Frail Care and Home Care

Frail Care and Home Care: What’s the difference?

LA Health offers a wide range of benefits. As part of this, we offer cover for specific home-based care. If your treating doctor agrees that it would benefit you, we pay for IV infusions (drips), wound care, postnatal care, and end-of-life care at your home if you contact us ahead of time and use our designated provider.

Getting care at home has many names and can mean different things to different people.
Let’s explore the difference between home care, frail care, and what you have cover for.

Home care

Broadly speaking, home care is specific medical care you receive at home. The details are different depending on who you ask.  Sometimes home care means nursing at home and includes help with daily activities. Home care can also be if someone is recovering at home and receives treatment such as physiotherapy at home. Alternatively, home care can mean medical care you get at home instead of in hospital or at a clinic.

Frail care

Many healthcare providers who offer home care also advertise that they offer frail care. Frail care can involve home medical care, but it specifically includes taking care of, for example, older people who need assistance with tasks of daily living such as dressing or washing. Frail care is for people who cannot take care of themselves.

We do not pay for frail care. It is one of our general exclusions because medical schemes can only pay for medical expenses.

Your cover for specific home-based care

At LA Health, home-based care means receiving the following services at home instead of in hospital or at a clinic:

We only pay from the Major Medical Benefit for drips, wound care, postnatal care, and end-of-life care if you get preauthorisation and use specific providers. We do not cover other kinds of home care.

You have to contact us for preauthorisation. If twe approve cover from the Major Medical Benefit, we will put you in contact with our network provider to arrange care.

Sources

BAYADA. What is home care? accessed 2019-08-07

Frail care. About us, accessed 2019-08-07

Lexico (Oxford University). Home care, accessed 2019-08-07

Medline Plus. Home care services, accessed 2019-08-07
Nicki Liebenberg. Conference presentation Retirement and Lifestyle Expo.

Frail Care Centre viability presentation, accessed 2019-08-07

Personal Finance magazine. Frail care: what you should know, accessed 2019-08-07

SA Home Care. Home care, accessed 2019-08-07

United Kingdom Homecare Association. About us, accessed 2019-08-07