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Sunday, June 3, 2012

What is the purpose of the Home Health Program?

The purpose of the Health and Recovery Services Administration (HRSA) home health program is to reduce the costs of health care services by providing equally effective, less restrictive quality care to the client in the client’s residence when the client is not able to access the medically necessary services in the community.
Home health skilled services are provided for acute, intermittent, short-term, and intensive
courses of treatment.

Acute care – Care provided by a home health agency for clients who are not medically  stable or have not attained a satisfactory level  of rehabilitation. These clients require
frequent intervention by a registered nurse or  licensed therapist.

Home Health Agency - An agency or organization certified under Medicare to provide comprehensive health care on an intermittent or part-time basis to a patient in the patient’s place of residence.
Home Health Aide – An individual registered or certified as a nursing assistance under chapter 18.88 RCW who, under the direction and supervision of a registered nurse or
licensed therapist, assists in the delivery of nursing or therapy related activities, or both.

Home Health Aide services – Services provided by a home health aide when a client
has an acute, intermittent, short-term need for the services of a registered nurse, physical
therapist, occupational therapist, or speech therapist who is employed by, or under
contract with, a home health agency. Such services are provided under the supervision of
the previously identified authorized practitioners, and include, but are not limited to, ambulation and exercise, assistance with self-administered medications, reporting
changes in a client’s conditions and needs, and completing appropriate records.

Home Health skilled services – Skilled health care (nursing, specialized therapy, and
home health aide) services provided in the client’s residence on an intermittent or part-
time basis by a Medicare certified home health agency with a current HRSA provider
number.

Medically Necessary - A term for describing requested service which is reasonably
calculated to prevent, diagnose, correct, cure, alleviate or prevent worsening of conditions in
the client that endanger life, or cause suffering or pain, or result in an illness or infirmity, or
threaten to cause or aggravate a handicap, or cause physical deformity or malfunction, and
there is no other equally effective, more conservative or substantially less costly course
of treatment available or suitable for the client requesting the service.

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