Life is very unpredictable. We never know what is going to happen the very next moment. We are habituated to get surprise. Suppose one day you are at office and one phone call comes and gives news like your spouse got hurt badly in a road accident or one of your parents had heart attack or anything that will make you rush immediately to the spot where the incident happened. Next step is to get them hospitalized and start treatment immediately. Again you think for better options of treatment as you don’t like the limited visiting hours at hospital and presence of many other patients and the sick atmosphere of hospital.
At this time the idea of Home Healthcare may come to your mind. But you are confused, not sure about the possibility, the arrangement needed and most importantly not sure whether you can afford it or not. The priority is proper treatment, but for middle class people the cost effectiveness also matters. You don’t want to just spoil it in between means suppose you take the patient home, but after few days you realize that cost is not suiting your budget and again make them return to hospital. This does not look nice.
Let us do a comparative analysis of the cost effectiveness of Home Healthcare in advance in order to take the right decision. There are some important factors to keep in mind.
The first one is the severity of the illness. If the severity of the illness is that much that can be handled at home atmosphere and all the required facilities (blood supply, oxygen supply, supplements supply and all medications, therapies, counseling etc) can be arranged at home, then patient can be taken to home for the treatment. If this is possible then the cost of treatment can be expected to be less compared to hospitalization as the hospital bed rent or cabin rent will not be there.
In hospital doctor checks up the patient at least twice daily irrespective of whether there is any need and fee is obviously added to the bill. However when the patient is at home doctor only can come when needed or only for periodical check up to see the improvement and you have to pay only for those limited visits. But if the severity is more the home healthcare option will not be convenient or cost effective.
Maybe there is a need for extended care. Suppose the patient got initial treatment in hospital, but doctor suggested for extended care up to next 3 months. In that case it will be very costly to bear the hospital expenses for 3 months. And for relatives of the patient it’s not possible at all to visit him/her regularly at hospital. The best option would be the home healthcare. Take all the instructions from doctor and appoint a nurse if necessary and take care of them at home and see them recover in front of you.
Think about the availability of home care services. If your house is in the heart of the city then all the home healthcare services will be at your door step whenever you call them. But this will not be the case if you are located at very distant place and you don’t have easy access to all required facilities. Now if you want to opt for Home Healthcare then you may have to pay more, may be double or thrice the normal charges to get all the facilities at your home. The cost effectiveness becomes zero.
