1. Continuous home care

Continuous home care is covered only during a period of medical crisis to maintain an individual at home. A period of crisis is when a patient requires continuous, primarily nursing care to achieve palliation or management of acute medical symptoms. Nursing care must be provided by either a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse. A nurse must be providing care for more than half of the period of care. A minimum of 8 hours of care must be provided during a 24-hour day which begins and ends at midnight. There can be intervening periods between periods when services are provided, e.g., 4 hours could be provided in the morning and another 4 hours in the evening. Homemaker and aide services may also be provided to supplement the nursing care. If less skilled care is needed on a continuous basis to enable the person to remain at home, this is covered as routine home care.