Are you looking for alternative funding sources to help your clients pay for care? Then you’re in the right place! Our current article will address funding sources, apart from Private Pay, that your newer Home Care agency can discuss. Opening up your business to new forms of payment (aside from check and credit card payments of Private Pay clients) will allow your agency to serve more residents. This means that more clients will be able to comfortably, and more importantly, age in place!
Medicaid
So, aside from Private Pay clients, who fund their care personally, where else can someone get funds to pay for care? One source, you’ve already heard of, but may not realize that it covers the cost of personal care, is Medicaid. One word of advice here, just because someone has Medicaid doesn’t mean that you can immediately bring them on. In order to take on clients who have Medicaid, you must register with your state’s Medicaid program. The hours for Medicaid clients will also be limited as well.
Long Term Insurance
The next option I’ll cover is Long Term Care Insurance (LTC). Personally, prospects with LTC were always some of my favorites to bring on as clients. Those with LTC are planners, who understand the need to plan for the future and take care of their loved ones. Unlike Medicaid, you generally won’t need to get any special certifications to serve these clients. However, as should be standard practice for all of your clients’ care plans, you must ensure that for LTC clients you are including appropriate Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL)every and every shift. Many LTC policies will not pay out for service if the ADLs and IADLs are not properly documented.
Veterans Affairs
A third option to consider is the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). For Veterans who served on active duty during a time of war, the VA will provide funds to cover personal care services and even pay towards Assisted Living Communities (ALCs). Your prospects and clients can seek help from their local VA office with applying for these benefits.
Community Respite Programs
One other option I would like to cover with you in this article is Community Respite programs. Community Respite programs in your area may have grants available to help pay for respite care, that allow the client’s primary caregiver to have some time off to focus on themselves, while agencies like yours take care of their loved ones. These Community Respite programs are often run by Area Agencies on Aging (AAA’s). Some respite programs will simply provide a lump sum of money set aside to cover care and once they’ve used up those funds they are done. O actually set the number of hours of care that they are willing to pay for. I recommend having your sales and marketing person reach out and find out what programs the AAAs in your area offer.
If you are interested in learning more about services or alternative funding, please reach out to us on our website. You can email us at info@seniorcarebusinessadvisors.com or give me a call at 678-340-3649. My partners and I are looking forward to hearing from you and giving you more time to focus on care!