One of our major service areas at HealthKeeperz is the delivery of home-based hospice care.  Many folks don’t know what hospice care is, unless they’ve been part of a family that received these services.

A Different Framework of Care

Hospice care marks a transition from traditional medical care. With medical care, the goal is to make the patient “better,” whether it’s curing an illness, bringing a disease into remission, or giving anti-biotics to fight a bacterial infection. Hospice comes into the situation when a patient has a terminal illness and decides, usually with family and their doctor, that treatments for slowing or curing the disease aren’t working.

In other words, hospice focuses on quality of life rather than quantity.

A Team Approach

Hospice situations call for a professional team of skilled nurses and other professionals who provide a high level of care.  At HealthKeeperz, we think we deliver an extra level of care by allowing patients to make end-of-life decisions and receive care from the comfort and dignity of their homes.  With hospice care, we can give our patients relief from pain, breathing difficulties, and other quality of life challenges as they spend precious time with family and friends. And that’s just it—instead of finding a cure or disease management, we’re focusing on quality of life for however long the Lord grants it.

While the team may be led by a home health nurse and nursing aide, don’t think we’re limited to just meeting your health needs during this critical time. In fact, we bring in, as the family desires, trained hospice volunteers who are there for making you comfortable, offering respite to family, and just taking care of all the things not directly related to your health. Like our skilled employees, our hospice volunteers are your friends and neighbors, stepping up to ensure that you and your family have a gentle, comfortable hand during what can be a stressful time.

Caring for Spiritual and Emotional Needs, Too

Just as important as the home health hospice nurses and hospice volunteers, our chaplains play a special role in the lives of our hospice patients and their families. Central to our mission of giving care to all for the glory of God, our chaplains are trained to be sensitive to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of our patients, their families, and their friends. Hospice chaplains are a special breed at HealthKeeperz, and they have the ability to enter virtually any situation and provide the care for which they are trained, based on the unique needs of each patient and family.

Transitioning to end-of-life care can bring about deep spiritual questions, along with the other hard questions about care and personal affairs.
 
While there are many great hospice care facilities across North Carolina, we are here for those who wish to receive hospice care services in their homes. We believe that these services should be available and delivered with the same level of quality as the best facilities in the state. If your family is in need of these services, we would be honored to care for you. Please contact us at 800-309-3784 to start a conversation.

North Carolinians who need home health care use a variety of means to pay for it, whether it’s out of pocket through savings, or through various forms of insurance like private health plans, Medicaid, or Medicare. Today, let’s talk about how people qualify for home health coverage under Medicare.

What Is Medicare?

Established in 1965 as part of amendments to the Social Security Act, Medicare is the federal government program that provides health care coverage (health insurance) if you are 65 or older, under 65 and receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) for a certain amount of time, or under 65 and with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD).  Known by its “parts,” Medicare provides for inpatient and hospital coverage through Part A, while Part B pays for outpatient and medical coverage. Part D is the more recently enacted prescription drug benefit program.

Many people confuse Medicare and Medicaid. The easiest way to remember the difference is by knowing who benefits from each program.  Medicare is basically engineered to provide health care coverage for older Americans, while Medicaid targets its help to lower-income and poor Americans.

Medicare Coverage of Home Health Services
At HealthKeeperz, we offer a wide range of health services delivered in your home. Services covered by Medicare include intermittent skilled nursing care, therapy, and care provided by a home health aide. Depending on the circumstances, home health care may be covered by Part A or Part B.

Here’s a quick guide for qualifying for home health care under Medicare. Patients must meet the following requirements:

1. You are homebound, which means that it’s difficult for you to leave your home and you need help doing so.
2. You need skilled nursing services and/or skilled therapy care (physical, speech, or occupational) on an intermittent basis.
3. You have a face-to-face meeting with a doctor within the 90 days before you start home health care, or the 30 days after the first day you receive care. This can be an office visit, hospital visit, or in certain circumstances a face-to-face visit facilitated by technology (such as video conferencing).
4. Your doctor signs a home health certification confirming that you are homebound and need intermittent skilled care. The certification must also state that your doctor has approved a plan of care for you and that the face-to-face meeting requirement was met.
   1. Your doctor should review and certify your home health plan every 60 days. A face-to-face meeting is not required for recertification.
5. And, you receive care from a Medicare-certified home health agency (HHA), like HealthKeeperz.

If you or someone in your family needs home-based health care, and you meet the eligibility requirements above, contact us at HealthKeeperz today. Our customer service representatives can work with your family and your medical team to ensure you receive the very best in home health care with the peace of mind that comes from knowing your costs will be covered by Medicare. Call us today at 800-309-3784.