What Is Home Care?
Home care is a service to recovering, disabled, or chronically ill people who need medical treatment and/or assistance with the activities of daily living. Generally, home care is appropriate when a person requires care, and family and friends cannot easily or effectively provide it on their own. The National Association for Home Care (NAHC) estimates that more than 8 million Americans currently receive home care for acute, and long-term needs. Today, greater numbers of people are able to leave institutions or, thanks to advancing technology, avoid ever having to enter them. State-of-the-art medical equipment for use in the home now can provide treatments and services that once were available only in the hospital.

Who Provides Home Care?
Home care services usually are provided by home care organizations, but may also be obtained from registries and independent providers. Home care organizations include home health agencies, hospices, homemaker and home care aide (HCA) agencies, staffing and private-duty agencies, and companies specializing in medical equipment and supplies, pharmaceuticals, and drug infusion therapy. These organizations hire or contract with physicians; registered, licensed practical nurses; physical, occupational, and respiratory therapists and assistants; HCAs; dietitians; laboratory technologists; dentists and dental hygienists; pharmacists; medical social workers; and speech pathologists.

Who Pays for Home Care?
Home care is paid for directly by the patient and his or her family members, or through a variety of private and public sources. Hospices generally provide care regardless of the patient's and family's ability to pay. Private insurance programs typically cover some services for acute needs, but benefits for long-term services vary from plan to plan. Public third-party payors include Medicare, Medicaid, the Older Americans Act, the Veterans Administration, Social Services Block Grant programs, and community organizations.

What Are the Advantages of Home Care?
Home care improves our society's quality of life by enabling individuals to stay in the comfort and security of their own homes during times of illness, disability, and recuperation.
Home care maintains the patient's dignity and independence-qualities that commonly are lost in institutional settings.
Home care is less expensive than other forms of health care delivery. In 2000 the average Medicare charges per day in a hospital and skilled nursing facility were estimated at $2,753 and $421, respectively. The average Medicare charge per home care visit during this time was an estimated $100.
Home care reinforces and supplements informal care by educating the patient's family members and friends about the caregiving process.
For more information about home care services in the [City] area, call [Name], [Title at Agency name], at [Telephone number].