Eligibility for Home Health
To qualify for home health services, the patient must have:
- Skilled need
- Primary Care Provider
- Face-to-Face Visit within 30 days of start
- Signed orders from provider
- Meet homebound status criteria (defined below)
Homebound Status
Definitions of “Homebound” by Medicare:
- There exists an inability to leave home and, consequently, leaving home would require a considerable and taxing effort.
- Absences from the home are infrequent and of short duration.
Medicare deems the following groups of people to be homebound:
- Because of an illness or injury, need the aid of supportive devices such as crutches, canes, wheelchairs, and walkers; the use of special transportation; or the assistance of another person to leave their place of residence.
- People for whom outings may be medically contraindicated as determined by the physician.