Home Care vs. Home Health

What’s the difference between home care and home health?
Home Health, sometimes referred to as skilled home health, refers to short visits (45 minutes to an hour) of skilled care that takes place in the home. This includes skilled nursing (performed by an RN or LPN), physical therapy (performed by a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant), occupational therapy (performed by an occupational therapist or certified occupational therapist assistant), speech (performed by a speech language pathologist). These services are ordered by a physician and paid for (sometimes at 100%) by your health insurance.

Home Care refers to the non-skilled services provided by a home health aide or certified nursing assistants. These services include personal care (hands-on help with bathing, grooming, toileting, dressing, incontinence care, and transfers) as well as help around the house with things like cooking, laundry, light housekeeping, transportation, errands, and the like. A home care agency can provide care up to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These services, sometimes referred to as non-medical home health, are not ordered by a physician and not paid for by health insurance companies. However, most long term care insurance policies do offer benefits for these services.