Home Health Care Vs. Hospice

Home health care and hospice are benefits provided by Medicare and other insurance carriers.

Although many people use the terms interchangeably, it’s important to know their differences so you can determine the best care option for your loved one. While both benefits are for the aid and caring for individuals needing help, home care and hospice offer different types of care. Depending on your loved one’s situation, one option may be more beneficial. Neither one is considered better than the best when it comes to medical care, as they each focus on providing the best types of care tailored to the patient and their needs. We will go over some of the major differences to help you determine which one would best fit your loved one’s needs.

HOME HEALTH CARE

Home care is a wide range of health care services that can be given in one’s home for an illness or injury, and can be very effective for improving someone’s health. Home health services are prescribed by a doctor to help with rehab after an illness, injury, hospital stay, or surgery. It can also be prescribed to help manage a chronic medical condition in hopes of preventing an unwarranted hospitalization.

Home care is provided by experienced practitioners visiting the home and working together to help the patient meet their recovery goals. Overall, home health seeks to help patients improve their health, regain their independence, and become self-reliant.

Patients Needing Home Health

While home health care strives to help the patient recover, it may also be used to help one maintain their current condition and slow decline. If your loved one has experienced any of the following, home health may be of good benefit to them:

How Home Health Works

If your doctor prescribes home care, they will provide you with a list of home health agencies in your area. They must also disclose if their practice has any financial interest in the agencies listed. The agency will then schedule an appointment with you and visit with you to discuss the needs of the patient’s health. The agency will also act as a liaison between the patient and the doctor, keeping the doctor updated about the health progress of the patient.

Ways Home Health Care Can Help

Staff from home health agencies can help in a variety of ways. They can monitor the patient’s food and liquid intake, take their vitals, assist with taking medications, determine pain levels, educate patients and caregivers on how to take better care of themselves, etc. They can also assist with more basic tasks like bathing, dressing, and managing daily activities.

While many of these services can be short-term, home care can cover long-term care depending on the patient’s needs. Long-term services such as physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy can be utilized. In a nutshell, home health staff members ensure a person is able to live safely in their home.

HOSPICE CARE

Hospice is not a place. It’s a concept about the quality of life as it nears its end for the patient, and for their families and friends. When medicine cannot provide a cure, hospice can offer comfort, care, and assistance that will help maintain a better quality of life for the patient. This type of attention involves the treatment of physical and emotional pain and symptoms. It focuses on enhancing a patient’s comfort and improving quality of life.

Patients Needing Hospice

Hospice care is for people with a life expectancy of 6 months or less (if the illness runs its normal course). If the patient lives longer than 6 months, they can still receive hospice care as long as the hospice medical director (or other hospice doctor) reconfirms that the patient is terminally ill. When a patient seeks comfort and a good quality of life because there is no cure for a particular illness, hospice is often the best choice.

Hospice is based on the belief that through sensitive, appropriate care and the support of a caring community, terminally ill patients and their families can begin to prepare to face the inevitable challenges ahead.

How Hospice Works

The patient and their family will meet with a team of people to set up a plan that will meet the patient’s needs. The people on this team can include doctors, nurses, counselors, social workers, pharmacists, therapists, aides, and volunteers.

Hospice allows the patient to continue living at home if that’s determined to be what is best; however, an inpatient facility may be necessary. Ancora works well with those on hospice to meet their physical, mental, and social needs.

Ways Hospice Can Help

The hospice caregiving team provides the patient with physical and mental comfort. Their primary focus is ensuring the patient is alert and as pain-free as possible. In all, they make sure the patient is comfortable during their final stages of life.

FINDING WHAT YOU NEED

Depending on your loved one’s needs, both home health and hospice care options offer excellent services and could be of great benefit for your loved one. Ancora is well aware of these services and has an experienced team of professionals who can assist in working with these care options. Our doors and phone lines are always open, so please contact us with any questions you may have.