Colorado Springs Senior AdvisorWhat is the difference between home health and home care in Colorado?
A home health agency provides skilled nursing and therapy at home, usually under a doctor's order and often paid by Medicare; a home care agency provides personal care and homemaker help, such as bathing, dressing, meals and housekeeping, usually paid privately or by Medicaid waiver.
CDPHE licenses both. In our directory, home care agencies appear with CDPHE's own categories, such as personal care and homemaker or in-home support services (a Medicaid self-directed option), and home health agencies appear separately with their Medicare certification status. CDPHE's data shows 49 home health agencies and 15 hospices with offices in El Paso and Teller counties.
Can someone use home health and home care at the same time?
Yes, and many Colorado Springs families do: home health handles the wound care, therapy or medication teaching after a hospital stay, while a home care aide covers bathing, meals and supervision between visits.
Home health visits are short and intermittent, often an hour a few times a week, and end when skilled needs end. Home care fills the hours in between. Coordinate the two so the aide knows what the nurse wants watched.
How do we check a Colorado Springs home care agency?
Confirm its CDPHE license in the Find and Compare tool or our roster, ask how caregivers are screened, trained and supervised, what happens when a caregiver calls out, and whether workers are employees or contractors.
Ask for a written service agreement with hourly rates, minimum shifts, overtime and holiday charges, and notice periods. If a caregiver is hired privately rather than through an agency, the family takes on payroll, taxes, workers' compensation and backup coverage.
Who pays for home care when Medicare stops?
The family pays privately in most cases, at about $42 an hour as Colorado's 2025 median, unless the person qualifies for Health First Colorado's EBD waiver, PACE, VA home care or long-term care insurance benefits.
Long-term care insurance policies often have an elimination period of 30 to 90 days before benefits start, and many require a licensed agency rather than a private hire. Read the policy before choosing an agency.
Side by side
| Home health agency | Home care agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Services | Skilled nursing, therapy, some aide visits | Personal care, homemaker help, companionship |
| Payer | Medicare, insurance, Medicaid | Private pay, long-term care insurance, Medicaid waiver |
| Orders | Requires a doctor's plan of care | No doctor's order needed |
| Length | Short episodes while skilled needs last | Ongoing, as long as needed |
Drawn from 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 7, CDPHE and HCPF publications, CareScout, CMS, the VA and the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging; our editorial standards explain how we check them.
