Home health aide covered services may include:
- Personal care including:
- bathing
- wound dressing
- grooming
- hair care
- nail care
- assistance with ambulation
- changing position in bed
- assistance with transfers
- oral hygiene
- changing bed linens of an incontinent beneficiary
- shaving
- deodorant application
- skin care with lotions and/or powder
- foot care
- ear care
- feeding
- assistance with elimination (enemas, routine catheter care, routine colostomy care)
- Simple dressing changes that do not require the skills of a nurse
- Assistance with medications that are ordinarily self-administered and do not require the skills of a licensed nurse to be provided safely and effectively, and may include:
- handing the bottle to the beneficiary
- opening the bottle
- handing the beneficiary water or other liquid to take the medication
- prefilling syringes if not prohibited by state law
- reminding the beneficiary to take prescribed medication
Note: aide services to assist the beneficiary in “prefilling” mediplanners are not covered.
- Assistance with activities that are directly supportive of skilled therapy services but do not require the skills of a therapist to be safely and effectively performed. Examples: routine maintenance exercises and repetitive speech routines to support speech-language pathology services.