FAQs

Home health care provides medical treatment for an illness or injury, with the goal of helping you recover, regain your independence and become as self-sufficient as possible. More than just providing excellent care in your home, home health care also saves billions of dollars each year. There is no more cost-effective provider of health care in our country.

Amedisys Home Health Care 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:

• heart disease
• diabetes
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• pain management
• wound care
• infusion therapy
• oncology
• chronic kidney disease
• psychiatric services

On the first visit, a nurse or therapist will conduct an initial evaluation. At Amedisys, this thorough interview and evaluation is part of our coordinated approach to managing your overall health status. Our evaluation focuses on educating you in self-care management and partners with your doctor to promote disease prevention and proactive care – which includes the family or caregivers.

This team approach facilitates an easier transition for you from a hospital or nursing facility to your home, and actively engages you and your caregivers in your health care.

Yes. After your doctor refers you to Amedisys Home Health Care, an Amedisys clinician will come to your home to assess your needs. We will communicate with your doctor to discuss the assessment and work together to develop your personal plan of care. Amedisys Home Health Care staff will implement your physician-ordered plan of care and keep your doctor updated about your progress. If your condition or needs change, we’ll collaborate with your doctor to review your plan of care and make any adjustments deemed necessary.

The frequency of home health care visits and the services provided are based on your doctor’s orders in your personal plan of care. Your doctor may change your plan of care, increasing or decreasing the number of visits or services provided, in order to provide you with the best home health care for your needs.

Absolutely, and we’d be honored to care for you or your loved one. Federal law gives patients the freedom to choose their health care provider under Medicare.

Hospice Care is a compassionate form of care that is designed to provide non-curative treatment and comfort for those who are facing a life-limiting illness. It offers a support system of medical, social, psychological, and spiritual services that promotes dignity and affirms quality of life. This comprehensive and specialized care allows the patient, family, and other loved ones to make choices about what is important to them.

In most cases, a family member serves as the primary caregiver and helps make decisions for a loved one. The caregiver works with the professional, experienced members of the hospice care team to develop a plan to provide treatment, support, personal care and a number of specialized services for both the patient and family. At Amedisys, our hospice care team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to provide assistance in managing your individual needs.

The Hospice Care Team includes:

• Patient and Family
• Attending Physician
• Hospice Care Physician
• Hospice Care Nurses
• Home Health Aides
• Social Workers
• Physical, Speech, and Occupational Therapists
• Volunteers
• Spiritual Counselors
• Bereavement Counselors

The hospice care benefit is intended primarily for any individual with a terminal illness whose life expectancy is six months or less, should the illness run its usual course. However, the Medicare program recognizes that not all terminal illnesses have a predictable course; therefore, the benefit is available for extended periods of time beyond six months.

Anyone can make a referral for hospice care services. You should feel free to talk with your doctor, your minister, or a trusted friend when making this decision. You also may choose to contact us to learn more about our services and to arrange for a meeting in your home to discuss the program. We are also available to meet with you and provide care in local hospitals, or in extended-stay facilities, such as nursing homes and assisted living centers.

Amedisys is one of the nation’s largest home health and hospice care providers, with over 500 care centers nationwide. To search for the Amedisys location in your community, please visit our care center directory.

Medical professionals who have chronically ill patients often have to navigate home health and hospice care options. At Amedisys, we focus on delivering the care that’s best for your patients, whether that is home-based care focused on empowering your patients to manage a chronic disease, palliative care for those with a terminal illness, or hospice care at the end of life.

Amedisys Home Health Care 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. We also have advanced home-based health care methods for treating wounds, managing behavioral health issues, stroke recovery, pain management and rehab therapy.

Our Hospice Care team provides treatment and comfort for people facing a life-limiting illness. Amedisys offers a support system of medical, social, psychological and spiritual services that promote dignity and affirm quality of life. Our comprehensive and specialized care allows patients, family members, and other loved ones to make choices about what is important to them.

The hospice benefit is intended primarily for individuals with a terminal illness whose life expectancy is six months or less, should the illness run its usual course. However, the Medicare program recognizes that not all terminal illnesses have a predictable course; therefore, the benefit is available for periods of time beyond six months. Additionally, patients are not required to be homebound in order to receive hospice care.

There are several requirements for a patient receiving home health care:

• 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.

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.

Our Care Transitions program is designed to reduce unnecessary hospital readmissions through patient and caregiver health coaching and care coordination, starting in the hospital and continuing throughout completion of the patient’s home health plan of care. Launched in April 2010, Care Transitions is offered to patients at all Amedisys care centers nationwide and overseen by Care Transitions coordinators, all of whom are licensed clinicians.

Elements of the program include:

• Educating patients about managing their chronic condition(s) prior to hospital discharge and throughout their care
• Working with patients to ensure effective communication with their physicians and health care providers
• Teaching patients how to self assess and track their health data, allowing them to determine when action needs to be taken
• Setting personal health goals and building action plans to make changes in their life and health
• Creating a realistic medication management system
• Ensuring physician follow-up appointments

Our Care Transitions model strives to ensure coordinated care by all a patient’s health care providers and has proven to be invaluable to a patient’s recovery process. Patient education and coaching every step of the way empowers patients to take charge of their own health.