0120-257-022
メールでのご相談
Areas we visit
Saiwai Ward,Nakahara Ward,Kawasaki Ward,Takatsu Ward,Miyamae Ward(Kawasaki City).
Kohoku Ward,Tsurumi Ward,Tsuzuki Ward,Midori Ward(Yokohama City).
Ota Ward(Tokyo)

Home Care FAQ

Question 1; Why home care is becoming popular?
Question 2; Can I visit a hospital and receive hospital care at the same time?
Question 3; What should I do before receiving home care?
Question 4; How much does it cost to have a doctor or a nurse come home?
Question 5; I’m worried because my doctor told me I’m not in a condition to go home.
Question 6; how do you relieve cancer pain?
Question 7; How do you know when the last moment comes?
Question 8; What should I do for the last moment?
Question 9; What kind of procedure will be taken then?

Question 1; Why home care is becoming popular?

Nowadays a lot of people can live long despite of various diseases due to aging society and advanced medical treatment.

On the other hand, a lot of them are hospitalized for a long time, the number of people who pass away in hospital is increasing.

Today, 80% of Japanese people pass away in hospitals.

At the same time, patients who like to spend remaining days with their families at home are increasing too. We will do our best to meet the expectations of people who desire home care.

Growth in medical spending now is one of major poly issues in Japan.

Since home care tend to be lower in cost than hospital care, it is supposed to be promoted by the government.

Question 2; Can I visit a hospital and receive hospital care at the same time?

A lot of patients are receiving anti-cancer drug treatment in hospitals, for example.

Patients and their families would be anxious if they don’t see doctors for 2 to 3 weeks when your health condition is unpredictable.

If you feel uneasy after spending some time at home, you can also visit a hospital and receive home care at the same time.

In some cases, a cancer patient who can walk and eat without any problem, become unable to walk a few weeks later due to sudden change of health condition and decreased strength.

In that case, home care will be the main treatment, and it might be needed almost every day.

So, home care plays an important role to build a good relationship between doctors and patients so that they can communicate with each other any time.

We’d like you to contact us as early as possible to build a trusting relationship between doctors and you.

If you are wondering, please contact us right now.

Question 3; What should I do before receiving home care?

You should choose your home doctor, prepare care insurance, solve concern about medical expense.

Social workers (MSW) of regional medical liaison office of hospitals will listen to your problem.

Contact social workers of the hospital you are visiting or staying in.
Preparing care insurance is also important.

You or your representative can go to care insurance section of municipal offices to ask about care insurance.

If you let us know who your hospital doctor or house call doctor is, the process will be smooth.

After applying for care insurance, you should choose your care manager.

Doctors are managers of treatment, and care managers are managers of care giving.

You should choose a care manager who can contact your doctor, work near your home, and has a good reputation.

Even if you are told to leave the hospital suddenly, you don’t need to worry.

You can find a care manager to arrange for a care bed quickly depending on the situation.

Although it usually takes a month for your care insurance to be approved, if it’s expected to be approved certainly you can start using the care bed before the approval. So, contact your care manager.

Nowadays people who support home care, such as care managers, social workers, visiting nurses and house call doctors often have a meeting in your hospital before you leave it. This is called a pre-discharge conference.

This is the first time all the members gather, so it’s a great chance for you to solve your concerns.

Question 4; How much does it cost to have a doctor or a nurse come home?

All the treatment will be covered by health insurance.

Patients pay 10 to 30 % of medical expense, which is the same as the case of general practice.

In case of 30% of self-pay ratio, you would bear about 15,000 yen plus a payment to an out-of-hospital pharmacy each month.

Including the payment to out-of-house pharmacy, the portion exceeding a certain amount (Out-of-pocket limit) will be reimbursed.

Although it depends on the person, actual medical expenses borne by a patient will be around 80,000 yen in most cases.

The expenses not covered by insurance includes transportation cost for doctors and nurses visiting your home.

If you stay in a hospice, you will have to pay 40,000 yen of medical expense, and 5,000 to 40,000 yen for a personal room (which is not covered by insurance) per day.

Question 5; I’m worried because my doctor told me I’m not in a condition to go home.

As cancer advances, you might have pain, or your respiration might become unstable.

Cancer also might cause ileus, and you may have a tube inserted through the nose into the intestine. In such cases they might assume you are not in a condition to leave the hospital.

In fact, nothing is impossible with home care.

If you want to stay at home with your family, let your doctor know.

You can also contact social workers of a regional medical liaison office, or a medical counseling room.

Ask them to introduce a house call doctor and a care manager, start preparing care insurance quickly, and let’s switch to home care.

Question 6; how do you relieve cancer pain?

Cancer pain can be relieved in many ways.

It can be relieved when you have a sense of security that medical staff can visit your home anytime, for example.

Sometimes normal headache medicine, instead of special medicine, can relieve your pain.

If it doesn’t work, we will use medical narcotics.

These narcotics are properly formulated for medical use, so you don’t need to worry about its safety.

It will never cause addiction or hallucination. It doesn’t disable you either.

For example, medical narcotics are administered to patients after surgeries in hospitals, which allows them to leave hospitals earlier than supposed to be.

Similarly, appropriate use of medical narcotics allows patients suffering cancer pain to live happy lives.

There are many ways to use medical narcotics at home, such as internal medicine, skin patches, suppositories, drips.

For strong pain, we have medical narcotics for emergency which you can use repeatedly, so please don’t worry.

Question 7; How do you know when the last moment comes?

When the patient’s time on earth coming to an end, the following changes occur;

1.The patient sleeps longer than before, and wakes up when spoken to,
2.The patient eats less, and loses weight.
3.The patient sometimes talks about the dreams he/she had.
4.The patient sometimes yells and looks angry.
5.The patient has incontinence.
6.The patient may cough intensely and produces sputum.

In such situations, the patient’s pain will gradually pass away.
As cancer further advances, the following changes occur;

1.The patient hardly moves even when he or she is spoken to.
2.The patient breathes deeply and stops breathing, then breathes deeply again.
3.The patient breathes moving his/her chin up and down. This is called mandibular respiration. Although the patient appears to be suffering, he/she doesn’t feel pain, so his/her family doesn’t need to worry about it.
4.Soon the patient will go into cardiopulmonary arrest.

Cardiac arrest can be confirmed by taking the patient’s pulse. If the patient’s family contact the doctor when the patient stops breathing, the doctor will visit the patient’s home to confirm cardiac arrest.
The patient passes away peacefully at home being watched by his/her family.

You don’t need to panic or call an ambulance. Confirm that the patient stopped breathing and is resting in peace, and contact your house call doctor.

The house call doctor will visit your home, confirm the patient’s death and issue a death certificate.
Then if you contact undertaker’s office, they will clean the patient’s body. Everything is done quietly.

Question 8; What should I do for the last moment?

In hospitals a doctor will be present at the last moment to confirm that the patient has passed away.

Whereas, in case of home care, the patient’s family should confirm arrest of breathing, and call the house call doctor.
The doctor will visit your home and issue a death certificate. Although the patient is not breathing, he/she is resting in peace, and there is no need to worry.

There is no problem for passing away at home, so please don’t worry about it.
You can contact house call doctors 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Although we would like to send the doctor immediately, sometimes it’s not possible due to emergent house calls for other patients.

Even if several hours pass after the death of the patients, there is no problem.

You can spend time with the patient until morning without any legal problem. So please don’t worry.

Question 9; What kind of procedure will be taken then?

If the patient passes away at home, the doctor who received contact will visit the patient’s home and issue a death certificate.

Then visiting nurses and undertakers will visit the patient’s home to clean the body.

Since the patient is resting in peace, so please don’t worry. Everything is done quietly.

メールでのご相談はこちら