Occupational Therapy via Medicare Home Health Care

This daughter lives across the country from her parent’s who live in South Florida.  Her mother has Parkinson’s Disease and the associated feelings of anxiety and some depression. Her father has been the primary caregiver and at 85, is getting tired.  They went to a Caregivers Expo to get information about how to plan for the near future as they both realize their status quo is very likely to change due to aging and disease progression.

Coincidentally, the daughter was reaching out for guidance on how to help them manage their situation. Boca Home Care Services was recommended and to our delight and surprise her parents began to move very quickly to build services and a safety net.

 We must congratulate  and continue to guide our aging parents when they take the difficult steps of getting help into the home and take charge of their situation.  Here is the daughter’s wonderful email to her parents.

Hi mom and dad,

 I called Sherry to get info on the changing health care laws and how it impacts home medicare services. As it turns out, I am on a panel next week on the changing healthcare laws. It’s informative for me and helps me understand the changing laws and loop holes in the system.

 Anyhow, I am very proud of both of you for moving ahead on the medicare in- home services. I believe that mom will benefit greatly from having the OT, speech and PT. Mom, I hope and expect these services will allow you to maintain  a better “quality of life”. These therapies should improve your motor functions, help increase your energy level and most importantly, slow down further regression. With respect to health, we all need to think “preventative” and not wait for things to become a problem.

 Anyhow, here is a summary of things, so you better understand what you are getting and what is available down road:

 1. Boca Home Care Sevices has 2 sides: Medicare and Private. You are now set up through the Medicare side to get in home therapies including speech, PT and OT., which are covered by your medicare. Not sure about duration of services or how you extend ability to get services, but that’s something to keep in mind.  (with Doctor’s order, Medicare in home health visits are up to 60 days per certification).

 2. Jessica  is the Medicare coordinator for Boca Home Care on the Medicare side. She will be your contact person for coordinating care, however, you will have your assigned nurses, speech, PT and OT. For any concerns relating to your services, you can deal directly with Jessica.

 3. Sherry is a geriatric social worker. She is on the Private side of Boca Home Care Services, but can stratle both sides if needed. I am glad that you have the paperwork in place to use the private side, in case you need it. That way, if there is an emergency with Dad’s health or a need for more care on mom’s end, you have a plan in place. All you would need to do is call Sherry and just tell her you want an aide here tomorrow, and you are good to go.  (A home visit was already made to assess needs, answer questions and do the paperwork).

 4. Try not to get overwhelmed by paperwork that needs to be signed or follow up that will need to be done by the therapy or nursing staff. I am sure they will need to get all sorts of things signed and clarified like hurricane evacuation plans, home safety measures,etc.. We have had to do this with Jean and it seems never ending, but it’s important. Please make sure to send me info and phone numbers, so I can update your health info. You should probably keep the updated info with you and put it near your home phone so you can get to it easily.

 Congratulations to both of you. You’ve done alot in the past week to put a  good plan in place. We are relieved to know you have a support system in place and hopefully, you are too.

 looking forward to coming out Sept  and Jean is very excited to see you in a couple of weeks.

XOXO

Darcy