Medicare covers home health services under either Part A or B to beneficiaries that meet the eligibility criteria.  Eligibility criteria is as follows:

• The care requires the skills of a registered nurse, physical therapist, and/or speech language pathologist. 
• During the course of treatment, the patient must be “homebound."  (see criteria below)
• Services are provided by an agency that is certified by Medicare to provide home care services.
• The beneficiary must be under the continuing care of a physician (licensed in Florida).

Homebound Status:

The Medicare definition of homebound includes, but is not limited to these criteria: 

• It is a considerable and taxing effort to leave home.
• Absences from the home are infrequent and of short duration.
• Your physician has advised that it is unsafe for you to leave home due to your medical or psychiatric condition.

Examples of homebound status include the following:

• Walks with a walker, has difficulty going up and down steps to leave home; must have help to get in and out of car.
• Can walk without direct assistance, but can only walk short distances due to shortness of breath or other physical impairment.
• Extremely weak from illness and can only walk short distances without stopping to rest.
• Severe pain and walks only as necessary.
• Confused and unable to leave home unassisted.
• Psychiatric patient depressed and withdrawn; refuses to leave home.

Allowable absences from the home include:

• May attend church
• May go to beauty salon
• May leave home as necessary for medical reasons
• May leave home for non-medical reasons if absences are infrequent, of short duration and require a considerable and taxing effort

A patient who drives and can leave home without assistance is not homebound.