Home Safety Assessment
A comprehensive home safety and fall risk assessment can decrease your risk of falls and make your home a safer place to be.
Our Occupational Therapists are Home Safety Experts, and most of the time, this service is covered by your insurance. During your home safety assessment, our Occupational Therapist will evaluate potential hazards and assesses the living environment to ensure it meets your individual needs. This includes analyzing factors such as accessibility, fall risks, adaptive equipment requirements, and potential benefit of different environmental modifications. These modifications can enhance safety and independence for the occupant, and help create spaces that support successful aging in place.
If you have experienced any of the following, you might benefit from a Home Safety Assessment:
Recent falls: If you have experienced falls, or near falls at home, there are likely ways we can decrease your fall risk through home safety assessment.
Difficulty with daily tasks: If you find that you struggle to complete daily tasks like cooking, cleaning or using your bathroom for toileting and showering, either due to physical limitations or mobility issues, there are likely ways we can improve the accessibility in your home to make these tasks easier.
You have had a significant change in your health or are taking new medications: New diagnoses, hospital stays and other changes in your health can impact your mobility, endurance and safety at home. A home safety assessment may help identify ways to increase ease with mobility, improve accessibility and decrease fall risk.
Changes in your vision: If you are experiencing changes in your vision, like blurred vision, difficulty with glare or seeing double, a home safety assessment can help suggest changes to improve lighting, reduce glare and create better contrast to improve how well you see in your home. You may also benefit from a Functional Vision Assessment, which we can also provide.
Concerns from family or caregivers : When you’ve lived somewhere for a long time, it can be hard to think about making change. If caring family and friends have voiced concern about your safety at home, they may have a different perspective and have concerns that can be effectively addressed through a home safety assessment.
Planing to age in place: If you have the desire to age in place, a home safety assessment is a great first step in making this plan a reality. By being proactive, instead of reactive, you can create a safer environment to reduce your risk of falls, and make changes to improve your accessibility to help you maintain your independence.
Get to Know the HARP PROGRAM
Falls are the leading cause of injury, disability, and death among older adults. In fact, 1 in 3 community-dwelling seniors will fall each year. The rate of injury increases with age, and falls are responsible for more than $50 billion in annual healthcare costs in the U.S. Most of these falls occur in the home, but the good news is that home modifications can significantly reduce fall risk. Healthy Aging Physical Therapy is proud to have providers certified in the Home Hazard Removal Program (HARP) designed to reduce your risks of falls at home.
Why is Home Safety so Important?
Home safety modifications are essential because many falls are caused by preventable environmental hazards. For instance:
60% of falls are multifactorial, including environmental causes.
33% of falls are caused solely by home hazards like poor lighting, loose rugs, or unstable furniture.
40% of falls can be prevented by addressing hazards in the home environment.
By improving home safety, you can reduce your risk of falls and maintain a safer, more independent lifestyle.
What is the HARP Program?
Healthy Aging Physical Therapy is proud to be able to offer the Home Hazard Removal Program (HARP). HARP is an evidence-based approach to reducing fall risk through home modifications. This program has been shown to reduce falls by 40%, helping older adults stay safe at home and live independently for longer. The HARP program involves three key steps:
Initial Home Safety Assessment: An occupational therapist will evaluate your home for safety hazards and assess your functional abilities (e.g., mobility, balance, and ADLS)
Personalized Home Modifications: Based on the assessment, we'll recommend specific changes to reduce fall risk, such as improved lighting, grab bars, or furniture adjustments.
Follow-up Visits: After the initial assessment, we provide 2-3 follow-up sessions to ensure the recommended modifications are implemented correctly and that you're comfortable with the changes, and another visit in 3-6 months to make sure everything is going well.
Insurance Coverage for Home Safety Services
Insurance may cover a home safety assessment if you have functional limitations that increase your risk of falls or make it difficult to move around safely at home. If you meet these medical necessity criteria, your insurance may also cover 2-3 follow-up visits to help implement recommended changes.
If the assessment is for preventative purposes (meaning you do not currently have functional limitations) or if you are actively receiving Medicare A benefits, insurance will not cover the service. In these cases, you have the option to pay privately for the assessment and follow-up visits.
Our rates for Home Safety Assessment are $250 for the Initial Visit and $150 for the follow up visits.