The 6 Best Visiting Nurse Services of 2022 - Verywell Health

FAQs

What Is a Visiting Nurse Service?

A visiting nurse service is a home health service that provides in-home, skilled medical care. If your doctor prescribes home health care, your options include visiting nurse services provided by a social service agency, a hospital, or a private company. Visiting nurses help perform rehabilitation and recovery from a surgical procedure, an injury, or an illness to patients of all ages.

What Types of Services Do Visiting Nurses Typically Provide?

A visiting nurse is a skilled medical professional, usually a registered nurse, who oversees all aspects of the medical care you receive at home, as ordered by a physician.This might include evaluating your medical condition and health needs, monitoring your vital signs and assessing risk factors, and administering medication. A visiting nurse is also trained to care for specific conditions such as COPD, diabetes, dementia, and Alzheimer's. They also changes dressings for surgical incisions or wounds, and provide hospice care.

When your visiting nurse leaves, they make sure that you and your caregivers have the necessary information and supplies to support the plan of care.

Is a Visiting Nurse the Same as a Home Health Aide?

A visiting nurse is a skilled medical professional, while a home aide typically has limited formal medical training and provides services such as help with personal hygiene, meals, and transportation.

Does Medicare Cover Visiting Nurse Services?

If you have Medicare, home health care, such as that provided by a visiting nurse, is covered 100 percent by Medicare when your doctor certifies that you meet the required guidelines.

If you do not have Medicare, consult with your healthcare insurance to determine your policy parameters for coverage, including necessary copayments, if any.

Hospice (including a visiting nurse, if one is on your team) is covered by Medicare, Medicaid, the Veteran's Health Administration, and private insurance. Although most hospice care is provided at home, it is also available at hospitals, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and dedicated hospice facilities.

Always double-check coverage with your insurance provider and ask the visiting nurse service if they accept your insurance plan.

How We Chose the Best Visiting Nurse Services

For this ranking, we looked at more than 40 home health providers. The primary criteria were the number of locations and national footprint, so the ranking would be useful to a large number of people. In addition to reviewing companies' areas of expertise, we also looked at their website interface, navigation, and usability and how they are ranked in areas such as quality care and patient satisfaction by services such as the U.S. government's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Home Health Star and Home Health Compare.