Bluegrass Home Health Care

What is Bluegrass Home Health Care?

Bluegrass Home Health Care is a range of services offered wherever you call home, that support you as you recover from an injury or illness or seek to manage a chronic condition.  Our goal is to help you maintain your highest level of ability or health or learn to live at your best with a disability or long-term condition. We do this through a range of medical services provided in the home according to a care plan tailored specifically to your needs and goals.

Services We Provide

• Skilled Nursing is provided by a Registered Nurse (RN) or Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) with training and experience in providing care in the home. The nurse communicates frequently with your physician/practitioner to update your plan of care. Services may include evaluation of your specific needs, provision of skilled nursing services (including patient and family education), and coordination of services with your physician/practitioner and other health care team members.
• Home Health Aide services are delivered under the supervision of a registered nurse or licensed therapist and are provided when you need part-time assistance with personal care. Typical duties include bathing, shampooing hair, changing bed linens and assisting with other activities of daily living. If you are a Medicare patient and wish for additional services, you may qualify for other programs or pay privately for those services.
• Medical Social Services are provided by a Medical Social Worker. Services may include short-term counseling services, referral to and coordination with community resources and assistance with living arrangements, finances and long-range planning.
• Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy Services are provided by a licensed therapist or licensed therapy assistant under the direction of the therapist. Your therapist will provide specific information about the services and treatments you will receive.
• Home and Community Based Waiver Services are provided to those persons who are eligible based on specific criteria. These services can include: homemaker services, respite care, case management and minor home adaptations.
• Medical Supplies may be required to carry out your plan of care. All medical supplies must be coordinated with the home health agency while you are receiving Medicare covered home health services. If you arrange for these services or supplies on your own while under our plan of care, Medicare will not reimburse you and you may be responsible for the charges.
• Home Medical Equipment (walker, wheelchair, hospital bed, oxygen, etc.) is covered separately and may be supplied by a medical equipment supplier of your choice or a contracted supplier, as required by your insurance.

Eligibility for Bluegrass Home Health Care

We accept payment for services from Medicare, Medicaid, workers' compensation, private insurance or private pay. Some insurers may limit the number and type of home care visits that they will pay for and may require pre-certification and/or co-payments.

Our agency will bill Medicare and Medicaid for our services on your behalf. We will accept Medicare assigned payment as payment in full for the services we provide as long as you meet the qualifying requirements, and the services are covered by the Medicare program. If services are ordered which are not covered by the Medicare or Medicaid programs, or you no longer meet the coverage requirements, you will be notified by the agency in advance so that you can make other financial arrangements for the necessary care.

If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, other insurance or hospice, please notify Bluegrass Home Health Care of those plans and services.

MEDICARE REQUIREMENTS FOR BLUEGRASS HOME HEALTH CARE

The following are required for Medicare to pay for your home health services:

• You are homebound as certified by a physician/practitioner. This means that, due to your illness or injury, leaving home is either contraindicated or requires the aid of assistive devices, special transportation or assistance from another person. In addition, a normal inability to leave your home must exist, and leaving your home takes a considerable and taxing effort. You can still be considered homebound if your absences are infrequent or of relatively short duration. You can leave home to attend a religious service or a state licensed, certified and/or accredited adult day-care program to receive therapeutic, psychosocial or medical treatment; to receive medical treatments such as outpatient dialysis, chemotherapy or radiation therapy; or to attend unique or infrequent special events (family reunion, funeral, graduation, etc.). If you are able to drive, then you probably do not meet the homebound requirement.
• You have had a recent illness or injury (or worsening of a condition) which requires Skilled Nursing Care on an intermittent basis (other than solely venipunctures), or Physical Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology or Occupational Therapy.
• You are an eligible Medicare beneficiary under the care of a physician or non-physician practitioner (as applicable by state law) who has seen you for the condition for which home health services are being ordered and provided by the agency. If the services are not reasonable or medically necessary and specifically ordered by your physician, Medicare will not pay for those services.
• Care is provided on an intermittent basis. This means Medicare will not pay for our health care staff to stay with you for an extended period of time. We will only visit you for the length of time it takes to provide the specific treatment ordered by your physician.

If all of these requirements are met, Medicare will also pay for, Medical Social Services, Home Health Aides and medical supplies.

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