Tip: Geriatric assessment for Mom and Dad
For adults with elderly parents who are living on their own, the holiday season often means spending extended time together if the parents or children have had to travel to be together. Adult children may pay their annual or semiannual visit, or the parents may come and stay for a few days.
While these reunions are meant to be joyous, there may be times when all does not seem right. Those who see their parents only a few times a year and are worried that the daily tasks of life have become too much for them may want to hire a licensed geriatric care manager to assess the situation.
"We do a comprehensive assessment of everything going on -- medical, financial, legal," says C. Byron Cordes, incoming president of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers. "We look at the biological, psychological and at the social issues that are going on in their lives."
Geriatric care managers are not caregivers. After analyzing the elderly person's mental and physical health and home situation, they offer suggestions to the family. Their recommendations might include hiring a home-health aide to help with daily chores or, if more intensive help is needed, home nursing services. In more dire situations, they might recommend assisted living or nursing home care.
Cordes' organization can be a good resource for families separated by thousands of miles. The organization's website, caremanager.org, has a database of licensed professionals searchable by ZIP code. Keep in mind that care assessments are not covered by Medicare, Medicaid or most private insurance, so the cost will be paid out of pocket. Cordes says care assessment fees typically range from $85 to $200 an hour. "The initial assessment is probably going to be four to six hours," he says.
If the generations are all living locally, many New York organizations offer care assessments. For example, the not-for-profit Partners in Care
(partnersincareny.org), a unit of Visiting Nurse Service of New York, offers assessments and a range of health services in Nassau and parts of Suffolk. Lainie Messina, a vice president at Partners in Care, says if home care is warranted, Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance may pay a limited amount for a limited time. But navigating the insurance maze is never easy, although many health-care companies will do some of the legwork.
"It's always more complicated than people think it is," Messina says. "That's the most frustrating part for us and for the people who contact us."
