After a lengthy hospital or rehabilitation facility stay, family members and their aging loved one may find it difficult to proactively take the “next step” of choosing the proper post-acute service provider for their home care needs. If this happens to be the dilemma you face, facility case managers or discharge planners with helpful recommendations may provide welcome direction. However, some patients are finding that they are not assisted on making an informed choice on post-acute home care and instead, facility representatives are making the choice for them.
In this blog post, Nightingale Homecare offers a few highlights on the patient’s right to chose an elderly caregiver agency in and around Glendale, AZ. Home health care in Scottsdale, Phoenix, Glendale, Paradise Valley and beyond is based on standards of practice for case management.
All patients have the right to freedom of choice of providers for in home nursing care in the Phoenix Metro area and across the country. Discharge planners and/or case managers have legal and ethical obligations to honor this right.
Read more about government regulations in patient choice for home health care here.
There are a number of sources of this right as follows:
- All patients have a common law right, based upon court decisions, to control the care provided to them, including who renders it. Thus, when patients, regardless of payor source or type of care, voluntarily express preferences for providers, their choices must be honored, as specified in the Medicare guidelines.
- Federal statutes of the Medicare and Medicaid Programs guarantee Medicare beneficiaries and Medicaid recipients the right to freedom of choice of providers. When Medicare and Medicaid patients voluntarily express a preference for a home health agency, these choices must be honored.
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) requires hospitals to develop a list of home health agencies that meet the following criteria:
- Are Medicare-certified;
- Provide services in geographic areas where patients reside; and
- Ask to be on the list.
Patients cannot make choices about the care they wish to receive unless they have information about all applicable services available, including skilled home health care and private medical and non-medical care. Discharge planners and facility case managers, therefore, have an ethical obligation to provide information about medical home health care, private medical/high tech care and non-medical care, to all patients who may benefit from them.
At Nightingale Homecare, a top-rated home care agency serving Glendale, AZ and the Phoenix metro area, we know the comfort and healing power that comes with being home when recovering from a hospitalization, long-term illness or surgery. That’s why our top-rated services include everything from non-medical private custodial care to highly skilled medical care services. Our services range from a brief visit to 24 hour around the clock care, all provided in the comfort of your own home. Give Nightingale Homecare a call (602) 504-1555 or contact us online to learn more our caring staff is always available to assist you, 24 hours, 365 days a year, including holidays.
