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Frequently Asked Questions
General
What is Parentis Health?
Parentis Health is a growing healthcare company headquartered in Orange County, California. We provide compassionate, coordinated care, with ongoing support for families through the entire care process.
What services do you provide?
Our core services include Home Health, Residential Care, Hospice, Home Care, Transportation, Care Management and Health and Wellness.
How do you help families?
We provide an extensive range of services to benefit patients and their families, from a variety of health services at the patients home, to non-emergency medical transportation, to our residential home facilities, to hospice services and everything in-between.
To ensure patients and families can focus on spending time together without worry, we shoulder the burdens families typically face alone, whether it’s working with Medicare and health insurance providers or helping patients with ongoing medical appointments.
To ensure patients and families can focus on spending time together without worry, we shoulder the burdens families typically face alone, whether it’s working with Medicare and health insurance providers or helping patients with ongoing medical appointments.
How do your transportation services work?
We feature a fleet of specialized vehicles that can accommodate all patients, including those with ambulatory issues.
Our vehicles can easily accommodate walkers, wheelchairs and gurneys, and, like all of our services, our pricing is flat, transparent and always reasonable.
Our vehicles can easily accommodate walkers, wheelchairs and gurneys, and, like all of our services, our pricing is flat, transparent and always reasonable.
Do you have any special programs to help military families?
Yes! Our We Honor Veterans program, part of our Volunteer services, works with veterans and their families to help them maximize their VA benefits.
Home Health
What is home health?
Home health offers patients quality healthcare in the comfort of their homes, from a diverse team of professionals —RNs/LPNs, MSWs, home health aides, physical, occupational and speech therapists—available and on-call 24/7/365.
Home health services cover a wide range of conditions, including:
Home health services cover a wide range of conditions, including:
- Wound care
- IV therapy
- Injections
- Chronic disease management, including
- CHF, COPD, diabetes and hypertension
- Pain management
- Post-surgical care
- Post-stroke care
What’s the difference between Home Health and Home Care?
To help keep seniors independent and preserve their quality of life, we offer multiple services they can utilize from the comfort of their own homes.
Home Health provides patients with skilled nurses, LVNs, counselors, occupational and physical therapists, empowering post-surgery, wound care and rehabilitation at home, helping patients recover without the need for extended hospital stays.
Home Care provides caretakers to help patients with every aspect of everyday life, from personal care, feeding and medication administration to housekeeping and running errands.
Home Health provides patients with skilled nurses, LVNs, counselors, occupational and physical therapists, empowering post-surgery, wound care and rehabilitation at home, helping patients recover without the need for extended hospital stays.
Home Care provides caretakers to help patients with every aspect of everyday life, from personal care, feeding and medication administration to housekeeping and running errands.
What kinds of services does Home Health provide?
Our Home Health services include:
- Medical equipment, medication, and therapeutic diet training
- Injections
- IV therapy
- Wound Care
- Chronic disease management
- Post-surgical care
- Occupational, physical and speech therapy
- Nutrition counseling
- Assistance with living with disabilities
- Supplemental health education pursuant to doctor’s orders
Who can get Home Health services?
To qualify for Home Health services, patients must have a medical need for skilled nursing or therapy and meet Medicare’s definition of “homebound”.
Patients who leave their home infrequently because it requires taxing effort fall within Medicare’s guidelines. Parentis Health also requires that requests for Home Health services come directly from patients’ physicians.
Do you have to be permanently homebound to qualify for Home Health services?
No; patients can be temporarily homebound due to illness or injury to qualify.
Does Medicare cover Home Health services?
We accept both private insurance coverage and medicare. Medicare covers 100% of Home Health services for qualified patients.
Residential Care
What is residential care?
Residential care is a unique treatment and housing arrangement where caregivers live alongside residents, empowering them to extensively monitor and respond quickly to their needs.
Residential care facilities are smaller environments with fewer residents than traditional assisted living facilities, allowing for more personalized care. Parentis Health’s Verona Court homes feature no more than six residents, with two full-time caregivers who live on site; ensuring residents experience a continuous care ratio of 1:3.
Residential care facilities are smaller environments with fewer residents than traditional assisted living facilities, allowing for more personalized care. Parentis Health’s Verona Court homes feature no more than six residents, with two full-time caregivers who live on site; ensuring residents experience a continuous care ratio of 1:3.
How are Verona Court residences different from other long-term residential care facilities?
Verona Court Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE) are different from most long-term care facilities because they’re real homes, with all of the comfort and warmth you and your loved ones expect.
Each Verona Court home is located in an upscale neighborhood, comfortable, secure, and beautifully appointed with all of the comforts of home. Ample communal spaces foster meaningful relationships between fellow residents and caregivers.
Each Verona Court home is located in an upscale neighborhood, comfortable, secure, and beautifully appointed with all of the comforts of home. Ample communal spaces foster meaningful relationships between fellow residents and caregivers.
How is Verona Court related to Parentis Health?
Verona Court residential facilities company is a subsidiary of Parentis Health. Residents of Verona Court greatly benefit from Parentis Health continuity of care model.
How much does residential care cost?
We provide lifetime all-inclusive, flat rates, regardless of care level - for the lifetime of the patient in our care. Our exceptional care and better-than-industry-standard pricing sets us apart from any other care provider in Southern California.
How many residents live in Verona Court homes? Are caretakers onsite 24/7?
Occupancy at Verona Court homes is capped at a maximum occupancy of 6 residents and a 3:1 provider ratio.
Each facility has a minimum of two caregivers and a dedicated night-shift caregiver (as needed), plus LVNs and RNs onsite every day, ensuring that your loved ones are always safe and secure and help is always on-hand.
Each facility has a minimum of two caregivers and a dedicated night-shift caregiver (as needed), plus LVNs and RNs onsite every day, ensuring that your loved ones are always safe and secure and help is always on-hand.
Do you have anyone on staff who can help patients with dementia or Alzheimer’s?
At Parentis Health, we completely understand how complex and common memory loss issues are. Our staff is extensively trained to assist all memory loss concerns, as well as those with advanced memory issues like Alzheimer’s and dementia,
To ensure that patients receive specialized care, Verona Court is staffed with specially-trained caregivers, on-hand at all times to assist with everything from daily routines to cognitive behavioral therapy.
Can my loved one have personal items as a Verona Court resident?
Absolutely! We encourage families to bring personal items, including small furnishings, family photos, collectibles and other favorite possessions to help personalize their space.
Does Verona Court offer residents any special activities or fun things to do?
Yes! Verona Court residents enjoy activities throughout the week, from pet therapy, music and arts and crafts with our volunteers to bingo and karaoke.
We also offer the same kinds of activities residents enjoyed in their own homes, like cooking, gardening, and socializing, as well as resident-centric therapeutic activities that promote independence, personal identity and self-esteem.
And when it’s a holiday or a birthday celebration, everyone gets to join in the fun!
What if we only need residential care for a short period of time?
Verona Court facilities welcome short-term residents. Residents of any length receive the same round-the-clock care, including home-cooked meals, activities with our volunteers, transportation services and more.
To learn more about Verona Court residences, please visit us at www.veronacourt.com.
Hospice
What is hospice?
Hospice also aims to provide comfort to those with life-limiting illness and addresses the physical, social, emotional, and spiritual needs of not only the patient but also the patient’s family caregivers. Typically, hospice care is offered when a person’s prognosis is six months or less and curative measures have been exhausted or are no longer desired.
Hospice covers treatments for symptom control or pain relief, durable medical equipment, medical supplies, and a variety of services covered by Medicare necessary to manage the person’s pain and other symptoms related to the terminal illness. This may include physical, speech, and occupational therapy, short-term inpatient and respite care, regular visits and oversight from a care team including a nurse, home health aides, a social worker, the hospice chaplain, and the hospice physician.
Patient, or the patient’s responsible party, always has the freedom to choose their Hospice, as well as revoke Hospice services at any time.
Hospice covers treatments for symptom control or pain relief, durable medical equipment, medical supplies, and a variety of services covered by Medicare necessary to manage the person’s pain and other symptoms related to the terminal illness. This may include physical, speech, and occupational therapy, short-term inpatient and respite care, regular visits and oversight from a care team including a nurse, home health aides, a social worker, the hospice chaplain, and the hospice physician.
Patient, or the patient’s responsible party, always has the freedom to choose their Hospice, as well as revoke Hospice services at any time.
What’s the difference between “comfort care”, “palliative care” and “hospice care”?
“Comfort care”, “palliative care” and “hospice care” are often used interchangeably because they generally refer to the same approach to patient care: focusing on symptom control, pain relief and quality of life.
While “comfort care” and “palliative care” are basically the same, hospice is a far more robust approach, engaging entire teams to help provide comfort and care to patients and families.
“Comfort care” and “palliative care” aren’t always afforded the same sense of expediency as hospice care. One of the advantages of hospice care is the speed at which healthcare is delivered. Medications, equipment, and treatment can be delivered anytime to wherever a patient is, without the need for physician appointments or authorizations.
While “comfort care” and “palliative care” are basically the same, hospice is a far more robust approach, engaging entire teams to help provide comfort and care to patients and families.
“Comfort care” and “palliative care” aren’t always afforded the same sense of expediency as hospice care. One of the advantages of hospice care is the speed at which healthcare is delivered. Medications, equipment, and treatment can be delivered anytime to wherever a patient is, without the need for physician appointments or authorizations.
Where do patients have to go to get hospice care?
With Parentis Health, patients can transition to hospice wherever they’re the most comfortable—including at home.
How does a patient qualify for hospice?
In any disease trajectory, there are three possible outcomes: stability, improvement, or decline. Patients in decline may qualify for hospice care.
To qualify for hospice, a patient’s prognosis is assessed according to five criteria:
- If the patient’s quality of life would not be improved by aggressive treatment such as hospitalization, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or hemodialysis
- A patient’s nutritional status, generally determined by poor appetite and weight loss
- How functional a patient is, and how much this has changed recently
- The normal progression of a specific disease
- Physicians make assessments based on a patient’s declining health during a 12 month period, as well as projections on disease progression six months out, using guidelines set forth by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
- CMS has issued guidelines for specific diseases, including AIDS, cancer, dementia, stroke, Parkinson’s Disease, MS, ALS, heart and liver failure
Patients meeting this criteria may receive hospice care with a referral from their attending physician.
Can patients or families change their minds about using hospice services?
Hospice does not have to be a permanent choice. It is an elective benefit that can be revoked at any time.
What does hospice care include?
Hospice assists patients and families alike, so we provide a full complement of services designed to support both, in-home or wherever needed, including:
- Observation and assessment
- Guidance on advance directives and other planning
- Caregiver education
- Skilled nursing care
- Pain and symptom management
- Daily living assistance
- Speech therapy services
- Emotional and spiritual support
- Bereavement support and grief counseling
Who provides hospice care to patients?
Parentis Health has a full team of experts to support patients and families, including:
- Doctors
- Nurse practitioners
- Nurses
- Nursing aids
- Physical therapists
- Occupational therapists
- Speech therapists
- Social workers
- Spiritual advisors
Our hospice team is also on-call 24/7/365 whenever, and wherever we’re needed.
How much should families expect to have to pay for your services?
Often Hospice services are covered through Medicare. Call us to discuss your specific situation and we’ll be happy to help.
How do you support hospice patients and families?
We provide whatever support patients and families need, however they need it, from our skilled nurses to our volunteers.
We also have an in-house Chaplain and Bereavement Counselor on-call to offer comfort in all forms—from spiritual support and grief counseling to just being an extra pair of eyes and ears.
What happens if hospice patients recover?
We help ensure that patients can transition with ease back to however they were living before, whether in their own homes, Verona Court or another facility.
Home Care
How do your Home Care services work?
Our Home Care caretakers can provide a variety of services from medication reminders and daily check ins to daily grooming assistance to companionship on hourly basis.
How is Home Care different from housekeeping services?
Parentis Health provides services to span the continuum of care, including services to assist patients with limited mobility and other health impairments that impact their ability to care for themselves as previously.
Patient health is central to everything we do at Parentis Health, and Home Care is no exception. Patient care is first and foremost; all care plan options include daily check-ins and medication reminders, as well as regular monthly visits from skilled nurses (RN/LVN).
Does Home Care include housekeeping services?
Most of our Home Care plans feature assistance with personal grooming as well as household chores. Services range from making beds to cleaning and laundry assistance. As plans progress, the level of service increases accordingly.
What kinds of plans do you offer for ongoing care?
Tiered plans range from 15-minute daily visits to full 8-hour shifts. The level of service provided increases with each progressive plan, ranging from medication reminders and vitals checks to meal planning, feeding assistance, housekeeping and daily exercises.
Volunteering
I’m interested in becoming one of your hospice volunteers. How does that work?
To become a Parentis Health volunteer, please reach out to us here.
Each volunteer goes through rigorous training to ensure they have the best understanding of hospice and all that it encompasses. We also discuss each volunteer’s unique talents, special skills, military history and other relevant information to best serve the needs of our patients and their families.
While the program is open to everyone—students, veterans, retirees, seniors—if you’ve recently lost a loved one, please give yourself the time to heal before considering joining our program.
Do you have any other volunteer opportunities?
Yes! Through the Parentis Foundation, we pair highly trained volunteer tutors, ages 50+, with children, aged from kindergarten through third-grade, offering both a unique opportunity to enrich their lives through literacy.
To learn more about how to become a Parentis Foundation volunteer, please visit www.parentisfoundation.com.