Department of Labor · Home health · Nevada

Department of Labor home health in Nevada

The Department of Labor runs more than one programme that can put skilled care in your home, and they do not work the same way. Which one you are in decides who accepts the claim, who authorizes the care, and who pays for it — and in one of them the payer is not the Department of Labor at all. People searching for “DOL home health” are usually in one of three, and do not yet know which.

Which one is yours

Three programmes, three different sets of rules.

All three sit under the Department of Labor. All three can put skilled nursing and home health aide care in a home. They cover different people, they are entered through different offices and different forms, and in one of them the Department of Labor is not the payer at all. Mixing them up is where families lose months.

EEOICPA — the White Card
For people who worked at Department of Energy sites, including the Nevada Test Site and the Tonopah Test Range, and got sick from that work. The claim is filed with the Department of Labor’s Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation, DEEOIC. DOL accepts the claim, DOL authorizes the care, and DOL pays the provider through its bill processor. The medical benefit is the card most families call the White Card. There is no insurance company anywhere in it.
OWCP / FECA
For federal and postal employees with an accepted on-the-job injury or illness. The claim goes through the employing agency to the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act. OWCP accepts the claim, OWCP authorizes the care, and OWCP pays the provider. Different forms, different claim numbers and a different authorization route from EEOICPA — an accepted EEOICPA claim is not a FECA claim and does not become one.
Longshore and Defense Base Act
This one does not work like the other two. The Defense Base Act extends the Longshore Act to people working overseas on US government contracts. The Department of Labor’s Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation administers the Act and decides disputes — but the employer’s insurance carrier is responsible for the medical care. The carrier authorizes it in writing, and the carrier pays the provider, not DOL.
What is actually the same
Only the sequence. In every one of them a condition has to be accepted, then a treating physician has to document that the care is medically necessary for that accepted condition, and then it has to be authorized in writing before a home health agency starts. Who accepts, who authorizes and who pays is different in each, and a claim under one programme gives you nothing under another.

The EEOICPA White Card → OWCP and FECA for federal and postal workers → The Defense Base Act, where the carrier pays →

The order things happen in

Acceptance, then documentation, then authorization, then care.

No home health agency can shorten that sequence and none should tell you it can. What an agency can do is the part that most often stalls: getting the right clinical documentation in front of the right physician, and getting the authorization request to the right place in the right form.

“The right place” is a different office in each programme. An EEOICPA authorization goes to DEEOIC. A FECA authorization goes to OWCP. A Defense Base Act authorization goes to the employer’s insurance carrier, and Alara staffs those cases only on written carrier authorization. Sending the same packet to the wrong one of those is how a family loses a month.

That is the work Alara does before a single visit happens. It is also why a first call is a set of questions rather than a start date.

The Department of Labor decides every claim. Alara assesses the patient, coordinates the physician documentation and the home-health authorization, and provides the authorized care. It does not file claims and nothing here is a determination of eligibility.

Where we go

Clark County and Nye County, Nevada.

Alara is a nurse-owned home health agency licensed in Nevada. It provides care across the Las Vegas valley and out into Nye County, including Pahrump. It does not provide care outside Nevada.

If you are calling from another state about someone who lives here, that is ordinary. The patient’s address is what decides service; yours does not. You can answer the first questions on their behalf.

White Card home health in Las Vegas → Pahrump and Nye County →

Common questions

What people ask first.

Does the Department of Labor pay for home health care in Nevada?

It can, through more than one programme. Under EEOICPA an accepted claim opens a medical benefit for the accepted condition, and skilled nursing and home health aide care are among the services that benefit authorizes. Under OWCP/FECA an accepted federal work injury or illness can have home health authorized in the same way. In both cases a doctor must document medical necessity and the Department of Labor must authorize the care before it starts.

How do I know which Department of Labor programme I am in?

It follows who you were working for and where. Work at a Department of Energy site — in Nevada that is the Nevada Test Site, now the Nevada National Security Site, or the Tonopah Test Range — is EEOICPA, and the medical benefit is the White Card. An injury or illness as a federal or postal employee is FECA, handled by OWCP. Work overseas on a US government contract is the Defense Base Act, where the employer’s insurance carrier carries the medical responsibility rather than DOL. They are separate programmes with separate claims. Being accepted under one does not enrol you in another and does not put you into another one’s process. The claim number and the office or carrier that wrote to you will say which one you are in.

What does the care cost, and who actually pays it?

In every case the authorized care is billed to the payer, not to you. Who that payer is differs by programme: under EEOICPA and under FECA the Department of Labor pays the provider directly, with no premiums, copays or deductibles for the patient. Under the Defense Base Act the payer is the employer’s insurance carrier, which authorizes the care in writing and pays the provider. Alara bills whichever of those is responsible and does not bill the family for authorized care.

Is Alara part of the Department of Labor?

No. Alara is a private, nurse-owned home health agency licensed by the State of Nevada. It is not a government agency, not the Department of Labor, and not Medicare. It does not file claims and takes no percentage of a claim. Claim-filing help is available at no charge from a Department of Labor Resource Center.

I have a White Card. Does that cover a different injury under another programme?

No. The White Card is tied to the conditions DEEOIC accepted under EEOICPA, and it pays for care connected to those conditions. It is not a general federal health card, it does not reach an injury covered by FECA or by the Defense Base Act, and a claim under one of those does not extend the White Card. Each programme decides its own accepted conditions and authorizes its own care.

I am not in Nevada. The patient is. Can you still help?

Yes. Care is provided at the patient’s address in Clark or Nye County, Nevada. The family member or representative arranging it can be in any state.

Start here

A nurse reads it, not a form.

A case review takes a few minutes and needs no records, no claim number and no appointment. Nothing here is a determination of eligibility.

Start a case review See if you qualify

Or call (702) 814-9630.

White Card home health in Las Vegas → OWCP and FECA → Start a case review →