Cost of Home Health Care in SC

Naturally the rate for home care depends on the state or area that it is provided.  Cost of living is factored in and of course that takes into account the cost of doing business such as overhead, employee rates, insurance etc.  Sometimes the Internet can be a wealth of information but when it comes to home care most websites do not openly display hourly rates.  When a call is made to a home care agency in an effort to get a quote over the phone there can also be reluctance to give it.  This usually stems from but is not necessarily limited to:

• Not being able to observe the client and thus be unable to ascertain just how much assistance will be required.
• Inability to observe the client’s environment to ascertain presence of available “tools” or assistive devices to render care.
• Inability to gauge safety and conditions when providing care.

Because South Carolina has no regulations the charges and pay rates can depend on each agency and their own self imposed policies or “regulations”.  Those agencies that do not necessarily hire certified nursing assistants can pay their “staff” less and charge less.  The question to ask in these cases is exactly how much training do they provide non-certified employees.  Whereas hiring a certified nursing assistant to provide even “sitting”, companionship or homemaking increases the likelihood that signs and symptoms exhibited by the client will be reported and interventions sought before they escalate.

When deciding if the rate you are quoted is fair MetLife Mature Market Institute published “The Cost of Home Health Care in South Carolina (12 months, 2012)”   

 To understand the rate one must understand definitions:

Health Aide (generally Certified Nursing Assistant) is trained to provide ongoing support with Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s) such as bathing, showering, dressing, transferring, eating, toileting etc.

Homemaker provides companion type assistance such as light housekeeping, meal preparation, transportation and companionship. The type of client for a homemaker may have Alzheimer’s Disease, but otherwise be perfectly healthy.  Homemakers are NOT TRAINED to provide hands-on assistance with Activities of Daily Living.

According to MetLife Mature Market Institute health aide and homemakers are usually provided in 2-4 hours blocks of time referred as visits.  They generally cost more in the evening, on weekends and on holidays.

Of course cost depends on where you live in South Carolina as noted above.  Charleston is the most expensive area.  Rates fluctuate between urban and rural.  A range can be anywhere from $16 to $22 in South Carolina.

South Carolina according to MetLife is the Twenty-Seventh (27^th) most expensive state for the cost of Home Health Care.  The United States average cost for a Health Aide was $21 per hour and a Homemaker Aide was $20.