Home care and frail care: What's the difference?
Remedi offers cover for specific home-based care as part of its wide range of benefits. If your treating doctor agrees that it would benefit you, we pay for IV infusions (drips), wound care, postnatal care, and end-of-life care at your home if you contact us ahead of time and use specific providers.
Getting care at home has many names and can mean different things. Let’s explore the difference between ‘home care’, ‘frail care’, and what you have cover for.
Home care
Broadly speaking, home care is any medical care you give or receive at home. The details are different depending on who you ask.
Sometimes home care means nursing at home and includes help with daily activities. Home care can also be if someone is recovering at home and receives treatment such as physiotherapy at home. Otherwise, home care can mean medical care you get at home instead of in hospital or at a clinic.
Frail care
Many healthcare providers who offer home care also advertise that they offer frail care. Frail care can involve home medical care, but it specifically includes taking care of older people who need assistance with tasks of daily living such as dressing or washing. Frail care is for people who cannot take care of themselves. Remedi makes frail care available on all three benefit Options at 100% of the Remedi Rate. Frail care is available as an alternative to hospitalisation and only if preauthorised. Members can obtain services at Hospice and sub-acute facilities up to their chosen Option’s applicable benefit limits. Where PMB is applicable, the provisions in this regard will be applicable.
Your cover for specific home-based care
At Remedi, home-based care means receiving the following services at home instead of in hospital or at a clinic:
- IV infusions (drips)
- Wound care
- A nurse’s advice on baby and mother in the first few weeks of the baby’s life
End of life care for members who prefer to be taken care of at home is also available. For more information on this benefit please contact our call centre on 0860 116 116.
We only pay for drips, wound care, postnatal care, and end-of-life care to be received at home if you get preauthorisation and use specific providers. We do not cover other kinds of home care.
You have to contact us for preauthorisation. If we approve cover, we will put you in contact with our network provider to arrange care.
References
BAYADA. What is home care? Accessed 7 August 2019
Frail care. About us. Accessed 7 August 2019
Medline Plus. Home care services. Accessed 7 August 2019
Nicki Liebenberg. Conference presentation Retirement and Lifestyle Expo. Frail Care Centre viability presentation. Accessed 7 August 2019
Personal Finance magazine. Frail care: what you should know. Accessed 7 August 2019
SA Home Care. Home care. Accessed 7 August 2019
United Kingdom Homecare Association. About us. Accessed 7 August 2019