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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Massachusetts Home Care Program Overview

Home Care Program Overview

Home Care Program Overview


The Massachusetts Home Care Program provides support services to elders with daily living needs to help maintain independent community living. Services are designed to encourage independence and ensure dignity. The program also supports families caring for elders in order to encourage and relieve ongoing care giving responsibilities. The Home Care Program is administered by the Executive office of Elder Affairs in coordination with Aging Services Access Points (ASAPs), located in communities throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The program provides homemaker, personal care, day care, home delivered meals, transportation, and an array of other community support services to help elders remain in their homes. The ASAP conducts comprehensive needs assessments to determine eligibility for the Home Care Program as well as other programs and services as appropriate. An individualized service plan is developed with the elder and his/her family. On an ongoing basis, the ASAP conducts reassessments and monitors services for quality.
Eligibility for the Home Care Program is based on age (60 years or older or under 60 with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and in need or respite services), financial status, and ability to carry out daily tasks such as bathing, dressing, and meal preparation.

Eligibility for the Home Care Program



Age

60 years or older or under 60 with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and in need of respite services

Codes

Functional Impairment Levels (FIL) - Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) - Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs)

Uniform Intake

Functional Impairment Level (FIL) 1-3, with critical unmet needs

Functional Impairment Levels

FIL 1 4-7 ADL impairments
FIL 2 2-3 ADL impairments
FIL 3 6-10 ADL/IADL impairments
  • Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) include bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, continence, transferring, and mobility
  • Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) include meal preparation, shopping, laundry, managing money, housework, transportation, use of telephone, outdoor mobility, and taking medicine
  • Critical Unmet Needs include ADLs, meal preparation, shopping, medical transportation, and need for home health services or respite care

Financial

MassHealth members are financially eligible. Income guidelines require Annual Gross Income less than $24,838/single and 35,145/couple.

Monthly Co-Payments

  • $9-$130 for individuals with incomes that range from $10,924-$24,837
  • $17-$140 for couples with incomes that range from $14,646-$35,144

Respite Over-Income Scale

  • 50%-100% of cost of services

Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program | OAA, Title VII, Chapter 2, Sections 711/712

Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program

Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program (OAA, Title VII, Chapter 2, Sections 711/712)

The Purpose of the Program and How It Works

Long-Term Care Ombudsmen are advocates for residents of nursing homes, board and care homes, assisted living facilities and similar adult care facilities. They work to resolve problems of individual residents and to bring about changes at the local, state and national levels that will improve residents’ care and quality of life.
Begun in 1972 as a demonstration program, the Ombudsman Program today exists in all states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam, under the authorization of the Older Americans Act. Each state has an Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, headed by a full-time state ombudsman. Thousands of local ombudsman staff and volunteers work in hundreds of communities throughout the country as part of the statewide ombudsman programs, assisting residents and their families and providing a voice for those unable to speak for themselves.
The statewide programs are federally funded under Titles III and VII of the Act and other federal, state and local sources. The AoA-funded National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center External Web Site Policy, operated by the National Consumers’ Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (or, Consumer Voice), in conjunction with the National Association of States Agencies on Aging United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD), provides training and technical assistance to state and local ombudsmen.
 

Data Highlight Extensive Services Provided to Persons Living in Long-Term Care Facilities

Program data for FY 2011 indicate that long-term care ombudsman services to residents were provided by 1,186 full-time equivalent staff and 9065 volunteers, trained and certified to investigate and resolve complaints. These volunteers and paid ombudsmen:
  • Worked to resolve 204,044 complaints, opening 134,775 new cases (a case contains one or more complaints originating from the same person(s)).
  • Resolved or partially resolved 73% of all complaints to the satisfaction of the resident or complainant.
  • Provided 289,668 consultations to individuals
  • Visited 70% of all nursing homes and 33% of all board and care, assisted living and similar homes at least quarterly.
  • Conducted 5,144 training sessions in facilities on such topics as residents’ rights.
  • Provided 114,033 consultations to long-term care facility managers and staff and participated in 20,958 resident council and 3,321 family council meetings.
The five most frequent nursing facility complaints in 2011 were:
  • Improper eviction or inadequate discharge planning;
  • Lack of respect for residents, poor staff attitudes;
  • Medications – administration, organization; and
  • Resident conflict, including roommate to roommate.
The five most frequent board and care and similar facilities complaints were:
  • Quality, quantity, variation and choice of food;
  • Medications – administration, organization;
  • Inadequate or no discharge/eviction notice or planning;
  • Equipment or building hazards; and
  • Lack of respect for residents, poor staff attitudes.
For more information on ombudsman activities and the types of cases/complaints that they investigated, see 2011 National Ombudsman Reporting System (NORS) data.

Resource Update for State Long-Term Care Ombudsmen: Fact Sheet and Guidance for Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 and Opportunities for Coordination Related to Section Q Implementation

On November 3, 2010 Assistant Secretary on Aging Kathy Greenlee and Cindy Mann, Director, Center for Medicaid, CHIP and Survey & Certification released a joint-letter informing State Medicaid Agencies (SMA) and other stakeholders, particularly Money Follows the Person Grantees, about opportunities for collaboration and coordination with State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs for the implementation of the SNF/NF MDS 3.0 assessment tool. The MDS is administered to all individuals in SNF/NFs nationwide that receive Medicaid and/or Medicare funding. In an effort to support individuals living in SNFs/NFs who wish to learn about available home and community based services (HCBS) options and available long-term care (LTC) supports in the community, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has revised the Minimum Data Set (MDS) version 3.0 Section Q. The MDS 3.0 instructs facilities to contact Local Contact Agencies to provide information and options counseling to residents. In addition, AoA and CMS are encouraging States to coordinate with State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs and to consider requesting the use of MFP funds to support the increased demands for Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program services anticipated as a result of MDS 3.0 Section Q implementation. As an additional resource, AoA-funded National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center has developed a Fact Sheet on MDS 3.0 Section Q.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

full control of your telephone impose adjustable restrictions

Available from Amazon
T-lock Outgoing Call Blocker w/ Allow Memory and Cut-off Timer - Wallplate Style by hqtelecom.com
This discrete telephone box hides an electronic circuit that allows you (the owner) to retain full control of your phoneline while imposing these adjustable restrictions:
- Diallow outboung dialing of virtually all long distance telephone numbers (0+, 1+ calls)
- Add a list of allowed numbers including 7 or 10 digit telephone numbers, prefixes or area codes (up to 250 digits combined).
- Activate a call timer that will trigger as soon you the telephone handset is picked up and will cut off all calls (both incoming and outgoing calls) at the time you specific from 1 to 99 minutes
Easy to install, program and use
Works with analog lines and most VOIP lines
4-digit security code bypasses all restrictions
One unit can protect all extensions
Line Powered (no batteries, no external power needed)
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PRO Call Blocker - Ver 2.0 - Incoming & Outgoing Telephone Number Blocker by Cheeta
Block up to 1,200 incoming phone numbers & faxes in Blacklist (16 digit each)
Block up to ten (10) incoming area codes and/or prefixes (up to 10 digits each)
Block up to 100 outgoing phone numbers (with owner's passcode)
Block calls with no caller ID information (shown as unknown, private, out of area, anonymous, etc)
Line powered

Thursday, February 14, 2013

A non tradition clock that shows a period of day

People with memory problems can have trouble telling whether it is day or night, or morning or afternoon, or simply need reassurance about what day it is


 This clock does not show day/date/time however it clearly shows the "time" as the "period" of day.

How to use your Day Clock




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Friday, February 1, 2013

Mary's Corner: Failure to Thrive is a Reality - Concierge Care Advisors

Mary's Corner: Failure to Thrive is a Reality - Concierge Care Advisors: The National Institute of Aging describes failure to thrive (FTT) as a “syndrome of weight loss, decreased appetite and poor nutrition, and inactivity, often accompanied by dehydration, depressive symptoms, impaired immune function, and low cholesterol”.

 Many of these features of FTT are actually defined as features of frailty including weight loss, malnutrition, and inactivity. In geriatric practice, FTT describes a syndrome of global decline that occurs in older adults as a worsening of physical frailty that is frequently compounded by cognitive impairment and/or functional disability. FTT describes a point further along a geriatric functional continuum that is closer to full dependence and death, with “frailty as a mid-point between independence and pre-death”

When FTT sets in, it is time for you to get step in with our professional Senior Advisors to reach good decisions based on the medical, mental and emotional care needs of your loved one. This is no time to guess what you think your loved one needs; you may not get a second chance to set things right. As noted by the clinical description above, symptoms of FTT will result in quick death if not addressed swiftly.