Caregiving is complicated.
RubyWell makes it easier.

Home health care includes a range of medical and therapeutic services delivered in a patient’s home. Its goal is to promote, maintain, or restore health; slow a patient’s decline; or to help manage the effects of illness, injury, or disability.

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Home health services are typically provided to patients whose health conditions make it difficult, impossible, or unsafe to leave their homes. They’re designed to ensure patients receive necessary care in a comfortable, familiar environment, out of hospitals or skilled nursing facilities.

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Home health is different from home care, in that it includes care tasks that require more medical training than the care tasks provided in home care. For example, home health aides can monitor vital signs, administer medications, and care for wounds, catheters, and ostomies. Home care aides aren’t allowed to perform those kinds of care tasks, Instead, they provide “custodial care” which may include help with activities of daily living, driving to appointments, running errands, and providing companionship.

Patients who qualify for home health services can receive medical care in the comfort of their home. The frequency of the home health visits depends on the patient’s care needs, but could be one or more times per week. The medical care provided doesn’t replace all of the care that family members may provide. But it provides the welcomed support and knowledge of skilled medical professionals.

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Covered home health services can include:

• Skilled nursing care (such as wound care, medication administration, and health monitoring)
• Physical, occupational, and speech therapy
• Medical social services
• Patient and caregiver education and counseling
• Assistance with daily activities (bathing, dressing, grooming) by home health aides when combined with skilled care
• Intravenous or nutrition therapy, injections, and other medical treatments

Medicare covers home health services for beneficiaries who are homebound, at risk for future hospitalizations, and need assistance with activities of daily living (bathing, toileting, continence, dressing, eating, transferring).

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Medicare considers a person homebound if both of these statements are true:

• You rarely leave home and when you do, it's just for short appointments or special events.
• Leaving home is difficult due to shortness of breath, pain, limited stamina, or other reasons.

And one of these statements is true:

• You require an assistive device (e.g., wheelchair, walker, crutches, cane), special transportation, or personal assistance to leave home due to illness/injury.
• Their doctor has recommended that you not leave home because of their condition.

Here’s how RubyWell’s free service works:

1. After you submit the qualification form, you'll be asked to schedule a call with RubyWell so we can better understand the patient's care needs and explain the process to you.
2. If the patient appears to be eligible, we'll provide directions to securely share their Medicare ID number, so we can confirm that they're covered by Original Medicare. This way we can help you avoid costly co-pays for unnecessary doctor visits if we learn that they're actually covered by a Medicare Advantage plan that we can't work with.
3. If they're covered by Original Medicare, we'll provide them with a Home Health Discussion Guide that will help them communicate their care needs clearly with their doctor. They will need to have this discussion in a face-to-face encounter with their doctor (in-person or via telehealth) in order for the doctor to assess if they should provide a home health referral order. The referral order tells Medicare and the home health agency that the doctor believes that certain home health services would be suitable for the patient.
4. Once the patient has a referral order, we'll connect them to one of our Medicare-certified partner home health agencies in their area. The agency may review the referral order, schedule the Medicare-required home visit, and prepare a personalized care plan.
5. The agency you ultimately work with will then match the patient with a home health aide, supervising skilled nurse, and any other therapists that may be indicated on the referral order. Care will start when the care team is staffed and visits are scheduled.

In order to be paid to provide home health care for a loved one on Medicare, you need to be trained and certified as a home health aide. Activities you can be paid for as a member of your loved one's home health team could include:

• Preparing meals
• Administering medication (as allowed)
• Routine or special skin care 
• Using medical equipment, supplies, and devices
• Changing dressings 
• Performing simple measurements and tests to monitor patient’s medical condition
• Performing a maintenance exercise program
• Caring for a normally functioning ostomy 
• Indwelling catheter care
• Using mechanical ventilators
• Observing, recording, and reporting to the care team

RubyWell has launched our Family Health Worker pilot program in Maricopa County, AZ. The program supports family caregivers with home health aide training, certification, and employment as a member of their loved one's care team. We’re currently not accepting new families to this pilot program, while we work out training logistics.