Also called: In-home care
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Home Care Services
Home care is care that allows a person with special needs to stay in their home. It might be for people who are getting older (aging in place). It could also be for people who are chronically ill, recovering from surgery, or have a disability. Home care services include:
- Personal care, such as help with bathing, washing your hair, or getting dressed
- Household chores, such as cleaning, yard work, and laundry
- Cooking for you in your home or delivering meals to you
- Money management, such as help filling out forms and making sure that your bills are paid on time
- Health care, such as having a home health aide come to your home or getting care from your provider through telehealth
You can get almost any type of help you want in your home. You have to pay for many of them. But some types of care and community services are free or donated. Sometimes government programs or your health insurance will help cover the cost of certain home care services.
It sits within Older Adults and Health System.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Home Care Services
171 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Action Falls for Domiciliary CareUniversity of Nottingham
- Virtual Reality for Caregiver Assembly, Relief, Empowerment, and Support (VR-CARES)Rendever, Inc.
- Nurse-led Integrated Home Service to Support Parents in Symptom Management for Children Requiring Respiratory SupportDr Winsome Lam
- Monitoring Blood Pressure at Home and Pharmacy TelehealthUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham
- Why Patients Decline or Are Being Deemed Ineligible to Receive Home-based Treatment: a Mixed Methods StudyOdense University Hospital
- Volunteer Facilitated Discharge Assistance and Supports at Home (DASH) for People With StrokeBruyère Health Research Institute.
Research already completed
- Parental Experiences of Home-Based Intensive Segmental Trunk Training in Children With Cerebral PalsyIqra Khan
- Unplanned Emergency Department Visits, Hospital Admission, or Death During Hospital-at-Home Care for Acute InfectionsChimei Medical Center
- Hospital at Home at EOL in Heme MalignanciesMassachusetts General Hospital
- Evaluation of a Health Monitoring Platform for Elderly in Home Care ContextRennes University Hospital
- Mobile Application-Assisted Pressure Injury ManagementFenerbahce University
- Home Environmental Risks and Caregiver AwarenessMarmara University Pendik Training and Research Hospital
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Home Health CareAdministration for Community Living
- Home Health CareAGS Health in Aging Foundation
Related Issues
- Adult Day CareAdministration for Community Living
- Adult Day ServicesNational Adult Day Services Association
- Hospice Care: Comfort at the End of LifeMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Long-term careCenters for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Telehealth: MedlinePlus Health TopicNational Library of Medicine
Statistics and Research
- FastStats: Adult Day Services CentersNational Center for Health Statistics
- FastStats: Home Health CareNational Center for Health Statistics
- National Post-Acute and Long-Term Care StudyNational Center for Health Statistics
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Home Care ServicesNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Home Care Services. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Home Care Services, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.