Summary
Cooperative Home Care is committed to ensuring our communities understand the different types of home care, how they work together and how to qualify.
The end of summer is also a new beginning as kids return to school and households return to more structured routines. Spending less time with your aging parent as you become busier can reveal needs you didn’t notice before. What then?
Cooperative is sharing three home care help options, and how to start each option:
Option 1: Private Services
Private Services are funded through self-pay and/or long-term care insurance. They can fill the gap when your aging loved one shows signs of needing help at home. If you’ve noticed a messy home, forgetfulness, and/or disorganized medications, our caregivers can help. Cooperative offers shorter shifts than other home care companies, so you are not paying for more than you need.
Try our Mini-Visit (Cost = $100 per 2-hour visit). Caregivers can prep simple meals, complete laundry and light housekeeping tasks; Mini-Visits can also provide assistance to get up, shower, dress, and prep breakfast and lunch.
Our caregivers can help with errands, safety and companionship through a three-hour weekly visit (Cost = $120 per 3-hour visit).
The longer your shift, the lower your hourly cost. An 8-hour shift (Cost = $264 per 8-hour shift) provides safety and supervision while you are working; or respite for a full-time spouse caregiver.
To organize medications, try a weekly nursing visit to pack medications in a medi-planner, and complete an overall wellness check (Cost = $150/visit). Our nurse can proactively identify risks, and assess your aging loved one for Medicare-funded services.
Introducing help at home through small, more affordable interventions has many benefits. It can feel more acceptable to both your loved one and you when outside help begins in small steps. If your aging loved one’s health gradually or suddenly declines, you’ll be more prepared to increase the amount of help they receive at home, either temporarily until they improve, or permanently.
How to begin Private Services? Call 314-772-8585 and ask our Intake Nurse to schedule your free assessment for Private Services. There is no obligation; you receive and complete paperwork electronically; the assessment takes less than an hour; you are empowered to begin services when you want.
Option 2: Medicare’s GUIDE Program
Traditional Medicare recipients (not Managed Medicare, such as UHC or Aetna) may qualify for Medicare’s GUIDE program for older adults with dementia. The GUIDE program pays for 75 hours of home care per year, in 4-hour increments.
How to enroll in the GUIDE Program? Call 314-772-8585 and ask our Intake Nurse to initially qualify you for the GUIDE Program. (This step is particularly helpful if you are unsure if you have traditional or managed Medicare.) If you are initially qualified, the next step is a specific GUIDE assessment. If you qualify, services begin in 8 to 30 days; you design your schedule. You can also combine Private Services and GUIDE services.
Option 3: Home Health
Cooperative Home Care also provides home health care, which is funded by both traditional Medicare and Managed Medicare. If you qualify for home health care, our nurse and therapists help you at home as prescribed by your doctor.
How to begin home health care? Your doctor can prescribe home health care as long as they have seen you at an appointment within the last 90 days; if not you will need to schedule an appointment to ask about home health.
Regardless of your first step, our experienced Intake Nurse gets you to the next step. Call 314-772-8585 today. We are pleased to help you!
