Putnam Hospital Center Home Health Care

Health Care-At Home

As the length of stay in hospitals continues to go down, increasing numbers of patients need highly skilled services when they return home. At Putnam Hospital Center, home health care services may be arranged with the hospital's Certified Home Health Agency.

The term "home care" encompasses a wide range of health and social services. These services are delivered at home to recovering, disabled, chronically or terminally ill persons in need of medical, nursing, social or therapeutic treatment and/or assistance with daily living activities. In general, home care is appropriate whenever a person at home needs ongoing care that cannot easily or effectively be provided solely by family and friends.

PHC's Certified Home Health Agency's primary goals are to facilitate a patient's return to health in the familiar and reassuring surroundings of the person's own home and to prevent re-hospitalization.

Patients receive this care from members of the home care team, which is under the direct supervision of the patient's physician; it is comprised of registered community health nurses, physical, occupational and speech therapists, medical social workers and home health aides.          

The care provided by PHC's home care team can include, but is not limited to, routine nursing care including injections, wound care, nutrition, etc.; home health teaching and demonstration of care for the sick at home; evaluation and monitoring of the homebound patient's condition; rehabilitation therapy to ensure a patient's return to maximum independence; emotional support to help a patient and family cope with an illness or disability and to plan for the future; assistance with personal care, exercise and other areas such as meal preparation, when coordinated by the home care nurse and the physician; and arrangements for medical/surgical supplies, equipment and medication.  

This past year, Putnam Hospital Center was one of only two home care agencies in the lower Hudson Valley selected to implement a telehealth monitoring program for congestive heart failure patients, using equipment obtained through a  New York State Department of Health telemedicine initiative. The program is designed to utilize new technologies to help improve the quality of care and disease management for home care patients who are home-bound due to chronic health conditions or disabilities.

Additionally, PHC's Certified Home Health Agency works collaboratively with local government, health and social service agencies to educate its staff and patients on a wide-ranging number of health issues, from working with special populations to providing information on immunizations to developing emergency response plans, to name a few. Most recently, PHC's Certified Home Health Agency began distributing informational brochures and providing one-on-one explanations to its patients about the Putnam County Sheriff's Department's "Are You OK?" program - a confidential, computerized telephone calling system for senior citizens, disabled persons and homebound individuals who need to be checked on daily.

Anyone, including physicians, family members, hospital discharge planning coordinators, community organizations or patients themselves, may make referrals to PHC's Certified Home Health Agency.  Prior hospitalization is not a prerequisite though a physician order is necessary to complete the referral process. Most health insurance carriers, including Medicare, HMOs, commercial insurances, Medicaid, Workers Compensation and no fault insurances, will cover home care services. A charity care evaluation will be completed if a patient lacks a payment source for home care services.

Putnam County residents who are homebound, under the care of a physician and whose home environment allows safe, effective treatment are eligible for care from Putnam Hospital Center's Certified Home Health Agency.  For those living to the north of Putnam County, the hospital refers patients needing home care services to Hudson Valley Home Care which, like PHC, is an affiliate of Health Quest. To the south, patients are directed to providers licensed to offer such services in specific geographical areas.

For more information on Putnam Hospital Center's Certified Home Care Agency please email phchc@health-quest.org or call (845) 278-4068.

For a copy of our referral form please CLICK HERE.