Loved Ones Shouldn't Be Restricted to Visiting Hours.

Nine out of ten people say they prefer home care over institutional care. It is the most efficient and compassionate way to care for patients with chronic conditions and those who do not require full-blown hospitalization or nursing-home care. It encourages independence for seniors and those living with chronic health conditions, while keeping families together. People of all ages are choosing to receive sophisticated medical treatment in their loving and secure home environments.

High Quality and Comprehensive

Home care is consumer-focused, offering personalized care in the comfort of patients' homes. It is also high-quality, offering state-of-the-art technology, such as IV chemotherapy for cancer patients and telehealth care, which allows caregivers to monitor patients' conditions remotely around-the-clock. This type of home care is especially important for those with chronic conditions such as diabetes and congestive heart failure. New home-care technologies also empower patients to take an active role in their own health care, avoiding costly visits to the emergency room.

All Stages of Life

Home care touches all stages of life. It can be acute care following a hospital stay or serious illness; long-term care for someone with a disability or an elderly person in declining health; hourly shift care for a medically fragile infant on a ventilator; or end-of-life care for a terminally ill patient.

Speedier Recoveries

Data suggests that patients recover more quickly at home because they are not susceptible to life-threatening infections and other complications that occur in 20 percent of hospital patients. The incidence of adverse reactions in home care is roughly one percent.

Pediatric Home Care

Children 18 years and younger are covered primarily under private insurance plans or Medicaid. However, nearly 9 million children have no health care coverage at all. These children lack access to the many benefits that home health care services offer, some of which include:

• Care for premature, low-birth-weight children and those whose hearts and lungs are not fully developed
• Care for children born with congenital problems, such as Down Syndrome, Crohn's Disease and Juvenile Diabetes
• Care for ventilator-dependent children
• Protective support to fragile school-age children with seizure or respiratory disorders
• Home intravenous chemotherapy for children with cancer
• Physical therapy for children with disabilities
• Post-hospital care for children who have sustained burns or who have undergone surgery

Caring For Those With Disabilities

Medicaid is a jointly funded federal-state health-care program for low-income families. All Medicaid programs offer home health services, but personal and supportive home care services are offered at the state's option. More than half of home care is funded privately by patients and their families. Recent estimates indicate that 36 million non-elderly adults have no health care coverage. These people have no access to the life-extending and affirming supports that home care offers, such as:

• Respiratory therapy for severe breathing problems resulting from conditions such as asthma, emphysema, and COPD
• Physical therapy, transportation and other assistance for disabled workers
• Personal-care services that include bathing, dressing and meal preparation
• Rehabilitation therapy for accident victims
• Remote telemonitoring to ensure safe functioning of the severely disabled
• Psychiatric and psychological support and medication management for individuals with mental or cognitive disorders

Home Care for Older Americans

Medicare provides coverage for only 3 million of the 12 million Americans who receive home care annually. To qualify for this benefit, care must be ordered by a physician, patients must have the need for skilled nursing care or physical therapy, and patients must be confined to home. If patients' needs are too severe - if they are too sick or require daily care - they are deemed ineligible for home health care. In many cases, home health care can effectively be used to:

• Help Control Heart Disease
• Fight Cancer
• Combat Diabetes
• Minimize the Effects of Lung Disease
• Rehabilitate Stroke Victims
• Manage ALS, Alzheimer's and MS Patients
• Treat Kidney and Urological Diseases
• Provide Treatment for Joint Diseases
• Control Infectious Diseases
• Coordinate Care for Patients with Simultaneous Conditions