About Home Care/Personal Care Services
Home Care/Personal Care provides services to people who need assistance with activities of daily living (a.k.a. ADL's).

The basic ADL include:

• Ambulating: The extent of an individual’s ability to move from one position to another and walk independently.
• Feeding: The ability of a person to feed oneself.
• Dressing: The ability to select appropriate clothes and to put the clothes on.
• Personal hygiene: The ability to bathe and groom oneself and to maintaining dental hygiene, nail and hair care.
• Continence: The ability to control bladder and bowel function
• Toileting: The ability to get to and from the toilet, using it appropriately, and cleaning oneself.

Much of personal care is "private duty" or private pay, meaning that it is not covered by insurance and must be paid for by the beneficiary or some other party. However, many Medicaid and Veteran's Affairs programs do pay for personal care, and the government has now made a provision that allows Medicare Advantage plans to pay for services at their discretion.

Though being private pay may be seen as a restriction for some people, it also allows personal care agencies to offer many types of services that could not be provided by a CNA as part of a Home Health episode. For example, in addition to helping clients to bathe, dress, remind them to take medications, and change clothing or briefs, a Personal Care Aide may perform shopping, meal prep, housekeeping, laundry, errands, companionship, and much more.

Private Duty offerings may extend beyond personal care to include private pay nursing, therapy, and/or social work. Some companies are even beginning to offer private-duty care management to present a more whole-person approach of caregiving as they build a trusting relationship with clients as an advocate and guide through the healthcare system.