Occupational Therapy
Why Occupational Therapy
Atlas Home Health has trained occupational therapists who will work with you to improve your cognitive and functional ability to perform basic activities of daily living.
They can also help you lead a more active and independent lives through a variety of methods and exercises. Our therapists will help you with motor coordination and modifying your home and daily activities to make you safe and comfortable at home.
For occupational therapy to be covered by the Medicare home health benefit, your care must be necessary and ordered by your doctor for your specific condition. You must be homebound and only need care on a part-time or intermittent basis (not full time).
On their first visit, the occupational therapist will perform an initial assessment of your overall health and functional ability. After that, the occupational therapist will make regularly scheduled visits to your home. If you need other therapy or nursing services, you will receive an initial assessment and regularly scheduled home visits from those nurses/therapists as well. Doctor’s orders are needed to start care.
Occupational therapy services are given by a licensed occupational therapist or an occupational therapy assistant. If you receive care from an occupational therapy assistant, they will be supervised by a licensed occupational therapist.
Our occupational therapists will:
- Help you to develop, recover or maintain essential skills for daily living.
- Make recommendations to modify your home for safety and accessibility.
- Educate you on energy conservation techniques to make living independently more manageable.
- Create a safe home environment in your current living situation.
What a Typical Visit Looks Like
A typical home health visit from an occupational therapist may include:
- Assessing your home for hazards and identifying environmental factors that contribute to falls.
- Checking your vital signs.
- Exercises for motor coordination.
- Developing an on-going therapeutic program to restore function.
- Demonstrating and teaching you how to use adaptive equipment.
Technical Terms & Rules
The following are technical terms and Colorado and Medicare rules for Home Health Physical Therapy:
- A3-3118.2, HHA-205.2: The service of a physical therapist, speech-language pathologist, or occupational therapist is a skilled therapy service if the inherent complexity of the service is such that it can be performed safely and/or effectively only by or under the general supervision of a skilled therapist. To be covered, the skilled services must also be reasonable and necessary to the treatment of the patient’s illness or injury or to the restoration or maintenance of function affected by the patient’s illness or injury.
In order for therapy services to be covered, one of the following three conditions must be met:
1. The skills of a qualified therapist are needed to restore patient function.
2. The patient’s condition requires a qualified therapist to design or establish a maintenance program.
3. The skills of a qualified therapist are needed to perform maintenance therapy.
And, the amount, frequency, and duration of the services must be reasonable.
- Any therapy service offered by the Agency directly or under arrangement shall be provided by a qualified therapist or by a qualified therapy assistant under the supervision of a qualified therapist and in accordance with the plan of care as permitted by Colorado Therapy Practice Acts (Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 12, Article 41)