Home health care or home care? What each one is, and which one we are.
Hallmark Homecare is not a home health agency. Home health is licensed, physician-ordered and episode-limited: nurses and therapists who visit for a set number of weeks after an illness, a surgery or a hospital stay. Hallmark is a referral agency for private caregivers who work for your family, to their own experience and competency, for as long as you want. Many families in Louisville need both — and most families searching for “home health care” are looking for what we help with.
A real person answers — days, nights and weekends.
Two different things, often needed at the same time.
| Home health care | Home care through Hallmark | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Skilled nursing and therapy at home — wound care by a nurse, physical and occupational therapy, injections, monitoring after a hospital stay. | An experienced private caregiver you choose, for the everyday: personal care, meals, medication reminders, company, safety overnight, care around the clock. |
| Who arranges it | A physician orders it; a licensed home health agency provides it and employs the clinicians. | You call us; we present candidates; you choose, and the caregiver works for you. Hallmark is a referral agency, not an agency that employs the caregiver. |
| How long | Episode-limited — a set number of visits over a set period, as ordered. | For as long as you want — a week after a discharge, or years. You set the schedule and can change it. |
| Who pays | Usually Medicare or health insurance, when the criteria are met. | Private pay, long-term care insurance, or a trust. Medicare does not pay for custodial or personal care alone. |
| The hours | Intermittent visits — an hour here, an hour there. | The hours in between and after: mornings, nights, whole days, or every hour. |
Home health or home care — answered.
What is the difference between home care and home health?
Home health is medical care at home — skilled nursing and therapy ordered by a physician, provided by a licensed agency for a limited period, and usually paid by Medicare or insurance. Home care is non-medical help with daily living — personal care, meals, medication reminders, companionship and safety — for as long as a family wants it, usually paid privately or through long-term care insurance. Through Hallmark, home care means a private caregiver you choose, who works to their own experience and competency and can carry out the routine your nurse or therapist sets.
After a hospital discharge, do we need home health or home care?
Often both. The discharge planner arranges home health if a physician has ordered skilled visits; a private caregiver covers the hours no visit covers — the first nights home, the mornings, the help getting up and to the bathroom, the meals and the medication reminders. Families reaching us from the hospital have had a caregiver in place the same day. Hospital-to-home care →
A quick way to tell.
- A physician has ordered nursing visits, physical therapy or occupational therapy
- A wound, a new medication or a condition needs a nurse’s clinical monitoring
- The need is short-term recovery with defined goals
Ask the doctor or the discharge planner; they refer you to a licensed home health agency.
- Your parent needs help with the everyday — bathing, dressing, meals, medications on time, getting around safely
- Someone needs to be there overnight, or every hour
- The need will last longer than an episode of visits, or the visits leave most of the day uncovered
Call us. The caregivers we refer work to their own level of competency, many alongside home health nurses and therapists, and when a situation calls for a licensed nurse, we can present one.
Three things change when the caregiver works for you.
More experienced caregivers
Because more of what you pay reaches the caregiver, private arrangements attract seasoned professionals — people who have done this work for years and chose to keep doing it on their own terms. We present candidates with their background and experience; you interview and decide.
Higher continuity of care
The same caregiver, day after day. A caregiver who is paid properly, chosen by you and answerable to you is far more likely to stay — so your loved one is not meeting a new face every week. And a caregiver who knows your loved one becomes your eyes and ears when you cannot be there — quick to notice a change and to keep you informed.
More comprehensive care
The caregivers we refer work to their own level of competency. Many can support medication reminders and other everyday health tasks under the direction of your care manager or nurse, and when a situation calls for a licensed nurse, we can present one.
Hallmark facilitates. You decide.
Hallmark
We answer the phone — a real person, days, nights and weekends — recruit and screen experienced caregivers, present candidates whose experience and availability fit the hours you need, and help coordinate getting started, weekly billing and year-end tax forms.
Your family
You interview and choose the caregiver, and engage them directly — the caregiver works for you, not us. You set the hours, the tasks and the routine, and direct the day-to-day care, with your nurse or care manager if you have one. We do not assess your loved one or write a plan of care.
Home health vs home care, answered.
Can we use home health and a private caregiver at the same time?
Yes, and many families do. Home health nurses and therapists visit for the skilled tasks a physician ordered; a private caregiver is there for the hours in between — the mornings, the nights, the meals, the help getting to the bathroom — and can carry out the routine the nurse or therapist sets.
How do we arrange home health?
Home health is ordered by a physician — ask your parent’s doctor, or the hospital’s discharge planner, who will refer you to a licensed home health agency. Hallmark is not one; call us for the private caregiver.
Does Medicare pay for home care through Hallmark?
No. Medicare’s own rule is that it does not pay for custodial or personal care when that is the only care needed. Families pay privately, use long-term care insurance, or pay through a trust. What in-home care costs →
Can long-term care insurance pay for a private caregiver?
Often, yes. Many long-term care policies reimburse care from a caregiver you engage through Hallmark. We take care of the provider side — the provider forms your carrier asks us for, and the paid invoices you submit; understanding your own policy and working with your carrier stay with you. Call us to get started.
A care manager on the difference
“I have been a registered nurse for more than 30 years and serve on the board of the Aging Life Care Association’s Midwest Chapter. … When a client of ours in Louisville or Southern Indiana needs in-home senior care — overnight, 24-hour coverage, or help through a hospital discharge — Hallmark Homecare is one of the first calls I make. Shane answers, and he has presented experienced private caregivers quickly, often the same day. … Families I work with have choices, and Hallmark is one I keep coming back to.”
Not sure which one you need? Call and ask.
Hallmark Homecare Louisville (Good Faith Caregiving, LLC) is a referral agency for private in-home caregivers, serving Louisville, Southern Indiana and Central Kentucky. A real person answers — days, nights and weekends.