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Selecting a Geriatric Care Manager...
When you don't know where else to turn.

Geriatric Care Managers are a growing field of professionals that can help long distance care givers and families struggling with the needs to aging relatives, the geriatric care manager can be a godsend.  This emerging breed of specialists can assess a senior's physical, social, and financial needs and stitch together a patchwork of services to address them.

A skilled professional geriatric care manager can:

    Assess needs to identify problems and eligibility for assistance
    Screen, arrange, and monitor in-home help or other services
    Review financial, legal, or medical issues for wise care choices 
    Provide telephone support, personal visits and crisis intervention
    Coordinate care
    Act as a liaison to families at a distance, and local professionals
    Assist in establishing parameters to help people determine when it’s time for more services or
    move to or from a retirement complex, care home, or nursing home
    Providing consumer education and advocacy
    Offering counseling and support
    Serve as a single access point to community resources for seniors

Care management services are offered in a variety of settings. Many practitioners offer:

    Short-term or ongoing assistance
    Personalized and compassionate service specifically to meet the client’s wants and needs
    Continuity of care management to reduce miscommunications, time, stress, and costs to client
    On-going monitoring to prevent costly crises and unnecessary hospitalizations
    Accessibility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Geriatric Care Management Services are billed privately on a fee-for-service basis. Currently Medicare or Medicaid does not cover these services. If you have long term care insurance, check with your policy. Hiring a care manager can sometimes be less expensive than moving a loved one into a long-term care setting. 

Selecting a Geriatric Care Manager -

Interview the care manager you have considered hiring and check references, previous experience, and credentials. Ask about membership in professional care manager associations. Good communication with a qualified care manager will help create a positive experience for all involved.

Commission for Case Manager Certification, accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, provides information about becoming certified as a Case Manager.

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DISCLAIMER: Links to other websites or references to products, services or publications do not imply the endorsement or approval of such websites, products, services or publications by Elder Options of Texas. The determination of the need for senior care services and the choice of a facility is an extremely important decision. Please make your own independent investigation.