What is Long Term Care?

There are many different services that would fall under the definition of long term care. These services include institutional care in nursing facilities or non-institutional care such as home health care, personal care, adult day care, long term home health care, respite care and hospice care.

• Nursing homes in New York State are licensed under the Public Health Law.
• Home health care consists of services received in your home, and can include skilled nursing care, speech, physical or occupational therapy or home health aide services.
• Home care (personal care) consists of assistance with personal hygiene, dressing or feeding, nutritional or support functions and health-related tasks.
• Adult day care can provide supervision and other social, recreational, and in some cases, health services during the day, in a group setting outside the home, for elderly persons who still live at home.
• Assisted living facilities provide housing and ongoing care and services to those unable to perform activities of daily living or who have a cognitive impairment.
• An alternate level of care is care received as a hospital inpatient when there is no medical necessity for being in the hospital and is for those persons waiting to be placed in a nursing home or while arrangements are being made for home care.
• Respite care is temporary institutional or at home care of a dependent elderly, ill, or handicapped person, providing relief for their usual caregivers.
• Hospice care is a program of care and treatment, either in a hospice care facility or in the home, for persons who are terminally ill and have a life expectancy of six months or less.