Help and Support for You, Covered by Insurance
Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans covers services to support family caregivers. Commercial payers now can add these services.
Imagine.
You finally make it to see your doctor. It should be an annual exam but it's been more years than you want to admit. Caring for your parents means you have limited time for your medical appointments.
It also means your stress has added more pounds to your waistline than you want to count.
An assessment completed by your doctor documents that your caregiving stress is directly related to your high-blood pressure and prediabetes.
As a result, your doctor refers you to a Certified Caregiving Consultant for help and support. Your CCC gets it because she lived it. She's a former family caregiver who completed our specialized training to serve family caregivers.
These sessions with your CCC are covered by your insurance.
During these sessions, you and the CCC complete a Conversational Assessment so you both better understand your stress.
As a result of your Conversational Assessment, you and your CCC create:
1. A care plan for you that includes attending weekly caregiving support groups.
2. A Respite In Place space in your home so you can take time for solitude.
3. A Daily Recovery Plan so you have strategies to help you relax after your long day.
4. A Family Emergency Plan so you have plans in place to manage the next crisis.
Your CCC also connects you to:
1. A home health agency who begins services for your mother, who's recent declines qualify her for help.
2. A palliative care organization that begins services for your parents.
3. A home care company that can begin services for your dad and will begin services for your mom after her home health benefits end.
Sound too good to be true?
Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans now cover Community Health Integration Services, which could look just like what I describe above. Commercial payers also can add these services to their plans.
Even better: These services are provided by auxiliary professionals. Our CCCs are considered auxiliary professionals.
(Each state has varying training and certification requirements and I'm working to align our program with state requirements.)
These care plan programs are already delivered by CCCs to their clients and taught in our CCC training program. I developed the Conversational Assessments, Respite In Place Plans, Daily Recovery Plans and Family Emergency Plans based my research of what can help family caregivers.
I've been tracking this new Medicare benefit since its initial announcement last summer. I've attended workshops and conferences to better understand the benefit. It's really, really exciting.
I'll continue to post updates. I'm attending another conference in two weeks in New Orleans to learn more about partnering with physicians to offer these services.
What would change for you if your doctor determined your caregiving stress was your health risk and you received help and support covered by insurance?
(Now's the time to enroll in our CCC training program!! Our Scholar Sale, during which You Pay What You Want, ends April 5.)