Finding home health care in Tampa, Florida, can be stressful if you or your loved one has had a recent health care emergency such as an accident, stroke or heart attack. Hillsborough County and the State of Florida can help you to generate a list of accredited home health care agencies to take the guess work out of finding the nursing or therapy you need. From durable medical equipment to physical rehabilitation, the Tampa area has an abundance of home health care providers.
Medicare-Certified Agencies
Even if you or your loved one is not covered by Medicare, you will still want to look for home health care agencies in Tampa/Hillsborough County that have been certified by Medicare. A quick search of the South Florida Medicare checklist will show you that there are 17 agencies certified to provide nursing care, physical and occupational therapy, speech pathology, medical social services and home health aide services. Decide which of those areas of health care most closely matches your needs, to narrow the list.
What To Look For
Find agencies that have been in business for a while. Each agency's original date of Medicare certification will be shown. An agency certified in 1998, for example, will have much more experience at providing home health care than one just certified in 2009.
Once you have narrowed your geographic search to the Tampa area and found agencies with a good track record, you will be able to do a search for the agencies best able to cope with you or your loved one's particular needs, from ambulatory improvement to wound care.
Compare Negatives and Positives
If you know that you or your loved one needs help with wound care or becoming ambulatory again, you can easily find the Tampa home health agencies that have the best record of improvement in those areas. You can also find the agencies that have the worst record or that are too new in the business to have a track record.
Companion Care vs. Health Care
Florida has different standards for companion care, sometimes called unskilled home assistance, and health care, which is professional medical assistance. If you look for those agencies providing companion care but not necessarily qualified to provide health care, you will find 38 in the Tampa area, more than double the 17 agencies certified by Medicare. It is not bad to use companion care. Just be aware that if you or your loved one has specific medical needs, you need to make sure that the agency contacted is qualified to provide that more advanced level of care.
Elder Care or Palliative Care?
If home health care in Tampa is needed because of geriatric issues, consider an elder care manager, especially if the person in need of care has no immediate family nearby to serve as an advocate. If you or your loved one is in need of palliative care because of an advanced stage of illness or injury, consult with a palliative care team such as that provided by Hillsborough County's LifePath Hospice. They will send a social worker as well as a nurse to develop a home care plan to be in place as you need it.
