Through our own offering of elder home care services, we have noticed a significant increase in its use to supplements a senior’s plan of care and general lifestyle. Every year we are coming across new and interesting ways that the elder population is choosing to seek and utilize at home assistance. Whether it is aiding with a hospital discharge, softening the transition between Medicare and no-care, or relying on a registered nurse to provide care management for all of that senior’s needs; the world of senior health care is changing for the better focusing on a versatile mix that provides the best plan of care for that senior.

Often times in setting up these services we deal directly with the children of the elderly, and yes these children just so happen to be Baby Boomers. We have logged a decent amount of research and time interacting with this demographic over the past few years and if there is one thing that we have learned in that time it is that Baby Boomers love the convenience, freedom, and versatility that comes with having a caregiver come into the home. They have witnessed first hand with their parents the ease and convenience of having a caregiver, and they are more than interested in exploring the option of utilizing an in home caregiver when the time comes.

There are of course a few other reasons that getting home care is beneficial to Baby Boomers, be it for them, or their parents:

• Healthcare that is administered at home allows elderly patients to remain in the surroundings that they love: their home. Imagine, after years of working and building up a nest egg you finally have that dream retirement home somewhere in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, or Palm Beach. Being able to actually enjoy everything that you have worked for your whole life is an added benefit that results from using a home caregiver.
• By staying in your home, you are ensuring that you can experience a sense of independence that only home care can provide. Florida is a beautiful place that offers so much for seniors to enjoy. Many of these activities like going to the movies, enjoying a show at the Kravis or the Adrienne Arsht center’s are made that much easier when care is provided privately. Unlike a nursing home or an assisted living facility (which basically limits the freedoms to the confinements of their surroundings) private care can assist in seniors enjoying most of the activities that they were able to participate in before they required an aide.
• When care is provided at home, patients have an opportunity to be surrounded by family. Even if they do not live with their family, they can still be appreciative that their families do not have to be restricted to limited visiting hours that may accompany living in a facility.
• Using home care along with other senior care services, like care management, Medicare, or hospice allows patients to personalize their care and ensure that their care is consistent and that no gaps or hiccups arise in the quality of care that they receive.
• Family members are relieved of the stress that accompanies the burden of caring for a loved one. They can be comfortable knowing that with a quality company (like us here at Horizon Care Services) their parent will receive the best home care possible. Now, this all well and good but be sure to choose a quality senior home care agency. Always do your homework. We happen to be just that kind of agency providing quality senior caregivers from West Palm Beach to Coral Springs to Miami. Why not throw out a shameless plug about our amazing services every once and awhile, we love what we do!
• Finally, home care combines perfectly with other senior care services. With this being the case, seniors should contact a certified Florida Medicare agencies (we’re here to help as well) and learn about all the available senior health care options available.

When the time comes will Baby Boomers’ side with the benefits of homecare versus that of an assisted living facility or a nursing home. We think so.

If you are interested in enjoying the benefits of homecare for yourself in Miami, or anywhere else in South Florida for that matter, or perhaps you are interested in arranging services for a loved one, please reach out to us for with any questions that you may have. After all, we are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

We spend our time searching for stories and topics that will provide great content to our readers. Navigating the world of senior health care, especially in Florida is no easy task. With so many changes and trends that can go on at any moment from Miami to Fort Lauderdale to Boca Raton and Palm Beach, we like to present our followers with stories, tips, and content that help guide them in making an informed decision. Whether we’re pointing out from our years of experience some amazing Medicare agencies, the added protection of using senior care management, or the benefit of dancing for parkinson’s patients, we love what we do and we loving sharing our expertise with you.

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Using Home Senior Care alongside Medicare and Hospice In Miami, Broward, Dade, and Palm Beach County

With a large share of our society aging (%15 over 62) and the adult children of these parents busy with their own lives, at home senior care is needed now more than ever; especially for the sake of helping seniors maintain their independent lives despite their health no longer being the best. The biggest concern regarding home senior care, however, is how to pay for it, and how Medicare and Hospice services can complement or cover home care in Florida.

To get the answer on this, let us first look at each of these services and understand what they offer.

At Home Senior Care

At home senior care is a home health care service that provides an elderly patient who lives alone or with another senior assistance with their daily non-medical and medical needs. Either normally provides a visiting or live-in private duty nurse these non-medical needs, which consist of light housework and companionship.

Medicare:

Medicare’s coverage is limited to only certain an amount of home health care services. To better explain it, Medicare covers health care services for an elderly patient whose poor health keeps them homebound and unable to do personal care needs such as bathing, toileting, dressing, and other personal needs. On the other side of this, if an elderly patient only needs assistance with shopping, cleaning, and doing laundry, Medicare will not provide coverage for this.

Hospice:

Hospice is typically for the terminally ill with less than six months to live. While hospice care is often provided at a center or a nursing home, it can also be provided at the patient’s home.

With hospice care at home, health care services are administered at the patient’s home by a hospice team. This same team helps the patient’s family members, who are likely the ones providing full-time care to the elderly patient.

So with all of this being explained, can at home senior care be used alongside Medicare and Hospice in Florida?

The Answer Is Yes.

Often times there arises a duplication of services between Medicare & Hospice, resulting in a gap of care and service for that elder. Finding a way to fill that gap is where private home nurses or companions can be of assistance.

Utilizing private at home senior care is a perfect complement to the range of services that are offered through Hospice or Medicare. Depending on what stage when a patient is under Hospice care, 24-hour service is not always provided. In such instances unless you or a family member is available around the Miami, Broward, Dade, or Palm Beach areas, private home care would be needed. Who in your family will be available to keep an eye on your elder when hospice is not there and Medicare cannot provide coverage?

With Medicare falling short in instances of hourly services for seniors, what options are you considering for your senior who shouldn’t be left alone, is at risk for falls, or is in need of medication reminders?

Be it Medicare or Hospice, Florida residents often experience a gap in coverage that results in them needing private home health care service. Of course, this must be paid for out of their own pockets, but this does not have to be a problem. We are here to help you. Contact us if you like and we are more than happy to offer free advice to guide you in the right direction.

You may be finding yourself at the point right now (especially if you’re reading this article) where you are unable to attend to and care for a senior. Many factors and conflicts can arise that prevent us from being able to directly care for our aging parents. Whether you are geographically separated from those in need, or your present responsibilities of work and family leaves managing aging parents out of the question, there are options.

Bringing a private duty nurse in to help around can lift a heavy weight off the shoulders of everyone in the family. At home nurses can provide non-medical care that may consist of minor housekeeping, chores, skilled nursing care, and general companionship. We realize that trusting a complete stranger to come into your parent’s home can be difficult. We feel it is necessary to qualify and double check on any agency before enlisting their services. Here is our checklist for determining if a nursing at home care agency is right for you and your elder.

1. Does the agency screen and background check their caregivers?

Be sure that whichever agency you chose, they take the upmost precautions to ensure that the home health aides and nurses that they send into your home have a background clear of criminal convictions. Ask to see if they require level two background check to ensure the quality of caregivers that they are providing. The level 2-background check is a fingerprint based criminal background check that is processed by the FBI. Expect the best for your loved one. Ensure that they are protected.

2. How large is the agency? If your caregiver cannot work that day, is there a large enough support staff to cover their absence?

Working with a larger company (like ourselves) ensures that you will always have a qualified caregiver available at a moments notice. Often times when working with smaller agencies you may find that they do not quite have the depth of manpower to staff all of their cases. Agencies should work hard to match their caregivers with their client’s personalities and case required skills. Having a larger workforce to choose from allows for a greater chance of that match happening resulting in the best total care possible.

3. What are the nursing agency’s methods when recruiting their caregivers?

Does your agency build a lasting relationship with their caregivers? Like any industry, a high turnover rate among employees can be a sign of an overall lack of quality in that agency’s operations. Ask how long on average their caregivers have been working with them. If they have caregivers, nurses, and home health aides that have been with the company for sometime (more than 3 to 4 years) chances are they are doing something right. Be sure to ask,” So how many caregivers do you have on call, how long have they worked for you?” Find out if the agency that you are going to hire actively recruits nurses and caregivers.

4. Are their rates competitive?

How much are you really paying for your private home care? Like any service or product, you must do your homework. Rates on average rest around $15 to $25 an hour and can definitely see a drop depending on what type of extended service or care you decide to go with. Typically, you will find that longer, time intensive services like live in care or 24 Hour home care will allow you a better rate for the same quality of service. You also want to be aware of any fraud that may be playing out. Check that the company you are working with has positive reviews and is well established in the community. Of course, we are always here free advice, so give us a call if you are curious regarding at home nursing rates throughout South Florida.

5. What safeguards are in place?

Great, so now you have settled on a nursing agency, how do you know if they are really keeping up and providing the proper loving care for your elder? Be sure that they are available 24/7. Some agencies say they are, but when it comes time to get a hold of them… Beep! Please leave a message after the tone. Really!?! Something we recommend is to try it out. Try calling that company at 10pm or 1am on the weekend. See who is available and if they are willing and able to help you. Our team is on call 24/7 no matter what. Believe us, here at Horizon Care Services we are ready for 2012. Barring any exploding volcanoes and earthquakes, we will be there for you. Give us a call.

Is there a penalty for nurses not showing up for a client? Be sure there is some sort of penalty for bad behavior. Nothing causes action like digging into someone’s wallet. Our company institutes a “No Show” policy that includes fining any aide that does not show up, up to $50. Some cases warrant that the aide be terminated and reported to the state. What steps is your elder home care agency taking to ensure safety and quality of care for their clients?

These are just a few of our recommendations; we hope they have been helpful. Whatever decision you make, finding loving, reliable, and compassionate care for your elder is paramount to anything else. Look for a company that truly cares about providing excellent home care.

Our Care Managers Make the Difference

We start the hard work with our hiring process, and let me tell you we do our homework on our nurses and aides before we send them into your home. We require a minimum of one-year experience in order to even be considered. Once this criterion is met, we then move on to have all of our caregivers undergo a level 2-background check. Yes, this is mandated by the state, which most agencies abide by, but we take it upon ourselves to go that extra step and enlist an explicit non-felony policy.

The lifeblood of our business is being able to match our caregivers with our clients. We not only rely on our expert ability to match the correct services to the clients needs, but our class leading know how in matching caregiver personalities to clients. This ensures the best relationships are made so services can hit the ground running.

Servicing Bi-Lingual Communities

Yes, we do that to. From our offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, to West Palm Beach, we know the importance of catering to all of our clients needs. We maintain an office staff that is bi-lingual and ready to assist our Spanish speaking elderly community as well.

We understand how important it is to be flexible to the needs of our elders in South Florida, whether it requires us to be mindful of a kosher diet or a language preference in the household, we aim to please. We are as diverse as Florida’s community is and we are here to make a difference. Being able to communicate, ask, and answer questions in your own language is essential to creating an accommodating and relaxing atmosphere for your elder.

Sometimes we have patients that speak other languages, no only Spanish, so we put that extra effort and hustle in to find a caregiver that fits the bill. This is what we do. South Florida is a melting pot of culture, in order for us to stay relevant and helpful to our clients we have to cater to the Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, and even Hebrew speaking communities. We are the most passionate senior home care provider in the southeast. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week we strive to provide top-level home-care and attention. If your interested in more information, please reach out to us any time for In-Home Senior Care or Geriatric Care Management.

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So you think you can dance? Well what about if you have Parkinson’s disease? Maybe we’re inspired by our own Disco Fever, but our very own Michelle Scarpellino recently attended a lecture at Abbey Delray South an amazing senior living facility in Delray Beach, Florida. The lecture was presented by the lovely Beth Ann Krug. Speaking to the group she discussed the benefits of dance for Parkinson’s patients. So exactly how does dancing with the stars help a Parkinson’s patient cope with this debilitating disease? We’re glad you asked. Here’s our top ten benefits that we took away from Parkinson’s patients rocking these therapeutic movements.

I know many of you are striking your best John Travolta right now and so will we this Saturday, February the 4th at the JW Marriot Marquis in Miami. All “Hustle” aside, the Mount Sinai Medical Center Foundation is an amazing force in leading the way to secure health and safety services in Miami Beach. Donations to Mount Sinai help support teaching, research, charity care, and financial responsibility in a variety of specialties including Cardiovascular Services, Oncology Services, Neuroscience Services, Rehabilitation Services, and Geriatric Care/Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders.

If you’re looking for more information on how to get involved, take a moment to visit the Mount Sinai Medical Center Foundation web page. If you happen to be getting your boogey down this Saturday, look out for Andrea Albertini and Michelle Lea who will be in attendance. They have the dance moves and heart to help any cause that is related to Geriatrics in the Miami area. Don’t be shy, stop by and say hello!

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We often deal with children of elderly parents that have a great need and desire to help their parents as they age, and they do this by looking for the highest quality of home health care services available. There seems to be a grey area concerning and understanding what type of services are and are not covered by Medicare. Understanding this grey area helps us to understand why a senior would chose Private Duty Home Care versus Medicare qualified coverage, or in some cases utilize both.

Medicare covers only a limited amount of home health care services and typically does not cover custodial care that could be otherwise covered by a family member or that person himself or herself. Certain criteria must be met to meet Medicare qualifications and receive care that can provide short-term recovery options and skilled nursing care.

Doctor Approval

Initially your parent’s primary care physician must determine that there is a necessity for home health care. Judging from whether or not your elder is able to safely live and operate on his or her own is a clear indicator of whether or not a Doctor will make a plan of home care. If a patient is unable to operate and leave their home in a reasonable manner, Doctor’s will often associate this with a need for in home care. Providing that the skilled care that is needed only requires intermittent skilled nursing provided by a Medicare certified agency.

While I’ll get to what Medicare covered services entail in just a moment, I think it is important to detail what Medicare coverage will not cover in regards to in

home nursing care. Medicare will not cover your parent’s need for home care that is needed on a 24 hour a day or hourly basis. If you are in need of assistance for your parent with services like bathing, toileting and dressing, these are services that will not covered by Medicare. Additionally if you would like someone to assist or aide your Elder day-to-day living activities like shopping, laundry, and cleaning, again Medicare would not be your answer.

For each of the previous instances that are not covered by Medicare you would look to use Private Duty Nursing, which offers and covers these in-home health care services.

If your parent’s needs only require those services that are covered by Medicare, they would be open to receiving a number of different services. Home health aides can still be provided to help out but only on an intermittent part-time basis. These services are only possible if the plan of care requires them due to an injury or illness, not due to the simple need of companionship or assistance. Again, these services will often consist personal care services (not performed by a licensed nurse) like dressing, toileting, and bathing.

Medicare can also cover medical social services, certain medical supplies (wound dressings, etc.) and durable medical equipment along the lines of a wheelchair or walker. Each of these cases requires a Doctor’s referral.

Skilled nursing care can be offered on a part-time basis where services performed by a licensed nurse consist of wound care management, tube feeding, oxygen management, and the administration of IV medication. In instances where skilled nursing may not be necessary, skilled care can be of use where nurses aide in occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, as well as other rehabilitation therapies.

Often times home health aides can be utilized to offer in home care services, but these aides are only available if there is a need due strictly to illness or injury.

Whether your elder is in need of services, be sure to discuss your options with a qualified private home health care company or a qualified Medicare agency. Often you will find that your senior parent has a need for both in order to ensure the highest quality of coverage and assurance in quality of care is taken.

Image by Ed Yourdon via Flickr

Here at Horizon Care Services we have the pleasure of working with some of the best health care professionals in Florida. Over the past seven years of building relationships and spending as much time as we have with Doctors, Hospitals, and Medicare Agencies we have the pleasure of witnessing first hand truly excellent practices grow and serve the community like you wouldn’t believe.

Working together with these agencies has allowed us to provide the highest level of quality service that our clients (all clients for that matter) deserve. Sure, we could just keep our list of top professionals and providers in the health care industry to ourselves, but where is the fun in that?

Let us start by sharing our pick for the top 5 Medicare Agencies in Palm Beach County.

Nurse On Call

Nurse on Call home healthcare is a leading Medicare certified agency that has been providing healthcare services since 1989. Much like our selves Nurse On Call has an exceptional staff that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you are looking to contact Nurse on Call direct be sure to check our there website to learn about their Medicare Certified services. You would be surprised at how often we come across agencies that we have an interest in working with, but as soon as that clock strikes 5:00pm they are no where to be found.

Options Home Health

In the world of Private Duty Home care we often form close bonds with Medicare Agencies to help fulfill the needs of our clients. With over 1300 agencies that are registered with Medicare, given recent events choosing the right provider may not be as easy as it seems. Options Home Health consistently delivers in providing quality Medicare coverage. For a complete listing and breakdown of their services, be sure to check out their services here.

Genitiva

Probably one of the longest running Medicare Agencies that we work with is Gentiva. Over the past four decades, this company has grown to serve, “more than 350,000 patients from more than 475 community locations nationwide.” While we are still working through our first decade, we are comforted in the fact that we can trust our Medicare referrals with an established company like Genitive.

Firstlantic

We excel at providing live-in home care 24 hours a day, companion services, and personal care services that are not covered by Medicare. Often times we deal with clients that have needs that are not as serious or are required on an intermittent basis as part of a care plan. In these cases we find it necessary to reach out to Medicare Agencies in the community that have a longstanding history of quality and compassionate care. Firstlantic is one of our go to providers when we need help in Palm Beach, Martin, and Broward counties.

LifeCare Solutions

If your Medicare needs require physical, occupational, speech therapy, or simply a medical social visit, LifeCare Solutions is dedicated to providing comprehensive care. Their ability to provide quality services and products throughout West Palm Beach makes LifeCare Solutions another one of our favorite Medicare Agencies.