Q. How is home care paid?
A. Home care is paid for by third party payers, such as Medicare, Medicaid, or other insurance companies and also privately.

Q. How do I get home care?
A. You can receive home care by making a request to the agency from yourself, your family, a friend, doctor, or hospital discharge planner/ social service department.

Q. How do I know what service I need?
A. A qualified staff member will be able to evaluate your request and will make an initial visit to assist you in determining your plan for home health care. This visit is done at no cost to you.

Q. What is the difference between intermittent, private duty, and custodial care?
A. Intermittent care is care provided periodically throughout your plan of care. Such as the nurse coming three (3) times a week and the home health aide two (2) times a week. This plan usually changes and is decreasing in visits according to your needs. The nurse's and home health aide's time is dependent upon the time is takes to complete her tasks. Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies are primary payor sources.

Private Duty care is also dependent upon your need but you decide how often you are in need of service. These staff members usually stay from 2-8 hrs, but could be scheduled up to twenty-four (24) as requested. This care is paid for privately or may be covered by a Long Term Care Plan or other insurance. Medicare does not pay for private duty services.

Custodial care is care provided for maintaining your own personal care such as dressing, bathing, and toileting because you need assistance on an on-going basis. Many insurance companies use this term for private duty services. This is also a fee for service arrangement and not covered by Medicare.

Q. If I have another home health agency and would like to change to another agency, what actions do I take?
A. If you would like to change to another health care provider, you have the right to do so. You must make it known to the first agency so they can discharge you before the new service starts.

Q. Is home care and hospice the same?
A. Hospice provides support for the terminally ill and their families. Hospices are either volunteer or medicare certified.

Q. How is Quality Home Health different?
A. Serving Grundy County and surrounding counties since 1983, Quality Home Health is the only locally owned and operated Home Health Agency in Grundy County. We are a freestanding agency, not affiliated with any franchised agency. People like to do business with people from their own community.

Q. Do I get the same staff member at my home each time?
A. We try to continue to utilize the same home care personnel , however to ensure proper utilization, we try to assign in certain geographic area to where the assignment is and it is necessary to use others to cover vacations and illnesses .

Q. Who oversees what is done?
A. The staff is overseen by the Coordinators of service and supervisory staff is used to oversee case management.

Q. How do I know I can trust the people that come to my home?
A. Our staff are all interviewed, appropriate references are obtained, criminal background checks are done before a thorough orientation is done at time of hire. Our staff is licensed, bonded, insured, and supervised.

Q. How do I get in touch with Quality Home Health?
A. You can call (815) 942-1256 anytime. Office business hours are Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. Weekend and holidays are covered by an answering service and the on-call nurse.

Q. Do I have to sign a contract?
A. No, there is no contract.

Q. Do I need a doctor's order for care?
A. Only if your doctor has ordered skilled care to be done such as nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, medical social work, or speech therapy.

Do you have more questions that we did not answer here?
Please contact us and we will be happy to answer any question you may have.