Last week, Business Week published an excellent article titled, “The Elderly: Finding a Good Geriatric Care Manager”.
It’s pretty well known that geriatric care managers assist by “vetting nursing homes and assisted living facilities, overseeing home health aides, providing guidance about applying for federal, state, and other benefits”.
The article also highlighted 5 facts that may not be common knowledge. I know I had not heard these items before.
- Family physicians can recommend geriatric care managers (GCM). Your parent’s physician knows your parent’s specific needs, and that physician is a trusted source for recommendations.
- Be sure to select a GCM who has experience in dealing with issues specific to your parent. If there is a “complicated medical history”, it would be wise to choose a GCM with a strong nursing background. Other backgrounds of GCM include social work/counseling, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and advanced degrees in gerontology. Match the needs of your parent to the skill set of the GCM.
- Make sure there is good chemistry between the GCM and you family. Include your aging parent in the selection process. Realize that the GCM will have the most contact with professional caregivers hired and brought into your parent’s home. The GCM becomes a advocate for your parent, and a partner with your family. There has to be a level of trust established.
- Know up front if the GCM receives any external financial incentives, from nursing homes or other service providers. You want someone who has your parent’s best interests at heart. You do not want someone with his/her own personal agenda.
- Inquire about the range of specific services offered. I never knew (until I read this article) that a GCM, in case of medical emergency, would follow a client to the hospital and handle matters until the family could arrive.
For the 7 million long-distance caregivers out there, a geriatric care manager is certainly an option that is well worth considering BEFORE crisis hits for your aging parent. I know in this tough economy people tend to just spend on the necessities and may look upon a GCM as a luxury. But, consider the knowledge, the resources and the experience a GCM would bring to the care of your parent, and I think you begin to understand the value.
I only wish I had known about GCM before my mother had her major health crisis and hospitalization last year 600 miles away from me. For those who have been through a similar situation, you know the feeling of terror, guilt, and stress. My advice: seek out a GCM before the crisis. An assessment by a GCM could highlight areas of need OR areas in which they could help you and your parent.
(Source: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_33/b4143056857265.htm
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Thank you Dale for this helpful summary of the benefits of Geriatric Care Management. Your advice to seek out a Geriatric Care Manager before a crisis echoes so many comments I have heard.
Education about the benefits of Geriatric Care Management, particularly for long distance caregivers, could make many caregivers lives easier and less stressed.
Thanks for highlighting these lesser-known facts about geriatric care management. I’d like to highlight #4 and point out that certified geriatric care managers who maintain membership in the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers (www.caremanager.org) are held to a set of ethical guidelines and standards of practice that address this issue explicitly.
Within our Standards of Practice (Standard of 11), there is a guideline that “The Care Manager should not participate in practices of fee splitting, accepting or giving referral fees or other similar arrangements with any other party providing services to the client.” Our Pledge of Ethics requires us to “… refer you only to services and organizations I believe to be appropriate and of good quality. I will fully explain to you any business relationship I have with any service I propose, and give you information on alternatives, if at all possible, so that you, or a person designated to act for you, can make an informed decision to accept or reject the services I recommend to you.”
It’s important that when families hire a care manager, they know they are being referred to services and resources based on an objective assessment of their loved one’s needs. Thanks for bringing yet another important subject to light.
Great info Dale! Thank you. I have a couple of aging relatives at a long distance and keep them continually in my prayers. I hadn’t even thought of something like this, but I could see how useful it would be to those of us helping from a long distance. I’ll definitely have to check into it. And thank you, also, to Amy for the valuable comment. That will be a definite help in where to start the process.
Geriatric Care Managers have become increasingly important, especially in this tough economy. People are faced with decisions, sometimes in crisis, when they have no idea what their options are.