FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- How does your service work?
- Do you accept insurance?
- What is nurse delegation?
1. How does your service work?
We are happy to discuss your care needs over the phone and if you would like, we can schedule a visit to your home. If you decide to hire Procare Nursing Services, our nurse will perform a thorough assessment of your health care needs. Then, together with your input, we will propose a plan of care.
With your permission, we will contact your physician for the necessary orders to be sure that you are getting the most appropriate and coordinated care. Just like a home health agency, we must follow physician orders before providing any nursing care.
2. Do you accept insurance? No. The nursing services that we provide are services that are not covered under the Medicare guidelines for home health services. Some private insurance or long term care plans might cover in-home nursing care or care management services, but many will not. We will be happy to call your insurance provider to determine if they will cover our services and can provide documentation to submit for reimbursement if necessary.
Often times seniors are discharged from home health services even though they could still benefit from some sort of nursing care or supervision. Medicare provides home health servicess for patients who are homebound and who have an acute illness or an exacerbation of a chronic illness. The expectation is that the home health nursing care provided through Medicare is temporary and that the patient will find long term care through family or friends or they will hire a private nurse or caregiver.
Procare Nursing Services can step in when your home health Medicare benefit runs out. If you are facing discharge soon from home health services, give us a call. At our first complimentary visit to your home we can discuss your needs, and together we can decide if Procare Nursing Services is right for you.
3. What is Nurse Delegation? Under Oregon and Washington State Law, a registered nurse may delegate certain nursing tasks in certain settings, under certain conditions to a nursing assistant. The nurse must first assess the patient and determine if delegation of the nursing task is appropriate. The nurse will then assess the ability of the nursing assistant to perform the task, teach the task to the nursing assistant and supervise the task being performed.
The delegation must be documented and re-evaluated every 90 days by the delegating nurse. The patient must also agree to allow a nursing assistant to perform a delegated task. Examples of tasks that can be delegated are; blood glucose monitoring, medication administration, simple dressing changes. Any task that requires nursing judgment may not be delegated. A patient's condition must be stable and predictable before a nurse can delegate a nursing task.
The laws that pertain to nurse delegation in the state of Oregon can be found HERE The laws that pertain to nurse delegation in the state of Washington can be found HERE.