Aid & Attendance

This past Memorial Day weekend, we remembered the sacrifices that have been made by our soldiers to keep our country safe. At Reliance Home Health Care, we take these sacrifices seriously and want to do everything we can to ensure that our soldiers are getting the care that they need. 

 

To ensure that we’re doing all that we can we are going to have a certified Post Service Officer at Reliance Home Health Care. This will allow us to provide Aid and Attendance to our veteran patients and their spouses.

What is Aid and Attendance?  (A&A)

• Aid and Attendance (A&A) is an addition to basic pension that offers veterans and their spouses or surviving spouses enhanced paid benefits.  In order to qualify for A&A you must first obtain eligibility for basic VA pension.  However, if you aren’t eligible for basic VA pension because of high income you still might be eligible for A&A benefits, which are based on a higher income limit. 

How do I know if I’m eligible?

If your physician can confirm any of the following:

1.   The assistance of another person is required for daily activities.  This includes:  dressing, feeding, bathing and other bathroom needs, adjusting prosthetic devices, or protection is needed from environmental hazards.

2.   The Veteran or spouse is bedridden due to a prescribed course of convalescence or treatment for a disability or disabilities.

3.   The Veteran or spouse is a patient in a nursing home due to mental or physical incapacity.

4.   The Veteran or spouse has corrected visual acuity of 5/200 or less, in both eyes, or concentric contraction of the visual field to 5 degrees or less.

These DO NOT all have to apply.  All that is needed is adequate medical evidence that you cannot function entirely on your own.

If you, or someone you know, is interested in seeking these benefits, please contact Reliance Home Health Care at (561) 687-7277.

Aging in Place

Greetings, once again, from Reliance Home Health Care!

Today, we’d like to talk a little more about Aging in Place, one of the many new and exciting services that Reliance offers. Though we mentioned it briefly several months ago, the novelty and innovation of the service is such that we thought it necessary to discuss it further.

Why is Aging in Place important?

As people age, their home becomes less comfortable, even less safe. Stairs are difficult to climb without joint pain or fear of falling. Tiled floors and bathtubs can be slippery, and there often is nothing to hold on to. Parts of the home may even become inaccessible to individuals with mobility issues.

It’s for these reasons that many people are forced out of their homes, leaving behind the people, property and memories associated with it. Furthermore, these individuals leave behind the ability to operate, more or less, on their own in a comfortable environment.

Aging in Place allows these people to maintain all of these things while adding the security and safety that their homes lacked before. The program’s changes are unique to each person. Sometimes this means installing bars in the shower to aid in stability. Other times, this might mean remodeling parts of the house so that the entire home is wheelchair accessible.

The Aging in Place specialist is certified and works with the National Association of Home Builders (the NAHB is also associated with NAHB 50+ Housing Council and AARP). This individual will meet with the person in need of the service and will document their medical conditions and disabilities to determine what needs to be done in order for the home to become safe and comfortable once again.

Aging in Place isn’t just for “old” people.

It’s for responsible people who want to ensure their quality of life and live it out in dignity without being a burden to their family or community. Regardless of whether you have retired or not, it’s for you, right now. If you haven’t retired yet, it means you have time to think about your needs, research your options and put together a plan that is good for you and your family. If you have retired, putting the time in to building a plan will help keep you in control of your life. Building a plan will help you deal with issues you will encounter down the road and ease some of the burden your loved ones will experience. Reliance Home Health Care can help. We have a CAPS certified consultant, as well as occupational and physical therapists who work as a team to assist you in creating this plan.

Reliance can also offer many other services, including long term care, in-home nursing and therapy and private duty aides. Just give us a call at (561) 687-7277 and ask us how Reliance Home Health Care can help you.

Reliance and Medicaid

Did you know that Reliance Home Health Care also take Medicaid patients? We do!

Reliance wants to give back to the community by lending a helping hand to those with Medicaid. Most home health care companies don't do this simply because they lose money. While this may be a good business move, caring for living and breathing people is more than just business for us. With the help of the Long-term Care Community Diversion Program of Florida, we are able to keep Medicaid beneficiaries out of nursing homes and in their own homes. Not only does this benefit them, but it also saves the government $4 to $6 thousand every month by taking care of the patients in their homes.

While we believe this is the civic duty of all home health care agencies, we can only hope that all the others will follow in our footsteps. For now, as with many other differentiating characteristics I have already written about in other blogs, we remain the gold standard of home health care agencies in South Florida.


For more information about us, visit us at: Reliance Home Health Care

Veterans

Hi there, everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic Memorial Day. Speaking of which, I'd like to talk to you about how Reliance Home Health Care supports veterans.

Reliance has initiated a relationship with an accredited veterans benefits counselor to help get benefits to post-military individuals that can, in some cases, help with over $2 thousand a month. This can translate to up to over 100 hours of care a month that the federal government will pay for. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (or, as most people call them, the VA) can be cumbersome to deal with when it comes to getting benefits. These benefits, by the way, are available to any veteran honorably discharged or currently serving, so long as they served during a time of conflict. Conflict doesn’t mean a war, necessarily, although you should contact the VA if you have any questions whether you served in a time of conflict or not. Whether they served in the actual conflict doesn’t matter, so long as they served during the time of conflict. This application process is a free service and it is ILLEGAL to charge a fee for this service. Plus, regardless of where you live, we can still help them get those benefits. We don't care if you live in Alaska or Puerto Rico; Reliance is reaching out to all veterans simply to help them obtain the benefits that are already rightly theirs.

Please visit us at: http://reliancehomehealthcare.com/index.html

How Do You Qualify for Home Care?

As you may have surmised from the title of this post, today, I will be talking to you about how you qualify for home care. The source I'm using is from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website, a .pdf file called "Medicare and Home Health Care". I'll be paraphrasing most of this, as it's pretty basic already, but at least you can use this blog as a one-stop-shop for medical news and information.

Here are the requirements:

1. You must be under care of a doctor, and the services you get must be under a plan of care established and reviewed regularly by this doctor.

2. A doctor must certify that you need at least one of:

• Intermittent skilled nursing care
• Physical therapy
• Continued occupational therapy
• speech-language pathology services

3. The home health care agency taking care of you must be Medicare-certified, which, luckily, we are!

4. A doctor must certify that you are homebound, which means:

• Leaving home takes "a considerable and taxing effort," and therefore leaving home isn't recommended because of your condition.
• Your condition doesn't let you leave home without help from another person, a wheelchair or walker or other form of special transportation.

As for exceptions, you can leave for medical treatment or non-medical reasons, like religious services, so long as they are infrequent. Adult day care is allowed, but you still get the home care services in your home.

So long as your doctor doesn't discontinue your certification for services, and so long as the care is needed less than 7 days per week or less than 8 hours a day for 21 days. Some exceptions are made under special circumstances, but they don't detail those here.

Just so you know, Medicare will cover nearly everything, so don't feel afraid of the cost of letting us help. There are only a few things Medicare doesn't cover:

• Medical services or supplies that you agree to pay out of pocket for. Before you agree on this, we (or any other home care agency) would give you a Home Health Advance Beneficiary Notice.
• 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for Medicare-covered medical equipment like oxygen equipment, walkers, and wheelchairs.
• Private duty care(which we offer, Medicare just doesn't pay for it), like:
• 24-hour-a-day care at home
• Care (like bathing, dressing and using the bathroom) given by home health aides when this is the only care you need
• Services not outlined by your plan of care, like housemaking services (shopping, laundry, cleaning) when this is the only care you need
• Meal delivery

That should cover everything! As always, feel free to visit the Reliance Home Health Care of South Florida website if you have anymore questions or want more information about us. Thanks for reading, and have a fantastic day!

Reprint of a NAHC article

From www.NAHC.org


Most Seniors Open to Technology Use in Their Homes
Numbers of Seniors Now Using Wellness Technology Still Low, However
Seniors would be willing to use personal health and wellness technology -- even at a cost of some personal privacy -- if it will help allow them to live in their homes for as long as possible, according to a new study released by AARP. In the study, "Healthy @ Home 2.0," seniors said they would use technology such as a remote monitoring device or medication monitor/planner to remain independent in their homes.
The report is a follow-up to AARP's 2007 study analyzing factors that influence technology use among seniors (persons age 65 and older) and their caregivers that would help them live independently.
The report found that approximately two-thirds of seniors currently use personal computers to communicate with family and friends, while half use their personal computers to search for health information online. Seniors reported that they use their personal computers because it saves time and also helps give their family and friends peace of mind.
Among the study's findings:

• 20 percent of seniors reported that they'd be willing to use an electronic pill box that shares medication compliance information with their health care provider;
• 25 percent said they'd be willing to use a system that lets them send info to their provider and have a video conference;
• 34 percent said they'd be willing to use a system that lets them send their health information to their provider; and
• 54 percent are willing to use a personal emergency response system.

A significant majority of seniors participating in the study, 70 percent, said they would be willing to have their doctors diagnose their conditions using technology that receives their health information from another doctor. Slightly less, 68 percent, said they'd be willing to have their doctors diagnose their conditions using technology that receives their health information directly from their homes, and slightly more, 73 percent, said they'd be willing to have their doctors provide follow-up care while sharing health information received from other doctors remotely monitoring their conditions. And 68 percent said they would be willing to have their doctors provide follow-up care while using telemedicine technology that receives their health information from remote monitoring devices directly in their homes.
Although the number of seniors who indicated willingness to use technology for health and wellness, the actual number of those currently using it remains low, according to the study. Less than one in 10 seniors currently uses a personal emergency response system such as a medical alert, bracelet, or necklace, or the devices that automatically contact first responders. Even fewer are using technologies that enable them to share their health information with their providers. These technologies would include a personal health record (PHR) or telehealth solutions like a remote monitoring device which would allow the patient and doctor to communicate remotely using a video connection or would allow certain clinical data to be collected through a device and shared with the provider remotely.
Comparably, 81 percent of caregivers ages 45 to 75 report that they communicate with family and friends using a personal computer, and 71 percent said they search for health information online. Caregivers reported they believe personal computers are reliable, could save them money, give them peace of mind, and make the person they care for feel safe.
Caregivers attribute some of these same benefits to using personal health and wellness devices, yet 67 percent believe these solutions costs too much to install and maintain. Half of caregivers reported that they do not believe these technologies are available to the person they help; 48 percent said they believe that the technologies would be difficult to learn how to use; and 42 percent said they believe the technologies are an invasion of privacy.
NAHC and its Home Care Technology Association of America (HCTAA) affiliate believe these trends are additional clear indicators that more resources are needed to support education and adoption of health IT in the home. NAHC and HCTAA are calling on members to urge their senators to cosponsor the Fostering Independence Through Technology (FITT) Act (NAHC Report, 3/11/11). The FITT bill would create pilot projects within Medicare that would provide incentives to home health agencies for the adoption and use of remote monitoring and other communication technologies.

Reliance News - Accountable Care Organizations

Reliance is looking to partner with health care organizations to form an Accountable Care Organization (also known as an ACO) to work towards managing patients’ health care and outcomes. Reliance’s outcomes for patients are incredible – better than state and national averages. When providers partner up, they should always look towards those providers that are delivering high quality health care while minimizing costs. Part of our success comes from educating patients, empowering them to work toward independence from health care, and teaching them that dialing 911 doesn't have to be their first route of action in every circumstance. Rather, through this education and our own telehealth technologies (as mentioned in an earlier blog), we make sure that patients don't pay a dime for health care (especially emergency health care) until it is absolutely necessary and appropriate. While this alone can save hundreds of thousands just for our local partners, we can never look to risking health at the cost of saving a few bucks. 

Speaking of telehealth, Reliance is partnering with an electronic monitoring company to carry out many of their programs. We are using telehealth for safe remote care and support, so patients can easily contact us, sometimes by just a single push of a button, and let us know if you think you may need to go to the hospital, or ask us if you need to spend such large amounts of money on those expensive medications if you don't have to. That's why we're called Reliance: you can rely on us to keep you safe and comfortable, but you can also know that you can turn to us with any questions you may have as well.

For questions about ACOs, the NPR website has a great Q&A page.

For anything else, there's always us: Reliance Home Health Care