Skilled Nursing Care - Includes
services and care that can only be performed safely and correctly by a licensed
nurse on a intermittent basis. Examples of skilled nursing care may include: intravenous
injections, wound care, skilled observation of a medical condition, regulation
of medications, education regarding treatments or disease management, catheter
changes or other skilled services.
Physical Therapy - Assessment
of a patient’s physical condition and development/implementation of a rehabilitation
program provided by a qualified physical therapist; therapeutic (strengthening)
exercises, gait training (walking), ordering of and instruction in use of assistive
devices or other therapeutic treatments by a qualified physical therapist or licensed
physical therapy assistant.
Occupational Therapy -Skilled
services by a qualified occupational therapist to assess a patient’s ability
to perform activities of daily living and develop a plan of care to improve those
abilities; activities to increase independence or compensatory techniques in bathing,
dressing, toileting may be part of the therapeutic treatment as well as design,
fitting and fabrication or orthotics and self-held devices by a qualified occupational
therapist or certified occupational therapy assistant.
Speech Therapy - Skilled
services by a qualified speech pathologist for the assessment, diagnosis and treatment
of speech and language related disorders
Medical Social Worker - Skilled services provided by a qualified social
worker to help the patient deal with social and emotional aspects of the injury
or illness. This can include counseling or help in finding resources in the
community.
Medicare Guidelines
1. Your doctor must decide that you need medical care in your home, and provide
a plan of care for your needs; and
2. You must need at least one of the following services on an intermittent basis:
skilled nursing care, physical therapy, or speech therapy; and
3. You must be homebound. This means you are unable to normally leave your home.
Homebound status means it takes a major effort to leave. When you do leave it
is for a short time, it is infrequent or it is for medical care.
4. The Home Health agency providing your care must be Medicare-certified.
Some information on this page is from Medicare and Home
Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services, Publication No. CMS-10969.