Most older adults want to stay in their own homes for as long as they can. For many families, private duty home care in Tampa is part of how that happens. It means hiring a caregiver to help with daily life at home, such as bathing, meals and housework. This guide explains what private duty care is, how it differs from skilled home health care, and how families often use both to help a loved one age in place with dignity.
One note before we start: Making Memories Home Health provides skilled home health care, and we also offer private duty in-home care. We wrote this guide to help you understand your options, because the right mix of help matters more than who provides it.
What is private duty home care?
Private duty home care, sometimes called non-medical home care, personal care or companion care, is help with everyday living. A caregiver comes to the home for the hours the family arranges. That might be a few hours a week or a few hours on certain days, depending on what the family needs and what the provider offers.
Private duty caregivers may help with:
- Bathing, grooming, dressing and toileting
- Getting in and out of bed or a chair
- Meal planning and cooking
- Light housekeeping and laundry
- Errands, shopping and rides to appointments
- Medication reminders
- Companionship and supervision, including for people with memory loss
What each agency offers varies. At Making Memories Home Health, private duty care covers personal care, meals, light housekeeping, laundry and family respite, by the hour. It does not include errands, rides to appointments, companionship-only visits, or 24-hour and live-in care.
Private duty care usually does not need a doctor’s order. The family sets the schedule directly with the provider.
Private duty home care vs. skilled home health
The two names sound alike, but they are different kinds of help.
Skilled home health care is medical care ordered by a doctor. Nurses and therapists visit part-time to treat a health problem: caring for a wound, teaching about new medicines, managing heart failure or diabetes, or rebuilding strength after surgery. Each visit has a purpose in the plan of care, and home health ends when the goals are met. Medicare and other plans cover it when you qualify.
Private duty home care is daily support, not medical treatment. Caregivers help with tasks and keep the person company. It continues as long as the family wants and can pay for it.
In short, home health helps you get better or manage an illness. Private duty helps with the routine of daily life.
How a home health aide is different from a private caregiver
This is where families often get confused, because both may help with bathing.
A home health aide visits as part of a skilled home health plan. Aide visits are only available alongside skilled nursing or therapy. The aide follows a care plan written by your nurse, focuses on personal care such as bathing and dressing, and stays for a limited time each visit. When skilled care ends, aide visits end too.
A private duty caregiver is hired by the family. They can stay for longer shifts, help with housekeeping and errands, and continue for as long as the family arranges, whether or not there is a medical need.
Aging in place: what it takes
Aging in place means living safely and comfortably in your own home as you get older. It usually takes a few things working together:
- A safe home. Grab bars, a shower chair, good lighting, clear walkways and no loose rugs. An occupational therapist on a home health team can suggest changes when therapy is part of the plan.
- Strength and balance. Staying active, and getting physical therapy when a doctor orders it after a fall, illness or surgery.
- Medicines that are under control. A current list, a pill organizer and a pharmacist or nurse who checks for problems.
- A way to get help fast. A phone within reach or a medical alert device.
- People who check in. Family, neighbors, friends, faith communities or a paid caregiver.
- Help with the hard tasks. Bathing, shopping, cooking and getting to appointments.
Our guide to fall prevention for seniors has a room-by-room checklist.
Seniors who live alone
Many older adults in Tampa live alone, and many have adult children who live far away. Living alone can be a good choice, but it carries extra risks: a fall with no one nearby, missed medicines, poor eating, or a health change that goes unnoticed.
If your loved one lives alone, think about the hours when no one is there:
- Set up a daily check-in call or text at the same time each day.
- Give a trusted neighbor a key and your phone number.
- Consider a medical alert device they will actually wear.
- Keep an up-to-date medicine list and doctor list on the refrigerator.
- Ask whether a few hours of private help each week would make daily life safer.
Skilled home health visits are part-time, so they cannot fill those hours on their own. But during a recovery, a home health nurse and therapist can spot problems early and teach your loved one ways to stay safer.
Combining private help with skilled home health
Families often combine the two. For example, after a hospital stay, a doctor may order home health care for wound care and physical therapy. The family may also arrange a private caregiver for a few hours a day to help with meals, bathing and errands while their loved one recovers.
When you use both, a few tips help things run smoothly:
- Tell the home health team about the private caregiver, and the caregiver about the home health visits.
- Ask the nurse or therapist to show the caregiver any safety techniques, such as how to help with transfers.
- Keep one shared list of medicines and appointments in the home.
- Remember that the private caregiver should follow the doctor’s instructions and the plan of care, not change medicines or treatments.
Paying for private duty care
Families pay for private duty care in a few ways:
- Medicaid Long-Term Care plans. Families with a Florida Medicaid Long-Term Care (LTC) plan can receive personal care, homemaker services and respite care at home, based on the services their plan authorizes.
- Private pay. Many families pay directly, by the hour, for the help they choose.
- Long-term care insurance. Some policies may help pay for help at home. Check the policy for home care benefits, waiting periods and the paperwork it needs.
- Original Medicare. Medicare does not pay for private duty care, because it is not home health care. It does not cover personal care, companionship or housekeeping when that is the only help someone needs.
- Medicare home health alongside private hours. When a person qualifies for home health, Medicare can cover the skilled visits, while private hours cover daily help. The two can work together.
Before you start, ask the provider how they bill and what records your insurance policy needs.
Questions to ask a private duty provider
In Florida, companies that send caregivers into homes are licensed or registered with the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). You can check a provider on AHCA’s Florida Health Finder website. Then ask:
You can ask us these same questions when you call.
- Are your caregivers employees, or independent contractors you refer?
- How do you screen and train caregivers?
- What happens if a caregiver is sick or cannot come?
- Is there a minimum number of hours per visit or per week?
- How do you supervise caregivers and handle concerns?
Who qualifies for skilled home health care?
Private duty care has no medical requirements, but skilled home health care does. Under Medicare, you generally qualify when:
- A doctor or allowed practitioner orders it. A doctor, nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist or physician assistant certifies that you need care at home and reviews your plan of care.
- You need skilled care. That means part-time or intermittent skilled nursing, physical therapy, speech-language therapy, or continued occupational therapy.
- You are homebound. Leaving home takes a considerable and taxing effort. Short, infrequent trips for medical care, religious services or adult day care are allowed.
- You have a face-to-face visit. A doctor or allowed practitioner sees you within 90 days before or 30 days after care starts.
- The agency is Medicare-certified.
Medicare does not cover 24-hour care, meal delivery, or homemaker or personal care when that is the only care you need. Our Medicare home health page explains more.
How Making Memories Home Health can help
Making Memories Home Health Inc provides skilled home health care in Hillsborough, Polk and Manatee counties: nursing, physical, occupational and speech therapy, medical social work, and home health aide visits as part of that care. We are Medicare-certified, accredited by The Joint Commission, family-founded by experienced ICU and emergency nurses, and our team speaks English and Spanish.
We also offer private duty in-home care: non-medical help at home with personal care (bathing, dressing, toileting and hygiene), meals, light housekeeping, laundry and family respite. It is scheduled by the hour, through a Medicaid Long-Term Care plan, private pay or long-term care insurance. Families who also need nursing or therapy can combine home care hours with skilled home health visits.
When home health is part of your plan, our medical social worker can also point your family to community resources. If you are weighing a move instead, our guide to home health care vs. assisted living may help.
We accept Traditional Medicare, plus long-term care plans and private pay. Medicare Advantage coverage and our participation depend on your specific plan, so we verify both before care starts. Call (813) 931-0015 to verify your coverage, or visit our insurance page. These plans are for skilled home health care; private duty care is paid privately.
Want to talk about private duty help? Call us at (813) 931-0015 to talk about the schedule and help you need. Think your loved one may need skilled care at home? Call the same number. Doctors can send a referral. For a medical emergency, call 911.
Frequently asked questions
Does Medicare pay for private duty home care?
No. Original Medicare does not pay for private duty care, because it is not home health care. Medicare does not pay for personal care, companionship or housekeeping when that is the only help a person needs. Families can pay privately, and Florida Medicaid Long-Term Care plans and some long-term care insurance policies can help, depending on the plan or policy.
Is a home health aide the same as a private duty caregiver?
No. A home health aide visits as part of a skilled home health plan of care, for a limited time each visit, under a nurse's supervision. A private duty caregiver is hired by the family for the hours they choose, whether or not there is a medical need.
Can my parent have private duty help and home health care at the same time?
Yes, and many families do. A private caregiver can help with daily tasks while nurses and therapists from a home health agency handle the skilled care the doctor ordered.
Does Making Memories Home Health provide private duty care?
Yes. Along with skilled home health care, Making Memories Home Health offers private duty in-home care: personal care, meals, light housekeeping, laundry and family respite, by the hour, through Medicaid Long-Term Care plans or private pay. Call (813) 931-0015 for a free consultation.