What is home health care?
Home health care provides medical treatment for an illness or injury, with the goal of helping patients recover, regain their independence and become as self-sufficient as possible.
Haven offers health care services such as skilled nursing, home health aides, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. We can also offer specialized chronic care programs that focus on actively involving you in your health care process, addressing conditions including but not limited to:
- heart disease
- diabetes
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- pain management
- wound care
- infusion therapy
- chronic kidney disease
How can home health care help my patients?
Medical professionals who have patients that are chronically ill or in need of rehabilitation often have to identify the best home health options for their patients. At Haven, we focus on delivering care that maximizes a client’s quality of daily living, whether that is companionship services used to support a client’s social needs, personal care focused on empowering you to manage a chronic disease or creating a rehabilitation plan of care designed to improve patient functionality or health.
Haven provides comprehensive support for patients with chronic diseases and post-acute care needs. Our Home Health Care team works closely with physicians to coordinate all aspects of patient care for chronic diseases including CHF, diabetes, kidney disease and COPD.
What types of patients are eligible for home health care?
There are several requirements for a patient receiving home health care under Medicare benefits:
The patient must need either skilled nursing care on an intermittent basis or therapy services (i.e., physical/occupational/speech therapy).
The patient must be restricted in their ability to leave home, and their homebound status must be certified by a physician.
For patients with Medicaid benefits or private insurance homebound status is not a requirement for care.
How does Medicare define homebound status?
A normal inability to leave home such that absences from home are infrequent and of relatively short duration. Any absences should require a considerable and taxing effort. Likewise, absence that require an assistive device or the aid of another person may also be permissible for the homebound patient. Similarly, a person may leave home for medical treatment which cannot be provided in the home.
How do I make a referral to home health care?
If you have a patient who you believe could benefit from home health care, please contact us today through our referral page or call us at 855-834-2836.
Fast-Track Fax Referral – making it simple to refer your patients for home health
Online Referral Form
Telephone: 855-834-2836
Fax: 330-305-6886
Does Haven have a location in my patient’s community?
Haven serves patients in Stark, Summit, Portage and Mahoning counties.
What does the new face-to-face requirement entail?
In November 2010, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued their final rule regarding hospice and home health face-to-face encounter requirements for 2011. As has always been the case, hospice and home health care patients must be under the direct supervision of a physician at all times, a model which Haven has always employed and supported.
The new CMS face-to-face regulation is designed to further ensure the physician’s active involvement in a patient’s plan of care. This regulation will have no financial impact on either the patients we care for or the physicians who refer them to us.
For home health care patients, CMS’s face-to-face regulations require additional visits and documentation, which we will work with you and our shared patients to manage. These requirements are only for the initial certification period, not for recertifications. For details, please review “Home Health Face-to-Face Encounter – A New Home Health Certification Requirement,” published by CMS, or visit our Face-to-Face Requirements page to learn more and discover tips for easier implementation of this requirement.
What type of communication can I expect from Haven about my patient?
Following their initial visit to assess the patient’s condition and needs, the Haven clinician will personalize the plan of care based on the findings during the initial visits. The Haven clinician will then fax the plan of care to the patient’s physician for approval. Subsequently, we’ll contact you with any change in status, problem achieving goals, or complications.
Every 60 days of the home health episode of care, our clinicians will reassess the patient for continued home care needs. Following the assessment, the clinician will develop a new or update the existing plan of care for the patient. Once the plan of care is updated or revised, the clinician will send you a patient progress summary and a new plan of care. At discharge the clinician will prepare a report for you, summarizing the care that was provided, goals achieved, any challenges, and the status of the patient at discharge.
How does Haven ensure the plan of care I recommend is followed?
All Haven nurses have been trained in accordance with Haven’s patient policies and procedures. With that said, a Registered Nurse (“RNs”) will supervise a Licensed Practical Nurse (“LPNs”) providing the care for the patient every 30 days. In addition to supervising the LPNs every 30 days, the RN will review the nurse visit notes on a weekly basis to ensure that all facets of the plan of care are implemented.