Why Is Medicare For Home Care an Underused Resource?

By Kate Dougherty, Certified Senior Advisor

One of the things most of us instantly notice when observing aging family members or elderly friends, are the physical challenges they often have just to move about. Sometimes we don’t even see the changes in ourselves. My friend, Alice, recently told me how shocked she was following a walk at a regional park with her husband and adult daughter. Her husband told her later that the daughter had commented that, “Mom seems to walk a lot slower these days.” Alice was almost miffed. “I’m healthy and active,” she said. “Perhaps my ankle was bothering me a bit that day and I didn’t want to risk irritating it.”

The stiffness, aches and pains, and growing list of health problems that naturally occur as we age, generally seem to be a frequent topic of conversation among adults. But it is also very natural to feel that we can cope with physical challenges, resisting suggestions that we go see our doctor to ask about physical therapy, or hire occasional in-home assistance.

Of course socioeconomic factors play a role, but sometimes cost is not the reason for lower access to certain types of care. A study by the National Institute on Aging found that, even when Medicare covers the cost of in-home physical therapy treatments, physicians’ preferences, attitudes, and past experiences may influence whether they offer it to their patients. And if the physician doesn’t prescribe it, Medicare won’t reimburse it.

It is important to remind your doctor that you have a Medicare home health benefit if, for example, it is hard to get out of the house following a surgery. A physical or occupational therapist can treat you in your own home, and Medicare will cover the cost of a home health aide for bathing and other personal care needs while you are under the clinician’s care. It’s a great benefit covered for most patients, and is often underutilized.

We have to be our own health advocates, and take advantage of easily available resources, like home health care. Many studies have shown that home health keeps patients out of the hospital, and can literally extend a person’s life. Many of our patients at Southern Utah Home Care & Hospice have become mobile and independent again following serious surgeries or other medical setbacks. In some cases, the families were prepared to place the patients into assisted living facilities. But these difficult decisions were found to be unnecessary. And most people do prefer to remain in their own homes as long as possible.

Many people and their physicians are often unaware of the Medicare home health benefit. Yet these are wonderful services that have an enormous impact on the quality of people’s lives. I am grateful to be in a profession where I see it every day.

 

Contact us for Home Medical and Hospice services.