Home Care Glossary: 60 Terms Families Should Know

This glossary defines 60 common terms families encounter when arranging care for an aging parent in California, grouped into care types, daily care, paying for care, legal and medical documents, and California-specific programs. Bookmark it for quick reference when talking to doctors, agencies, insurers and county programs.

The senior care world is full of acronyms and jargon. Understanding the language makes it easier to ask the right questions and make informed decisions. This home care terms glossary explains senior care terms in plain English so families can navigate conversations with doctors, agencies, and insurers.

Types of care and settings

1. Adult day care: Daytime supervision, activities and meals in a community setting.
2. Adult day health care (ADHC): Adult day care that adds nursing and therapy services.
3. Aging in place: Living safely in your own home as you grow older.
4. Assisted living: A residential community offering housing, meals and help with daily activities.
5. Board and care home: A small licensed residential home, often for six or fewer residents, providing 24-hour care.
6. CCRC (continuing care retirement community): A campus offering independent living through skilled nursing under a long-term contract.
7. Companion care: Non-hands-on help with companionship, meals, errands and supervision.
8. Home care (non-medical): Help at home with daily activities, provided by caregivers.
9. Home health care: Skilled medical care at home, such as nursing and therapy, usually ordered by a doctor.
10. Hospice: Comfort-focused care for people with a terminal illness, often at home.
11. Live-in care: One caregiver lives in the home, with required sleep and breaks.
12. Memory care: Specialized care for people with dementia, often in secured settings.
13. Palliative care: Symptom relief and comfort care at any stage of serious illness.
14. Respite care: Short-term care that gives family caregivers a break.
15. Skilled nursing facility (SNF): A facility providing 24-hour nursing care and rehab.
16. 24-hour care: Round-the-clock care, usually with rotating caregivers who stay awake.

Daily care terms

1. Activities of daily living (ADLs): Basic self-care tasks: bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, continence and transferring.
2. Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs): Tasks like cooking, shopping, managing money and medications.
3. Awake overnight care: An overnight caregiver who stays awake to help as needed.
4. Care plan: A written plan of a person’s needs, routines and care tasks.
5. Fall risk: A person’s likelihood of falling, based on health and environment.
6. Incontinence: Loss of bladder or bowel control.
7. Personal care: Hands-on help with ADLs.
8. Pressure injury (bed sore): Skin damage from prolonged pressure.
9. Redirection: A dementia care technique that guides attention away from distress.
10. Sundowning: Increased confusion or agitation late in the day in people with dementia.
11. Transfer: Moving a person between bed, chair, toilet or wheelchair.
12. Standby assistance: A caregiver stays close to help if needed.

Paying for care

1. Aid and Attendance: An increased VA pension for veterans and surviving spouses who need help with daily activities.
2. Elimination period: The waiting period before long-term care insurance benefits begin.
3. Long-term care insurance: Insurance that pays for care when benefit triggers are met.
4. Medicare: Federal health insurance for people 65+ and some younger people with disabilities; doesn’t cover ongoing non-medical home care.
5. Medicare Advantage: Private plans that provide Medicare benefits and sometimes extras.
6. Medi-Cal: California’s Medicaid program.
7. Private pay: Paying for care with personal funds.
8. Reverse mortgage: A loan against home equity for homeowners 62+, repaid when the home is sold or vacated.
9. Share of cost: A monthly amount some Medi-Cal members pay before coverage applies.
10. Durable medical equipment (DME): Equipment such as walkers and hospital beds, sometimes covered by Medicare.

Legal and medical documents

1. Advance health care directive: A legal document naming a healthcare agent and stating care wishes.
2. Conservatorship: A court-appointed arrangement to manage a person’s care or finances.
3. Durable power of attorney (financial): Authorizes someone to handle finances if the person can’t.
4. Healthcare agent: The person named to make medical decisions.
5. HIPAA authorization: Permission for providers to share health information with named people.
6. POLST: Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, a medical order for seriously ill people.
7. DNR (do not resuscitate): An order not to perform CPR.
8. Plan of care: A clinician’s written care plan, often required for insurance claims.

California-specific terms

1. HCO (Home Care Organization): A California license required for agencies providing non-medical home care.
2. Home Care Aide (HCA): A caregiver registered with the California Department of Social Services.
3. Home Care Aide Registry: The state database of registered home care aides.
4. Home Care Services Bureau (HCSB): The CDSS division that licenses home care organizations.
5. CDSS: California Department of Social Services.
6. IHSS (In-Home Supportive Services): A Medi-Cal program that pays caregivers for eligible people at home.
7. HCBA Waiver: A Medi-Cal waiver providing home-based services for people at nursing-facility level of care.
8. ALW (Assisted Living Waiver): A Medi-Cal program that pays for care in participating assisted living homes.
9. CalAIM Community Supports: Optional non-medical services offered by Medi-Cal managed care plans.
10. RCFE (Residential Care Facility for the Elderly): California’s license for assisted living and board and care homes.
11. Paid Family Leave (PFL): California program providing partial pay to care for a seriously ill family member.
12. CFRA: California Family Rights Act, providing job-protected family leave.
13. HICAP: California’s free Medicare counseling program.
14. APS (Adult Protective Services): County agencies that investigate abuse and neglect of older and dependent adults.

Where can you learn more?

For deeper explanations, see IHSS in California, companion care services.

How do you use this glossary when talking with providers?

Home care conversations are full of terms and acronyms. Using this glossary can help families ask better questions and understand the answers.

• Bring the terms that confuse you. Ask providers to explain them in plain language.
• Ask for written definitions. Many agencies and programs have guides that define their terms.
• Confirm meanings. Terms like respite or live-in can mean different things to different providers.
• Take notes. Write down explanations so you can refer to them later.

Understanding terms helps families make informed decisions.

How do terms differ between programs?

The same term can mean different things in different programs. For example, hours of care may be defined differently by IHSS, Medicare, and private agencies.

When comparing options, ask how each program defines key terms. A home care terms glossary helps, but confirming definitions with each provider prevents misunderstandings.

Where can families get help understanding care options?

Area Agencies on Aging, hospital social workers, care managers, and licensed home care agencies can help families understand care options and terminology.

Do not hesitate to ask questions until you understand.

Which terms cause the most confusion for families?

A few terms trip up families more than others. Home care and home health sound alike but mean different things: home care is non-medical help with daily living, while home health is skilled medical care ordered by a doctor. Live-in care and 24-hour care also differ, since live-in care uses one caregiver with sleep and meal breaks, while 24-hour care uses rotating caregivers who stay awake.

Respite, custodial care, and skilled care are other common sources of confusion, especially when insurance is involved. Medicare generally covers skilled care for a limited time, not ongoing custodial care. When a provider uses one of these terms, ask them to explain exactly what is included and what is not.

Clarifying terms early can prevent surprises in coverage and billing later.

More home care terms families hear during the first month of care

Once care starts, a new set of words shows up in care plans, invoices and conversations with doctors. This part of our home care terms glossary covers the ones families ask about most often after the first few visits.

• Care manager: the agency staff member who builds the care plan, matches the caregiver, checks in with the family and updates the plan as needs change.
• Care log or visit notes: a written record of what happened during each visit, such as meals eaten, tasks completed and anything the caregiver noticed.
• Shift: a scheduled block of caregiver time, such as a 4-hour morning shift or a 12-hour overnight shift.
• Visit minimum: the shortest shift an agency will schedule, often 3 or 4 hours.
• Overtime hours: in California, hours a personal attendant works beyond 9 in a day or 45 in a week, which are billed at a higher rate.
• Backup caregiver: a trained caregiver who covers when the regular caregiver is sick or on vacation.
• Meet-and-greet: a short introduction between the client, family and new caregiver before or at the start of care.
• Standby assistance: staying close enough to steady someone during walking, transfers or bathing without doing the task for them.
• Contact guard assist: keeping a hand on the person during a task, such as walking, to prevent a fall.
• Gait belt: a sturdy belt worn around the waist that gives a caregiver a safe place to hold during transfers and walking.
• Incontinence care: help with toileting, changing briefs and keeping skin clean and dry.
• Redirection: a technique used in dementia care to gently shift attention away from a distressing thought or activity.
• Sundowning: late-afternoon or evening confusion and agitation that often affects people with dementia.
• Respite care: short-term care that gives a family caregiver a break, from a few hours to several weeks.
• Reassessment: a review of the care plan after a change in health, a hospital stay or on a regular schedule.
• Rate sheet: the written list of an agency’s hourly, overtime, holiday and live-in or 24-hour rates.

Home care terms on invoices and insurance claims

If your family uses long-term care insurance or VA benefits, a few more terms will show up on paperwork:

• Daily benefit: the most a long-term care policy will pay per day of care.
• Elimination period: the waiting period, often 30 to 90 days, before a long-term care policy starts paying.
• Benefit trigger: the condition a policy requires before paying, usually needing help with two or more activities of daily living or a cognitive impairment.
• Plan of care: the written plan many insurers require from a licensed agency.
• Itemized invoice: a bill that lists dates, hours and services, which insurers use to approve reimbursement.
• Assignment of benefits: an arrangement where the insurer pays the agency directly instead of reimbursing the family.

Understanding these home care terms makes it easier to ask the right questions, read your care plan with confidence and get the most from your parent’s benefits. If any word in your paperwork is unclear, Nona’s care managers in San Diego and Orange County are happy to explain it.

How to keep this home care terms glossary handy

Families often find it useful to print this glossary or save it on a phone before care begins. Bring it to the first assessment, a hospital discharge meeting or a call with an insurance company, and circle any term you hear that you want explained. Sharing it with siblings also helps everyone in the family use the same words, which cuts down on confusion when you’re making decisions together about a parent’s care in San Diego, Orange County or anywhere in California.

Frequently asked questions

What does ADL mean in home care? Activities of daily living: bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, continence and transferring.

What’s the difference between home care and home health care? Home care is non-medical help with daily activities; home health care is skilled medical care ordered by a doctor.

What is an HCO in California? A Home Care Organization license required for agencies providing non-medical home care.

What is respite care? Short-term care that gives family caregivers a break.

What is a POLST? A medical order stating a seriously ill person’s treatment wishes, followed by emergency responders.

Home care terms glossary: key takeaways

A home care terms glossary is a handy reference when arranging care for an aging parent in California. Senior care terms explained here cover care types, daily care, payment options, legal documents, and California programs. What does ADL mean? Activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, and toileting, which drive many care and insurance decisions.

Bookmark this home care glossary and use it when reviewing care plans, insurance policies, or county notices. Understanding the home care vs. home health definition alone can save time and confusion. Knowing elder care terminology helps you ask better questions and compare options clearly. See home care vs. home health care and what is home care.