What is home care?
Simply put, home care is assistance provided in the home by a
person other than the typical family caregiver. Home care may
include help with bathing, dressing, and personal hygiene. It
may include a wide range of services: taking and recording vital
signs, assistance in the bathroom, light housekeeping, meal
preparation, companionship, grocery shopping and pharmacy
errands, home safety supervision, medication reminders,
bill-paying, laundry, and transportation.
How can I determine if home care is necessary?
When self-care at home has become difficult or family
caregivers are not immediately available to do the volume of
work that is necessary, home care may be the answer. Home care
often relieves family members of basic caregiving functions and
makes it possible to spend quality time, rather than the
functional caregiving time. Aside from being easier and faster
to implement than moving to a institutional care setting,
homecare allows the senior to stay at home in familiar and
comfortable surroundings. Many people are now choosing homecare
over institutional care.
What is the difference between home care and home health
care?
When the patient’s need is for more than home and personal
care, a home health care agency may be required. Home health
care is the provision of skilled medical services (such as
administration and adjustment of medication levels, monitoring
and dressing of wounds, etc.) in the home by trained medical
personnel. Home health care is always ordered and supervised by
a physician.
Can The Thorne Group provide both home care and home health
care?
Yes. The Thorne Group has a large professional staff
supervised by a nurse administrator and more than 100 aides
capable of providing many different types of home and home
health care services.
Approximately how many patients does The Thorne Group serve
in a year?
Over 1000 patients receive care from The Thorne Group every
year and the number is growing. This includes patients we serve
through the Area Agencies on Aging, Medicaid-based waiver
program, Medicare, other government-sponsored programs, various
insurances, and private duty.
How does The Thorne Group compare to other agencies in this
area in its delivery of home health care services?
Statistics are available on a Medicare-sponsored website that
demonstrate The Thorne Group provides services which generate
superior outcomes. Please see the following link to compare
local agencies:
www.medicare.gov/HHCompare/Home.asp
What are some other reasons I might want to choose The Thorne
Group over other agencies for home care or home health care?
There are many reasons why you might want to choose The
Thorne Group over other agencies.
- The Thorne Group is locally owned and free standing, not
a chain. The owners live in the community and are on-site
every day managing the agency, interacting with employees,
and directing operations.
- As active community members, they have a vested interest
in the area’s overall quality of life and the need to make
superior health services available for all seniors.
- The Thorne Group’s administrator is a registered nurse
with a Master’s Degree in nursing and 20 years’ experience
in home health care. Compassionate and professional with
patients and employees alike, she always guides the agency
in matters of compliance, quality of care, and the latest
health care trends and technologies.
- Ongoing training for all employees assures that
high-quality caregivers are available throughout the agency.
- Customer service is continuously emphasized in every
possible way. Everyone involved with The Thorne Group feels
that our services are of critical importance not just to the
patients we serve but also to the families and friends who
love them and want for them the best life our good care can
provide.
Will my insurance cover the costs?
Depending on the services provided, in many cases, insurance
covers the cost of services. Medicare, Medicaid, and private
insurances are sources of payment for many senior citizens
receiving home and home health care.
How do I know I can trust the aide in my home?
Caregivers are carefully screened with employment and
personal reference checks, Act 34 background checks, and
personal interviews. Caregiver training addresses all issues of
patient rights, patient privacy, and caregiver responsibilities.
The Thorne Group is fully insured and caregivers are bonded.
My parents are in Westmoreland County, but I live elsewhere.
How do I know what services they require?
The Thorne Group offers the services of an experienced
geriatric care manager who is trained in evaluating the personal
circumstances of senior citizens for the purpose of determining
a customized plan of care utilizing all available community and
other resources.
I am the full time caregiver for my parents, but I need help.
Can The Thorne Group help me?
The Thorne Group’s caregivers can work with you while you are
present to help you take care of your parents or can provide
care for your parents if you need to be away (respite services),
according to your needs and preferences.
What areas does
The Thorne Group service?
The Thorne Group services Westmoreland, Indiana, and Allegheny County. Greensburg, Irwin, Latrobe, New
Kensington, Export, Murrysville, Jeannette, Youngwood, South
Greensburg, Mt. Pleasant, Pittsburgh, and Blairsville are a
sampling of the towns where the agency provides services. If you
have any questions about our service area, please do not
hesitate to contact The Thorne Group.
What kind of insurance does The Thorne Group have?
The Thorne Group carries commercial liability, auto,
professional liability, workers’ compensation, and special
bonding insurance.
What does it mean when The Thorne Group is “Medicare
Certified”?
It means that The Thorne Group has been approved by The
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a Federal agency
within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
This approval allows The Thorne Group to work with local
doctors and other healthcare professionals to provide skilled
services to patients as needed, and to collect payment for these
services from authorized government-sponsored organizations.
How long has The Thorne Group has been in business?
The agency has operated since 1995.
Does The Thorne Group have any complaints against them with
the BBB, or with any licensing commission? Have there ever been
any charges of elder abuse in connection with the agency?
The agency has never had a complaint filed against it with
any business- or health-care entity. The agency has never been
involved in any case of elder abuse in any way.
Can the agency schedule services according to patient needs
or must you fit around their schedule?
Services are intended to accommodate the schedule of the
patient and are generally planned in accordance with the
patient’s preferences.
Can a worker be changed if there is a problem? What if a
worker gets sick or quits?
Because The Thorne Group is a large agency with many workers,
it can accommodate a change in workers for any reason. All
workers report to client service coordinators who are
responsible for finding a replacement worker when it is
necessary to do so.
Are emergency call services available?
There is an after-hours answering service available to
patients. However, patients with emergency medical situations
will be counseled to call 911 for emergency care.
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