Commentary
Ramandeep Bawa and A.K. Sinha
Abstract
“Home-based care†refers to the spectrum of services provided in the home to support patients, including care giving and personal care services, skilled services (such as nursing),home-based primary care, hospital-at-home, and even hospice when it is provided at home. “Home healthcare services are an extension of hospital services into the patient’s house. The services includes nursing care, professional care giving to chronically ill and bed ridden patients of which substantial numbers are bed ridden, immobile or suffer from chronic illnesses like dementia, cancer, etc. However, the home care services range from basic support on activities of daily activities like dressing, grooming, ambulation, preparing meals to complex nursing services like feeding through naso-gastric tube, catheter change, injection and tracheotomy. The goals of home health care services are to help individuals to improve function and live with greater independence; to promote the patients optimal level of well-being; and to assist the patient to remain at home, avoiding hospitalization or admission to long-term care institutions. As the number of older beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions continues to rise, providing care in the most effective and efficient setting have become even more critical. Therefore the patient preference and satisfaction are increasingly becoming key measures of performance