General home care questions
Sentara Home Care offers skilled home care. We do not offer non-medical home care.
Here’s a guide to the difference between skilled home care and non-medical home care:
- Skilled home care – Medical services provided in the patient’s home by licensed professionals, such as registered nurses, physical therapists, or speech therapists. A doctor typically orders these services, which may include wound care, medication management, infusion therapy, post-surgical care, or rehabilitation.
- Non-medical home care – This type of care is “personal care”, such as assistance with daily activities, such as bathing, dressing, meal preparation, light housekeeping, and companionship. These services support safety and independence but do not involve medical treatment.
Patients and family can be confident that our highly credentialed, carefully selected and screened staff will treat patients and family members with the utmost care and respect. Our team includes:
- Registered and Licensed Practical Nurses (RN, LPN)
- Wound Ostomy Continence Nurses (WOCN)
- Certified Wound Care Nurses (CWCN)
- Certified Registered Nurse Infusion (CRNI)
- Physical and occupational therapists
- Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP)
- Home Health Aides (HHA)
- Medical Social Workers (MSW)
- Pharmacists
- Medical directors
- Pastoral counselors
- Registered Dietitians (RD)
- Bereavement coordinators
- Volunteer coordinators
- Care transition coordinators
Skilled medical home care is necessary when medical care is needed at home, beyond what a family caregiver can provide alone.
People often turn to skilled home care services when they need more than basic assistance with daily tasks. They require clinical care provided by licensed professionals, such as nurses or therapists. Here are some of the most common reasons:
After a hospital stay or surgery
- Recovery following surgery (e.g., joint replacement, heart surgery, abdominal surgery)
- Transitioning home after a hospital or rehabilitation center stay
- Heart disease, congestive heart failure, or high blood pressure
- Diabetes management and education
- Chronic lung conditions (COPD, CHF, emphysema, asthma)
- Kidney disease requiring monitoring and support
- Infusion therapy (IV medications, antibiotics, nutrition, or chemotherapy)
- Wound care, including complex or non-healing wounds, ostomy care and management and pressure/diabetic ulcer care
- Catheter or ostomy care
- Pain management and palliative support
- Physical therapy to improve strength, mobility, or balance
- Occupational therapy to regain independence in daily activities
- Speech therapy for swallowing or communication challenges (e.g., after a stroke)
- Hospice services focused on comfort, dignity, and family support
- Palliative care to help manage symptoms while continuing treatment
- Preventing hospital readmissions through close monitoring
- Education for patients and families on managing health conditions
- Extra support to help patients remain safely at home rather than moving to a facility
Sentara Home Care Services has experience caring for individuals with a variety of conditions and needs across home healthcare and hospice.
Learn more about our services
Request more information
Speak to one of our home care specialists
Medicare and other providers require a healthcare provider to have a face-to-face meeting with patients to confirm their need for home health services. Your doctor will also certify that you are homebound, meaning it’s difficult to leave home without assistance from equipment and/or a person to help you.
A physician may prescribe home care for a patient as follow-up care after surgery or a major illness, or special care for the terminally ill. Patients can be eligible for home care services regardless of whether they have had a prior hospitalization.
We are here to help you with the home care referral process. Our intake specialists and financial counselors can help determine insurance reimbursement, get authorizations, and file the necessary paperwork. We accept most major insurances, including Medicare and Medicaid.
Request more information
Speak to one of our home care specialists
Choosing a home care agency should be based on quality indicators, such as the following:
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Is the home care agency licensed or certified by the Department of Health under Medicare or Medicaid?
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Is the agency accredited by a CMS-recognized organization?
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Does it offer multiple services, such as home health, infusion, hospice, and other types of care you may need?
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What is the agency’s reputation in the community?
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Is the agency part of a larger healthcare system to help provide you with a continuum of care?
Sentara Home Care Services is Medicare and Medicaid certified by the Department of Health and accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) and belongs to a number of local, state and national organizations, including:
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American Association of Home Care
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American Hospital Association
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National Association of Home Care
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Virginia Association of Home Care
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Voluntary Hospitals of America
Every person’s home care needs are unique. Sentara Home Care Services offers a free phone evaluation with an experienced intake specialist, who will talk with you about your health needs and help create a personalized plan of care.
Learn more about how to choose home care services, and why Sentara may be the right choice for you.
You will need to contact your health insurance company for specifics on their coverage, such as services covered, frequency of visits and the types of information they require for
services to be covered. Sentara financial counselors can help determine insurance reimbursement.
While we can’t say for sure whether your health insurance will cover home care services, we know generally what Medicare requires to receive coverage:
Criteria for receiving home healthcare under Medicare benefits:
- A physician must order the care.
- A skilled health care individual, such as a nurse or therapist, must provide care. (Note: A skilled medical provider is not the same as a non-medical or “personal care” provider.)
- Care must be provided on an intermittent basis.
- The patient must be homebound, which means they leave home infrequently, it requires a considerable effort on their part, and they need assistance with special equipment or another individual.
What to expect on your first Sentara Home Care visit
- Have you sign a consent form for treatment
- Answer any questions you have
- Perform an evaluation
- Complete any procedures that your doctor has ordered (wound care, lab work, medication reconciliation and education, exercises, etc.)
We know that you may be tired or have some pain after your hospital stay. Here are some hints to make your first visit go easier (please have the following items on hand before the nurse or therapist arrives):
- Driver’s License or other photo ID
- All current medical insurance cards
- All medicines, including prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, vitamins, ointments, suppositories, pain medications, or liquid drops of any kind
- Any papers that were given to you by the doctor or hospital staff
- Copy of Advanced Directives
It is important that you have someone with you who can answer questions and sign forms if you can’t. At the end of the first visit, based on the evaluation, the nurse or therapist will let you know when to expect the next visit. They will also leave you with a contact number should you have any questions or concerns before your next visit.