Skilled Home Care Services
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is home health care? ^top
Home health care is medically-necessary, doctor-prescribed health care that a patient receives in his/her home. Typically, a patient who does not qualify for hospital care, or skilled rehabilitation care at an inpatient rehabilitation facility, or who would have significant difficultly traveling to doctor’s, or out-patient therapy appointments, would qualify for skilled home health care.
CHANS Home Health Care can provide nursing services, physical, occupational, and/or speech therapy, mental health nursing services, home health care aides, and social workers to assist you, depending on your medical needs.
CHANS Home Health Care is designed to be a short-term service with the goal of helping you to achieve your best level of functioning and good health.
2. Why should I choose CHANS Home Health Care? ^top
CHANS Home Health Care has provided quality home healthcare in southern mid coast Maine communities since 1947. We are a local, non-profit agency, affiliated with the Mid Coast Hospital, and committed to providing the best home health care in the 28 communities we serve. We host flu clinics, blood pressure clinics and health care talks and presentations, in addition to providing in-home services and Hospice care.
CHANS Home Health Care works in collaboration with care coordinators at Mid Coast Hospital and Parkview Adventist Medical Center, as well as doctors, and the area’s assisted living, and nursing home facilities. We are committed to providing high-quality care and service excellence in assisting patients to achieve their best healthcare outcomes.
CHANS Home Health Care is Medicare and Maine Care certified, and accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO).
3. How do I qualify for CHANS Home Health Care? ^top
To qualify for insurance-paid, in-home services, one must have a medical need(s) that requires skilled medical care and attention. Conditions requiring skilled care include, but are not limited to, wound care, surgical- or wound-dressing changes, physical, occupational, and speech therapies, education about your health care needs, medication, and/or treatment, and IV medication therapy. Your doctor or care coordinator (if you are being discharged from the hospital or skilled rehabilitation facility) can best help you determine if you qualify for home health care.
4. Who pays for my home health care services? ^top
Most Medicare, Medicaid and private pay insurers will pay for home care if you meet the criteria specified by your insurance policy. CHANS Home Health Care’s Intake Department staff can help you to determine if you or your loved one is eligible for care.
5. Does my doctor have to order CHANS Home Health Care services for me to receive them? ^top
Either your primary care doctor, or the doctor who discharges you from the hospital, must certify that you have medical needs that are best cared for in your home. This doctor will also determine which services should be provided to you. After CHANS services begin, and our staff completes an assessment of your needs, the CHANS staff will consult with the doctor and make recommendations about any additional services that CHANS feels would be beneficial for you during your recovery.
6. What types of services can be provided by CHANS Home Health Care? ^top
CHANS Home Health Care provides a wide range of care and services for people of all ages, from newborns to the elderly. We can provide high-quality
nursing, social and therapy services, and
personal care tailored to meet your unique
needs.
For those persons approaching end-of-life CHANS
Hospice provides a full range of comfort
care designed to manage symptoms and improve
quality-of-life for the patient and family
desiring palliative care.
Our Private
Duty/Private Pay Service provides quality
in-home services to those persons needing
more care than their insurance provider will
cover.
On-call nursing coverage is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for patients who have emergent needs, questions or concerns.
7. What if I want Hospice services, and do not want to continue treatment(s) and skilled care? ^top
If you and your family determine that Hospice care is the right choice for you, our staff will work closely with you, your family and your doctor to make the transition from skilled services (curative treatment) to Hospice care (palliative treatment). CHANS will work with you and your family to make this transition as seamless as possible, in many instances having your Home Health Care personnel continue to visit and treat you under Hospice’s direction.
8. How long do CHANS Home Health Care services last? ^top
CHANS Home Health Care staff will assess your needs at each visit and provide care according to the assessment and plan of care developed by CHANS and your doctor. Once your recovery and functioning have returned to pre-illness levels, or progressed as far as is possible, CHANS Home Health Care services will end. CHANS will provide you with instructions on how to maintain the level of health and functioning that you have achieved while under our care.
CHANS Home Health Care patients generally receive services for 4 to 12 weeks, but services are based upon care plan goals ordered by your doctor, and can continue only until you have achieved those care plan goals.
9. What if I have a problem at night or on the weekend? ^top
Help is only a phone call away at 207-729-6782. On-call nursing coverage is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
10. What if I need more care that CHANS Home Health Care provides? ^top
CHANS Home Health Care’s services are not intended to take the place of the care your family can provide. Our services are limited to brief, in-home visits designed to provide you with the medical treatment(s) prescribed by your doctor. If you need more care than CHANS Home Health Care or your family can provide, or than your insurance will pay for, CHANS Home Health Care’s social work staff will discuss options with you
CHANS Home Health Care has a Private Duty/Private Pay service (link), in addition to other private-pay and respite care services in our catchment area. The services of these providers may be just what you need to make it possible for you to remain at home while having your care needs met.
11. Where are services provided? ^top
CHANS Home Health Care staff comes right to you, and works with you in the comfort of your own home. If you are unable to continue to live in your own or a family member’s home, CHANS Home Health Care staff can help you to find an assisted living facility that meets your needs. We will also assist you and the facility’s staff through the transition process.
If you already live in an assisted living facility you can still receive home health care provided your medical condition warrants such care.
12. What if I don’t live at home? ^top
You can still receive care if your doctor prescribes home health care for you. CHANS Home Health Care has cooperative and congenial working relationships with all of the nursing homes and assisted living facilities in our catchment area. Our staff works closely with the personnel at these facilities to coordinate care for patients.
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