Dayton Senior AdvisorWhat is the difference between home health and home care in Ohio?
Skilled home health means nurses and therapists visiting under a doctor's plan, usually paid by Medicare; non-medical home care means aides who help with bathing, dressing, meals and companionship, usually paid privately or by PASSPORT, and Ohio licenses both kinds of agency through ODH.
ODH's roster shows 87 skilled home health agencies, 211 non-medical home health agencies and 11 hospice care programs with offices in the six counties. Ohio began licensing home health agencies, skilled and non-medical alike, under a 2021 law, so the license is relatively new and many agencies were first licensed recently.
Does Medicare pay for home care aides?
Only as part of skilled home health: Medicare may include part-time aide visits while a homebound patient is receiving skilled nursing or therapy, but it does not pay for hourly or overnight aides on their own.
That is the most common misunderstanding after a hospital discharge. Families often need both: a skilled agency for therapy and wound care, and a non-medical agency for help with bathing and meals between visits.
What does private duty home care cost in Ohio?
CareScout's 2025 Ohio median for a non-medical caregiver is $34 an hour, and for a private duty nurse at home about $100 an hour; most agencies set minimum visit lengths of three or four hours.
Ask whether aides are employees (with the agency covering taxes and insurance) or contractors, and what happens when an aide is sick. Hiring an aide privately costs less per hour but makes the family the employer.
How do we choose an agency in the Dayton area?
Confirm the ODH license on our rosters, ask how long the agency has served your parent's town, how it screens and supervises aides, how fast it can start, and whether it accepts PASSPORT or long-term care insurance.
For skilled care, ask the hospital or doctor which Medicare-certified agencies serve the ZIP code and how soon each can make the first visit. Complaints about either kind of agency go to ODH's home health hotline, 1-800-669-3534.
When is neither enough?
When someone needs help at unpredictable times around the clock, or cannot be left alone at all, home care becomes very expensive and assisted living or a nursing home is usually safer and cheaper.
Our home care or assisted living comparison shows where the costs cross.
Side by side
| Skilled home health | Non-medical home care | |
|---|---|---|
| Who comes | Nurses and therapists, sometimes aides | Aides and companions |
| Ordered by | A doctor's plan of care | The family or a PASSPORT care manager |
| Paid by | Medicare, usually with no copay | Private funds, PASSPORT or LTC insurance |
| Ohio license | ODH skilled home health agency | ODH non-medical home health agency |
Drawn from Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3721, Ohio Administrative Code Chapters 3701-16 and 5160:1-6, ODH and Ohio Department of Aging publications, Ohio Medicaid letters, CareScout, CMS and the VA; our editorial standards explain how we check them.
