Upon being released from the hospital after undergoing surgery, some people need in-home medical or non-medical care. It’s important to know the difference between the two.
According to Bill Hughes, executive director of Accessible Home Health Care of the Bluegrass, skilled service providers include nurses and physical, speech and occupational therapists. Each individual is licensed by the state. Their goal is to return the patient to his or her prior physical condition as much as possible.
“You’re here in life and something has knocked you down, so it’s getting you back to where you were,” Hughes said.
Skilled service providers offer patient assessment, wound care, medication infusion, cardiac/COPD management and diabetes care, among other duties. Physical therapists manage movement disorders. Speech pathologists assist people who have speech, language, voice and swallowing disorders. Occupational therapists use purposeful activity or interventions designed to achieve functional outcomes that promote health or prevent injury or disability.
A non-medical service provider is also known as a personal services agency (PSA). PSAs provide certified nursing aides (CNAs) and home health aides who offer part-time, full-time or round-the-clock care, depending on the patient’s needs and the financial resources available. These providers’ purpose is to enhance clients’ abilities so they can live safely and independently. CNAs and aides assist with activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, transferring, toileting and eating. They also provide companion care and temporary assistance during illness or post-op recovery. They might also do light housekeeping and laundry and transport patients to doctor’s appointments. Personal services do not include medical, nursing or other health-related services.
“We do for others what they cannot do for themselves,” Hughes said. “It is rewarding because you can be of service to another human being.”
The Office of Inspector General (OIG), a division of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, is the regulatory agency charged with oversight of home health and home- care agencies. Certification as a PSA is mandatory for any individual who provides personal services to four or more clients. A company or business entity that is not currently licensed as a health facility but provides personal services must apply for certification regardless of the number of clients served. The OIG conducts an initial desk review of this level of care, investigating the services the agencies provide and how they are performed. It conducts yearly reviews thereafter.
Home-health agencies that provide health care are licensed by the OIG and certified by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS). CMS determines the frequency of the certified HHA surveys, and the licensure surveys are based on the CMS schedule.
People may not know much about home health-care providers until they need one, and they may wonder where to start when choosing.
“Make sure that they are a certified agency,” Hughes said. “The Office of Inspector General will give you a list of everyone that is certified.”
The Office of Inspector General’s web- site is http://chfs.ky.gov/os/oig/.