When Would You Use a Care Manager?
April 23, 2019 | by the National Care Planning Council
Understanding Eldercare
The need for eldercare, or as it is also called long term care, arises when an individual requires, from someone else, assistance with medical care, daily living activities, comfort, supervision or advice. This need for care, advice or supervision may be caused by an accident, disease process, or frailty. Such events may result in the need for help with the ability to move about, dress, bathe, eat, use a toilet, medicate, or avoid incontinence.
Also care services may be needed to help the disabled person with household cleaning, preparing meals, transportation, shopping, paying bills, visiting the doctor, answering the phone and so on.
Oftentimes, eldercare in the form of supervision or confinement is needed due to cognitive impairment from stroke, mental retardation, depression, dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Disease and so on. Most eldercare in this country is provided at home by family members.
According to some sources, 70% of us will need eldercare sometime during our lives. It is important for all of us to prepare for that day when we will need to help loved ones with care or we will need eldercare for ourselves.
Another source indicates about 40% of all seniors, 65 and older, will spend some time in a nursing home. The National Care Planning Council estimates that at any given time, at least 22% of all seniors, age 65 and older, are receiving some form of eldercare support in the home or in a facility.
Care Managers Help with the Need for Eldercare
Also known as Geriatric Care Specialist, Geriatric Care Manager, Elder Care Manager or Care Manager, this eldercare specialist represents a growing trend to help full time, employed family caregivers provide care for loved ones living close by or needing long-distance care. Care managers are also particularly useful in helping caregivers at home find the right services and cope with their burden.
Below is a partial list of what a care manager might do:
- Assess the level and type of care needed and develop a care plan
- Take steps to start the care plan and keep it functioning
- Make sure care is received in a safe and disability friendly environment
- Resolve family conflicts and other family issues relating to long term care
- Become an advocate for the care recipient and the family caregiver
- Manage care for a loved one for out-of-town families
- Conduct ongoing assessments to monitor and implement changes in care
- Oversee and direct care provided at home
- Coordinate the efforts of key support systems
- Provide personal counseling
- Help with Medicaid qualification and application
- Arrange for services of legal and financial advisors
- Manage a conservatorship for a care recipient
- Provide assistance with placement in assisted living facilities or nursing homes
- Monitor the care of a family member in a nursing home or in assisted living
- Assist with the monitoring of medications
- Find appropriate solutions to avoid a crisis
- Coordinate medical appointments and medical information
- Provide transportation to medical appointments
- Assist families in positive decision making
- Develop long range plans for older loved ones not now needing care
For those who desire to remain in the home the geriatric care specialist can help make that a reality and keep the care recipient away from a premature admittance into a care facility.
But the care manager can also help in the other direction. Oftentimes the family is attempting to keep a loved one at home when that is not the best situation. For many and various reasons care in the home may be impossible. For example consider the family where all family members are employed full time and both mom and dad need intensive care at home. There is also not enough money to pay for caregivers to come into the home. In an attempt to cover the situation, the family trades off taking care of mom and dad in the morning and in the evening and on weekends. But they simply can't attend properly to the needs. A geriatric care specialist may have a better perspective of the situation. In this case an assisted living facility might be a much better choice. If there is not enough money then a Medicaid facility may be the only choice.
Or take the example of an individual who has Alzheimer's and has become difficult to manage. It just may not be possible for a caregiver in the home to deal with it. But yet because of stubbornness or lack of proper judgment the caregiver is trying to cope. Again, a care management specialist can help in this situation and recommend a different care environment.
The Public Generally Overlooks the Value of a Geriatric
Care Care Manager Specialist Care management advice should be something that every family takes advantage of, but in reality very few families use this service. Geriatric care specialists could go a long ways towards helping the family find better and more efficient ways of providing care for a loved one. The concept is simple. The family hires a professional adviser to act as a guide through the maze of long term care services and providers. The specialist has been there many times. The family is experiencing it usually for the first time.
Engaging care management advice should be no different than hiring an attorney to help with legal problems or finding a CPA to help with tax problems. Most people don't attempt to solve legal problems on their own. And the use of professional tax advice is usually a valuable investment. The same is true of using an expert in care management.
Unfortunately specialists providing care management advice find it hard to advertise their services and the public is so poorly informed about their services, that help that could be provided goes lacking.
Geriatric care managers can charge anywhere from $75.00 an hour to $ $200.00 an hour. Or they may charge a flat fee for a care assessment and plan. It is important to check out the background of the care management specialist for the situation you are trying to solve. For example if it is a family dispute, a manager with a background in mediation would be best. If it is a matter of proper medical treatment, a geriatric care specialist with a background of geriatric nursing would be valuable.
The cost of a geriatric care manager is shouldered by the family. Long-term care insurance may also cover the cost of a care assessment up to $250.00 to $300.00. Policy language usually refers to this as care coordination.
Geriatric managers are almost always social workers, counselors, nurses, mental health specialists or other individuals who provide social service type of support and encouragement. These people take a holistic approach to serving their clients. A geriatric service specialist rarely worries about being directly involved in solving the financial or legal needs of his or her client, but instead focuses on personal issues, emotional issues, health issues or family support issues.
On the other hand, a degree in the specialties iterated is not necessary if the candidate has sufficient experience in providing the right type of support. An example of this would be a non-medical or private duty home care provider, who over the years has acquired this expertise. For those motivated to provide care management advice, any individual from a private duty home care company who has adequate experience in doing case assessments and in providing solutions for the family or the person needing care, could qualify as a care manager.
