Home Health Questions Families Ask in Orange County
Can I call you myself, without a doctor’s referral?
Yes. You can contact us directly. Home health and hospice both need a doctor’s order before care starts, but you don’t have to get it yourself. We contact the doctor for you.
Can I call for my mom, dad or spouse?
Yes. Adult children, spouses and patients all call us. Care starts only with the patient’s agreement, or the agreement of their legal representative.
Will a real person answer if I call at night or on a weekend?
Yes. A real person answers both our home health line and our hospice line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including nights, weekends and holidays.
How soon can care start?
Care can start within 24 hours. We handle contacting the doctor and checking coverage, so your family doesn’t have to chase paperwork.
I sent a request on your website. When will someone call me back?
Within minutes. When you send a request through our website, a team member calls you back within minutes, day or night.
Can we ask for a Vietnamese-speaking nurse?
Yes. 24/7 Care at Home is Vietnamese family-owned, and families can ask for a Vietnamese-speaking nurse. Just tell us when you contact us.
What is the difference between home health and hospice?
The goal of care. Home health helps a person recover, keep their current level of function, or slow a decline, usually for a limited time. Hospice is comfort care for a person with an illness that can’t be cured, with support for the whole family. If you’re not sure which one fits, contact us and we’ll help you understand the options.
What does home health include?
With a doctor’s order, home health can include part-time skilled nursing (such as wound care, injections, IV therapy, monitoring a serious illness, and teaching the patient and family), physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, medical social services, and home health aide help when skilled care is also being given.
Who qualifies for Medicare home health?
Generally, the person needs part-time or intermittent skilled care, is homebound (leaving home is hard and takes a lot of effort, or needs help from a person or a device like a walker), and has been seen in person by a doctor or other provider who orders the care.
What will home health cost us with Medicare?
For eligible patients, Medicare pays for covered home health services and you pay nothing for them. Medical equipment may have a 20% coinsurance after the Part B deductible. Before care starts, the agency must tell you, out loud and in writing, about anything Medicare won’t cover. If you have a Medicare Advantage plan or other insurance, we’ll check your benefits with you when you contact us.
Does home health mean someone stays with my parent all day?
No. Home health is scheduled visits by nurses, therapists and aides. Medicare doesn’t pay for 24-hour care at home, meal delivery, homemaker services like shopping and cleaning, or personal care when that is the only care someone needs.
My dad still goes to temple or church each week. Can he get home health?
Possibly. Under Medicare, a person can still be considered homebound if they leave home for medical care or for short, infrequent non-medical outings, such as religious services. The doctor confirms homebound status.
What happens at the first home health visit?
A registered nurse (or, when only therapy is ordered, a therapist) visits to learn about the patient’s health, goals and home, reviews every medicine the patient takes, explains the patient’s rights in a language they understand, and talks about the plan of care: who will visit, how often, and what the goals are.
Can we choose which agency provides care after a hospital stay?
Yes. If the doctor decides home health is needed, they should give you a list of agencies that serve your area. Tell the doctor or the hospital’s discharge planner that you’d like 24/7 Care at Home, or request care and we’ll coordinate.
Who is hospice for?
Under Medicare, hospice is for a person whose doctor certifies a life expectancy of six months or less if the illness runs its usual course, and who chooses comfort care instead of treatment to cure the illness. Hospice can continue past six months if the hospice doctor recertifies that the person still qualifies.
If we choose hospice, can we change our minds?
Yes. Choosing hospice is not permanent. A patient can stop hospice care at any time, and under Medicare can also change hospice providers once in each benefit period.
Where does hospice care happen?
Usually wherever the person lives: a family home, an apartment, an assisted living facility or a nursing home. Medicare doesn’t cover room and board in a facility.
What is palliative care?
Palliative care is whole-person care that relieves the symptoms of a serious illness, whether or not it can be cured. Unlike hospice, it can be given alongside treatment meant to cure or control the illness.
How is your home health care rated by Medicare?
Our home health services have a 5-star Quality of Patient Care rating from CMS, the federal agency that runs Medicare. You can look up any home health agency on Medicare’s Care Compare website.
Is 24/7 Care at Home a local company?
Yes. We are a Vietnamese family-owned company that has served families since 2007, with an office in Westminster. We provide home health, hospice and palliative care in Orange County, Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire.