nursing, Physical Therapy or Speech-Language
Pathology (Speech Therapy) or in combination such
as Occupational Therapy, Skilled Nursing and Home
Health
Aide.
In order to receive home health benefits under title
XVII (Medicare and social Security Act) a patient must
satisfy all the requirements listed below:
A- A patient must be in need of skilled care
B- Skilled care must be effectual and intermittent
C- A patient must be under the care of a licensed physician
D- A patient must be homebound.
A patient is considered homebound if he/she has a
physical condition and/or physical limitations that
would be a considerable and taxing effort for that
patient to leave home.
Determining homebound status depends on the illness
or limitations of the patient.
Home health services must be provided at a
patient’s residence. A patient’s residence
may be wherever he/she
makes his/her home (e.g., his/her own dwelling,
an apartment, a relative’s home, a home for
the aged or
some other type of institution.
The following institutions may not be considered
a patient’s residence.
A hospital, Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF),
Intermediate Care Facility (ICF), Long
Term Acute Care Facility
(LTAC) and Nursing/Rehabilitation facilities.
Under the Medicare home
health benefit, the following physicians may order
home health services:
- Medical Doctor MD
- Osteopathic Doctor OD
- Podiatrist DPM
- Psychiatrist MD/OD
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