Aides and nurses at home, supervised by a nurse and a physician
Certified home health aides and private-duty nurses for older adults in Northern New Jersey. A nurse visits every two weeks, a registered nurse writes the care plan, and our physician Medical Director reviews it.
Accredited and registered
Nexstep is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) for skilled nursing and certified home health aides, and registered in New Jersey as a Health Care Service Firm (HP0390200). Insured and bonded. Why this matters
Home health aides
Certified home health aides help with the parts of the day that have gotten hard: bathing, dressing, the bathroom, meals, getting around the house without falling, and company.
Shifts start at four hours, and live-in care is available. Every aide works from a written care plan. That matters on the day a second aide covers a shift, because the plan tells them what the first aide knew.
Who comes to the house
Every aide is a Certified Home Health Aide, certified by the New Jersey Board of Nursing, and CPR trained. Before anyone works with a Nexstep client, we run a criminal background check, check their driving record, and call their references. Nexstep is insured and bonded.
Private-duty nursing
Some needs go past what an aide is trained to do. Our nurses handle:
- Medication management
- Insulin and other injections
- Blood sugar checks
- Wound care
- Catheter and ostomy care
- Feeding tube care
- Care after surgery, and monitoring in the weeks after a hospital stay, when small changes are easy to miss
- Support alongside hospice
Nursing and aide care can be combined, with the same nurse overseeing both. When a doctor’s visit at home is needed, our physician also makes house calls.
What happens after you call
- A nurse assessment at homeA nurse visits the home, meets the person who will receive care, goes through medications and health history, and talks with them and their family about what the day looks like now.
- A written care plan from a registered nurseIt’s the plan the aide or nurse follows, and our Medical Director reviews it.
- A nurse visit every two weeksThe nurse checks on the person receiving care and on the aide, and updates the plan when something has changed.
- You hear from usWhen health needs change, you and your family get a call with what we saw and what we’re doing about it.
A lot of what sends older adults back to the hospital shows up at home first: eating less, a new unsteadiness, confusion after a medication change. The two-week nurse visit is how those get caught early.
What Medicare covers at home, and what it doesn't
Medicare’s home health benefit pays for part-time or intermittent skilled care, such as nursing or therapy, for people who are homebound. It covers an aide only while that skilled care is also happening, and usually for short visits.
It doesn’t pay for 24-hour care at home, or for help with bathing, dressing and meals when that’s the only care someone needs. That’s most of what families are looking for when someone needs help every day, and it’s what private-duty care is for.
Some families use both: a Medicare home health agency for a short period of skilled care after a hospital stay, and private-duty aides for the hours in between. Our nurses can help you sort out which is which.
Paying for care
Nursing and aide care are private pay. If there’s a long-term care insurance policy, we file the claim and handle the recertifications that keep it paying.
After the assessment you’ll get a written care plan and our recommendations before care starts.
“Their aides are professional, kind, and matched perfectly to my dad’s needs.”
Andrew B., Glen Rock, NJ
Talk with our clinical staff about what you or your family member needs
Calls are answered by our clinical staff. We’ll walk through it with you and set up the home assessment if it’s a fit.