4 Things You Must Know About In-Home Care For Your Elderly Parent

20 March 2015
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If you have an elderly parent who is in need of care because their age has hindered their ability to care for themselves during the day, then you may consider the help of in-home care. This is care that allows your elderly parent to still live in the comfort of their own homes while being able to receive care from a professionally trained in-home care nurse. However, before you hire in-home care, you should know these four things about it:

  1. You Can Receive Financial Help: In-home care can be expensive, so you must know that there is a chance that you can receive assistance. If your parent has long-term care insurance, for example, this can be used to pay for either all of the costs of in-home care or at least some of it. This can help your family to afford the cost of the care that your elderly parent may need. 
  2. Prices Vary: You have to be aware that prices for in-home care is going to vary widely. For example, most in-home care professionals will charge more based on the amount of assistance that your elderly parent may need. If your parent needs help eating and bathing, for example, then this is going to cost you more monthly than if they only simply needed help walking or remembering to take their medications. Be sure to receive quotes and give all in-home care professionals a detailed list of the assistance that your parent will need to ensure you are receiving the most accurate quote. 
  3. Most In-Home Professionals Have Pay-Per-Needs: When you work with professional in-home care that requires pay-per-needs, this means that you are going to be charged differently each month depending on what services were needed. This can make determining accurate costs more difficult, but it typically stays in the same range so long as your parent doesn't suffer from severe health problems that can drastically change what they are capable of doing on their own. 
  4. You Must Monitor Monthly Costs: Each month when you receive the bill for the services provided by in-home care professionals, you need to be sure that you go over each charge. For example, you may be charged for medications that you know your elderly parent is no longer taking. You need to address these issues to ensure that you aren't being charged for this medication the next month. You may also be charged for services that you originally needed when you first hired the in-home care, but your elderly parent no longer needs it. 

By knowing these four things about in-home care for your elderly parent, you can be sure that you are more comfortable with using their services. Contact a local in-home care company, such as ComForcare - Lakewood, CO.