Uncertainty around the definition of homebound may sometimes prevent eligible patients from receiving beneficial home health services. Read on and you will see that Medicare’s definition of homebound is less restrictive than the word itself may imply and that more of your patients may be eligible for medically necessary home health services.

Did you know that none of the following outings will necessarily disqualify a person from home health services?

  • Any religious service
  • Occasional trips to the barber
  • Walks around the block
  • Adult day care services
  • A drive
  • Family reunions, funerals, graduations

Medicare deems the following groups of people to be homebound:

  • People requiring the use of crutches, canes, wheelchairs, walkers, or human assistance to leave the home
  • Senile patients
  • Patients who have lost the use of an upper extremity and may be limited in the use of stair handrails
  • Patients with limited ability for ambulation due to pain and/or weakness
  • Patients with heart disease who must avoid stress
  • People for whom outings may be medically contraindicated as determined by the physician

Medicare even allows for temporary increases in the number of outings a patient may have. For instance, if family visits from out of town and provides the unusual opportunity for the patient to get out more often, the activity does not disqualify the patient from home health services. Medicare instructs care planners to consider a patients ability to leave the home as it exists over the entire plan of care and to allow for short-term exceptions.

Medicare definition of Homebound: “There exists a normal 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.”
When doctors’ offices have concerns about whether or not a patient will meet program criteria, they can make a simple call to Allegiance Home Health & Rehab for knowledgeable answers. Doctors also have the comfort of knowing that at Allegiance, an RN visits your patient at home and verifies program requirements before the physician is ever asked to sign a plan of care.
           
            Allegiance Named Among Top Agencies in Nation
Allegiance was recently named in the 2009 HomeCare Elite, a list of the top home health agencies in the nation. The process compares all Medicare certified home health agencies nationwide. Inclusion in the HomeCare Elite list is based on patient outcomes as measured by Medicare, financial stability, and quality improvement.