What is Home Health?
If you have experienced a recent hospitalization, surgery, or debilitating illness, home health care nurses and therapists will come to your home to help in your recovery process. Number of visits per week is based on a schedule predetermined by your needs as well as the recommendations of your health care team.
This service is also often called “skilled” home health care because the medical professionals coming to your home are college and medically trained registered nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists.
Home health nurses and therapists keep in touch with your physician. They become the link to your physician so that you don’t have to make trips to the doctor’s office or clinic. Our nurses and therapists will communicate with your doctor directly should you require additional care or attention.
What is the cost?
Home health care services can only be ordered for you by your doctor. Medicare and private insurance covers the cost of home health care. Find out if home health care is right for you by calling our office at (406) 551-2273, or by visiting our chart at the bottom of the page. The chart explains the difference between skilled home health care and in-home caregiving (or private duty nursing as it’s also called). The chart can also help guide you to what service is best for you.
#1 in Patient Satisfaction in Gallatin County
We’re proud of the consistent #1 ranking by former patients who say they are exceptionally pleased with our service and would recommend First Choice to a friend or family member. Allow us to share what this means and how it affects your choice in a home health agency to serve you.
Year after year, First Choice Home Health ranks number one in Gallatin County in patient satisfaction. (Gallatin County encompasses Bozeman and surrounding towns.) Medicare, the leading payer of home health care services, surveys former patients several times a year on their experience receiving home health care. The results, indicated by a percentage and a “star” rating, show that First Choice Home Health exceeds the rankings of all other local agencies, as well as beats the state and national averages in the area of patient satisfaction and outcomes. We’ve worked hard to achieve this top ranking and are proud that we consistently maintain the highest levels in the areas that mean the most to our clients: how they’re treated, how we communicate, and how they feel after our home health care services are completed.
Services We Provide
Nursing
Our skilled nurses will perform a physical assessment and then develop a plan of care to address your particular home medical needs. Services include, but are not limited to:
- Change wound dressings
- Remove sutures or staples
- Observation and assessment of physical condition
- Lab draws as ordered by doctor
- Monitor vital signs
- Medication monitoring and teaching
- Diabetes management
- Stroke rehab
- Diabetes rehab
- Cardiovascular rehab
- IV therapy
- Ostomy and catheter care
Physical Therapy
Treatment includes patient rehabilitation after orthopedic surgery, a stroke or other hospitalization or illness that requires physical therapy. Services include, but are not limited to:
- Improve weight bearing and balance
- Strengthen muscle groups
- Develop and assist with exercise program
- Fall prevention training
- Transfer and gait training
- Training on home-based equipment
- Caregiver training
Occupational Therapy
Treatment includes helping patients gain independence with activities of daily living. Services include, but are not limited to:
- Therapeutic exercise instruction to improve skills in bathing, dressing, grooming and toileting
- Teaching energy conservation techniques to improve endurance
- Low vision and spatial deficit programs
- Physical strengthening exercises
- Recommending, acquiring, and teaching proper use of adaptive equipment
- Accident prevention and home safety training
- Assess safety in your home
- Orthopedic rehabilitation after surgeries for hips, knees, and shoulders
Speech Therapy
Treatment includes patient rehabilitation for speech, swallowing, and communication disorders. Services include, but are not limited to:
- Oral motor strengthening
- Cognitive training and memory skills
- Swallow safety and techniques to optimize swallow function
Home Health Aides
Our certified nursing assistants will work within your plan of care to provide for and assist in a variety of ways related to your needs. Depending on a client's needs, services include, but are not limited to:
- Assist with bathing, grooming, dressing and toileting
- Assist with prescribed home exercise programs
Social Worker / Case Management
Have questions about the health care system, Medicare, Medicaid and long-term health care options for you or a family member? Wondering where to go for help? First Choice Home Health can, with your physician's approval, provide a social worker to work as your advocate guiding you in the right direction for care and treatment specific to your situation. Call us to find out how we can help.
Here’s how to start:
“Skilled” home health care is a service that must be ordered by your doctor. 
If you think you need home health care services, call us at (406) 551-2273 and we can work with your doctor to get the appropriate orders so you can start receiving medical care in your home.
When appropriate, your physician will order this type of skilled care when you’re being discharged from the hospital so that you can finish recovering at home. If you required hospitalization, the discharge planner will present you with a list of home health agencies that service your county. However, most often patients have no idea which home health agency to choose unless they’ve had experience with one before.
The discharge planner is required to suggest that you research this website https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/?providerType=HomeHealth. The regulation by Medicare states patients must choose an agency on their own, meaning hospital staff is not allowed to steer a patient towards one agency over another.
Home health is a benefit available to a patient regardless of whether that person was in the hospital. Therefore, home health services can be ordered by your physician after your appointment at a clinic.
For Medicare beneficiaries, skilled services are covered at 100% under Part A. Medicare Advantage beneficiaries and commercial plans will require prior authorization, and copays and/or deductibles may apply. CALL US SO WE CAN HELP YOU NAVIGATE ALL THIS. WE MAKE IT EASY SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO ALL THE WORK.
Brochures don’t always tell the whole story so we’re glad you’ve found our website so we can share more about our services and see if our agency is a fit for your health care needs. We invite you to continue browsing our website and then call us at (406) 551-2273 so we can answer any questions to help you decide who and what is right for you.
First Choice Medical Services |
Skilled Home Health |
In-Home Caregiving |
Outpatient Therapy at Home |
| Patient required to be homebound* | Yes | No | Yes |
| Must have doctor’s orders to care for patient | Yes | No | Yes |
| Visit times and length determined by client | No | Yes | No |
| Agency will bill medical insurance including Medicare | Yes | No | Yes |
| Agency will bill long term care policy | No (not applicable) | Yes (if applicable) | No (not applicable) |
| Pay fees out of pocket if no long term care policy | No | Yes | No |
| Must require skills of a registered nurse or therapist | Yes | No | Yes |
| Personal care services and assistance with activities of daily living not related to medical treatment of patient’s illness or injury or provided | No | Yes | No |
| Veteran’s eligible for benefits covered by VA | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| *Homebound status is what qualifies a patient for home health care services. Homebound status is a Medicare regulation that states a patient’s absences from the home must be a taxing effort, infrequent and in most instances for the purposes of receiving health care treatment. |