When a patient has experienced an illness, hospitalization or surgery, and this requires recovery or healing, or when there is a new health care diagnosis that calls for a change in daily lifestyle, home health care may be appropriate.
Some key determining factors for eligibility include:
- Walking assistance is required.
- To leave the home, assistance is required due to a medical condition.
- Ability to leave the home is limited due to multiple diseases or recent diagnoses.
- Limits on physical mobility due to stroke or general weakness.
- Chronic illness with periods of instability.
- Surgery which was recent or is scheduled.
- Being on oxygen.
- Falls which are frequent.
- Due to immobility or changes in condition, anxiety or psychological challenges have developed.
- Changes in several medications.
- Multiple visits to the emergency room (ER) or admission to the hospital.
- Weight loss which is unintentional.
- Breathing difficulty.
- Pain which is poorly controlled.
- Daily wound care or treatments.
- Infection that complicates the wound-healing process.
- Challenges with nutritional or fluid assessment needs or management.
- Advanced neurological disease.