Saturday, May 16, 2009

What is home health care?

Home health care is skilled nursing in the home. Medicare pays 100% for home health services under the following conditions:

1) The doctor MUST certify the care.

2) The patient MUST be homebound (can go to church, etc. but MUST be a taxing effort to leave the home).

3) The home health care agency must be Medicare certified.

4) There MUST be a skilled nursing service required...not just "sitter service" or "nanny service". Wound care, physical therapy, speech therapy all are skilled nursing services.

For more information about home health care, go to www.cms.gov or nahc.org for details.

You can also send me an email to slara1961@gmail.com and I will respond within 24 hours.

Scott Lara

Caring for your parents

My mother-in-law is 72. She works over 40 hours a week. Her father is 93 and is living in Athens, Georgia. For several years he has lived in a facility in his own apartment with little help. About a year ago he hired a student from the University of Georgia to come in a couple of times a week to help him.

Two months ago he fell. He was on the floor for several hours because his hip gave out. Thankfully, my wife Marty calls him frequently and was able to get someone at the facility to check on him.

He then went to the hospital for surgery, and now he is in a rehab facility.

The problem that we face, along with many other Americans is that our parents are living longer lives which means we are taking care of them and taking care of our kids!

Of course the financial pressure can be overwhelming, but when you live hours away from a parent, it makes it more difficult.

I will be posting links to resources that can help you with this issue.

As always, please post your questions here and I will be happy to reply.

Scott Lara

Welcome

Hi...My name is Scott Lara. My wife Marty and I live in Jacksonville, Florida. We have two kids, Brittany (24) who works as a Director for the MDA here in Jacksonville. Our son Tim is 22 and he is attending the University of South Florida (USF) studying international business.

I have been in the home health industry for over 14 years. I have been on many home health visits and have seen how hard it is for people to take care of their aging parents.

The goal of this website is to give you the tools to help your parents. I am here to answer your questions and give you the resources to help your aging parents.

Scott