What is the difference between home care and home health in Georgia?

Loyal Care · Published November 9, 2026

Home care vs home health in Georgia: the short version

The two names sound almost the same. But in Georgia they are two different kinds of care, with two different licenses and, most of the time, two different ways of paying.

• Home health is medical care at home. A nurse checks on a wound or a new medicine. A physical therapist helps your parent walk again after a fall or surgery. A doctor has to order it, and the visits are short and spread out.
• Home care is help with ordinary daily life. A caregiver helps your parent bathe, dress, use the toilet, eat a good meal, take medicine on time and get to appointments. It can be a few hours a week or round the clock, and no doctor's order is needed.

A simple way to remember it: home health treats a health problem, while home care helps your parent live with it day to day. Many families end up using both for a while, especially after a hospital stay.

What counts as home health in Georgia?

Georgia defines a home health agency in its health planning rules. Under Rule 111-2-2-.32, it is an organization that mainly gives people who are under a doctor's written plan of care part-time or intermittent nursing care in their home. That nursing is given or supervised by a registered nurse. The agency also gives at least one more service, such as:

• physical therapy
• occupational therapy (help relearning everyday tasks)
• speech therapy
• medical social services
• part-time home health aide visits

Opening a home health agency in Georgia is not simple. The same rule says a Certificate of Need, a state approval that a new health service is needed in an area, is required before a new home health agency can open.

For people on Medicare, the home health agency must also be Medicare certified. You can look up agencies that serve your parent's ZIP code, with their star ratings, on Medicare's Care Compare tool.

What counts as home care in Georgia?

Non-medical home care in Georgia is licensed by the Georgia Department of Community Health under its Private Home Care Program. The department says no private home care provider may operate without a license or provisional license from the state.

Georgia's rules for these providers, Chapter 111-8-65, describe the kinds of help they give:

• Personal care tasks: help with bathing, toileting, grooming, shaving, dental care, dressing and eating, plus walking and moving from bed to chair, which the rules call ambulation and transfer.
• Companion or sitter tasks: transport and escort, making and serving meals, and household tasks that keep the home clean and safe.

The same rules let a private home care provider offer nursing services too, given by a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse. So some home care agencies in Georgia do send nurses. Ask each agency what its own staff actually do.

The rules also draw a clear line. Private home care does not include physical, speech or occupational therapy, medical social services, or home health aide services given by a home health agency. Those belong to home health. And Rule 111-8-65-.07 says the private home care rules do not apply to services from home health agencies licensed under state law. Each kind of agency follows its own set of rules.

Here is where Loyal Care LLC fits. It is licensed by the Georgia Department of Community Health as a private home care provider, permit number PHCP010969, effective December 11, 2020. It gives non-medical care only: personal care at home, companion care, dementia and Parkinson's care, respite, overnight and 24-hour care, and hospital to home care. Its caregivers give medication reminders. They do not give injections, decide doses, provide nursing care or therapy, or diagnose.

Who pays for each one?

This is where most families get surprised. Medicare treats the two very differently.

Home health. Medicare covers home health at no cost to your parent when all of these are true:

• your parent needs part-time or intermittent skilled care, such as nursing or therapy,
• your parent is homebound, which means leaving home is very hard and not something they normally do without help,
• a doctor or other provider has seen them in person and ordered the care,
• a Medicare-certified home health agency gives the care.

Medicare will also pay for a home health aide, but only part time and only while your parent is also getting skilled care.

Home care. The same Medicare page lists what it does not cover: 24-hour care at home, meal delivery, homemaker help like shopping and cleaning, and personal care such as bathing or dressing when that is the only care your parent needs. That is exactly the help home care gives. So once the nurse and therapist stop coming, Medicare usually stops paying for help at home.

Most families pay for home care themselves, sometimes with a private long-term care insurance policy. Loyal Care is private pay. It accepts Zelle, checks, major credit cards and private long-term care insurance. It does not accept Medicaid, Medicare or VA benefits. Its rates run from $26 to $45 per hour depending on visit length, with live-in care at $552 to $600 per day, as listed on the home care pricing page. If your parent has a policy, our earlier post explains how long-term care insurance pays for home care in Georgia.

When does a family need both?

The most common time is right after a hospital stay. Picture a mom in Dunwoody coming home after a hip replacement. Her doctor orders home health: a nurse visits a few times a week and a physical therapist works on her walking. Those are visits, not a full day. The rest of the day is still hers to manage.

That is the gap home care fills. A caregiver can:

• help her get home and settled,
• help with bathing, dressing and the toilet while she is unsteady,
• cook meals and keep the kitchen and bathroom safe and clean,
• remind her to take medicine as prescribed,
• drive her to follow-up appointments and stay with her there,
• stay overnight in the first nights if the family is worried.

The two do not do the same job, so they do not get in each other's way. Loyal Care caregivers follow the non-medical parts of the hospital's discharge instructions, and the home health nurse and therapist handle the medical parts. Read more about hospital to home care in Sandy Springs.

Home care also often keeps going after home health ends. When the therapist signs off, your parent may still need help with a shower or company during the day. The help can shrink as your parent gets stronger, or grow if their needs change.

Questions about whether your parent needs nursing, therapy or another medical service belong with their doctor. A doctor's order is what starts home health.

Questions to ask so you get the right kind of care

Before you call any agency in Sandy Springs, Atlanta, Roswell or Marietta, these questions will tell you quickly which kind of care it gives:

1. Are you a home health agency or a private home care provider? Ask for the license or permit number, and who issued it.
2. Do I need a doctor's order to start? Home health does. Home care does not.
3. Do you bill Medicare? A Medicare-certified home health agency will. A private pay home care agency will not.
4. What will the caregiver actually do on each visit, and for how long?
5. Can you cover nights, weekends or 24 hours?
6. How soon can care start? With Loyal Care, care can start as soon as the day after the free care assessment.

Loyal Care serves Sandy Springs, Atlanta, Marietta, Alpharetta, Roswell, Brookhaven, Dunwoody and Johns Creek, and nearby towns in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, Clayton, Henry, Douglas, Coweta and Cherokee counties. See the full list of home care service areas.

Talk to Loyal Care about help at home

If your parent needs everyday help at home, alone or alongside home health visits, call Loyal Care at (678) 834-8488 or send the form on our contact page. We will set up a free care assessment and talk through what kind of help fits.