Home health care is a program in which the lob of medical trained personnel is to take care of sick people that are homebound and can't go to the hospital. This means that the patient can't leave home by using his own powers or this action takes a considerable effort for him and should not be done. Most of the services offered by the home health care agencies are of skilled nursing care, or physical, speech and occupational therapy. The patient will have a personal nurse with him, but only part time (mostly for 8 hours a day). Sometimes exceptions can be made and the nurse is allowed to have a longer program with the patient. But if the nurse needs to stay more than four days a week with the patient then a date for the end of the project must be specified. All these rules are different in the USA's states as they are related to the amount of money home health care patients receive from the state budget.

Home health care is mostly about intravenous therapy, professional wound care and pain control. Sometimes a therapist can do all the work and the nurse does no longer need to assist. All the personnel involved in a home health care project are well trained to conduct patient education and have a lot of patience with the sick people. Eating, bathing, getting dressed are also activities performed by the people involved in the home health care program.

Home health care is a program that helps elder people live independently at their homes for as much as possible, considering the limits of their affections. This program will mostly postpone the moment when a fulltime nurse will have to come and take care of the patient.

Before choosing a home health care agency the family of the patient that needs recovery will have to see if the agency is an approved Medicare provider, for how long the community has been served by the agency, if the agency is certified by the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and if the members of the agency are available seven days a week if necessary. All this gathering of information will most likely direct the family members towards an efficient home health care agency.