Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

If you Are A Start-Up Geriatric Care Management Agency – Do You Have Business Skills?

You chose to Start A Business

You need clinical skills to start and run an aging life or geriatric care management agency but you must have business skills as well- It IS A Business.

 

Geriatric care managers need to understand revenue- how they make money to be financially to make a profit. Revenue does come from billing – but poor billing is very unprofitable billing. Money-losing billing is anything less than 85% of your client’s time. When you bill less than 85% you actually start losing money. Revenue is the high tide of money and is calculated by the number of clients you serve, new clients per month, number of clients canceling service. % of the time billed (the goal is 85%) and what you charge for travel time.

Competition Survey Mandatory To Start A Business

You need to know how to do a competition survey to measure whether you have too much competition and what your competitors offer so you can offer more and be chosen. You should also identify and survey other direct GCM competitors like the non-profit area agency on aging which may have a GCM arm or for-profits like accountants or elder law attorneys who include geriatric care management in their service mix.

Do You Understand Branding?

You need to know branding. Aging life or geriatric care manager must use different branding and a  marketing approach that messages hyper-attention to seamless care to attract these top 10% concierge clients who can afford your services long term.

Do You Have a Marketing Strategy?

Marketing Strategy Business concept. The meeting at the white office table

Marketing your existing or new Aging Life or GCM business is vital to growth, but where you spend your marketing dollars? What marketing tactics make the most sense for you? Where will you reach your concierge client base best?

This is where your marketing strategy comes into play. Before the business can start generating large revenue, a concierge marketing strategy and sales techniques must be in place.

Your marketing message must be communicated to the concierge customer. You need to how to write a business plan, use social media to attract customers, how to do 1-1 marketing to third parties-

FREE Webinar

LEARN HOW TO MARKET LIKE YOUR BUSINESS DEPENDED ON IT 

January 23 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm PST

The busiest season for care managers is January & February after as adult children have just visited for the holiday and seeing their elderly parents skating on very thin aging ice

Learn care management marketing so you can:

Capture those desperate clients in January after the festive fright-

Develop strategic marketing that brings more customers,

Understand branding         

Develop a positioning strategy so the caller chooses you

Understand lead generation in care management

Get the best marketing software  

Create a 5 Star Marketing Plan for the top 10% of seniors who can afford you.

Click Here To Register 

FIND OUT MORE 

THIS FREE  WEBINAR  FROM 2 PM – 3 PM PST January 23, 2020

SIGN UP NOW  

 

Be Wonder Woman- A Geriatric Care Manager- After The Holidays

wonder.woman.05.jpg

Make a New Years resolution to be Wonder Woman

for long-distance families in 2020.  If you are a geriatric care manager or Aging Life Care Manager, use this in your marketing copy.

Some of the things a geriatric care manager can do for you are:

1. Save you money by helping keep your parent out of the hospital and you off emergency long-distance flights.

2.Facilitate a family discussion of needs, resources, and division of labor among friends family

3. Recommend ways to proactively prepare and plan for a parent’s possible health care crisis.

4. Work on family cooperation to formulate a realistic parent-care plan.

5.Assess the strengths and weaknesses of all of the potential caregivers

6. Help adult siblings resolve conflicts about care decisions.

7. Help siblings act together in the best interest of the parent

8.Decrease the tension between hometown and long distance siblings

9. Help the long-distance care provider deal with guilt and frustration that may result from their inability to provide more of the day-to-day care.

10.Locate aging resources ( both no -cost through the older Americans Act) in your aging parent’s area quickly and without you having to do it

Offer long-distance caregivers a complimentary consultation. 

Tell them it’s a preventative and prudent idea to have a geriatric care manager in the town where your older relative resides. If there is a crisis, it is cheaper to have them solve it. In an urgent situation, the GCM can go to the hospital or emergency room. Explain this is saner and more cost-effective than you getting on last-minute, expensive flights. They can still fly in but the ALCA or geriatric Care manager can immediately be there to deal with the crisis. You are good insurance.

Before any crisis, you do an initial assessment and visit your older relative periodically (once a month, once every two months).This is preventative. That way you are there for the long-distance care providers when they need you as have all the information to solve the problem. Tell them to Think of you as one of those blow-up beds. You can pump them up  in a crisis—perhaps avoid that crisis, and the long-distance adult child can sleep more soundly and with more peace of mind in your own bed.

Want to Know More About Marketing Geriatric Care Management?

FREE Webinar

LEARN HOW TO MARKET LIKE YOUR BUSINESS DEPENDED ON IT 

January 23 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm PST

The busiest season for care managers is January & February after as adult children have just visited for the holiday and seeing their elderly parents skating on very thin aging ice

Learn care management marketing so you can:

Capture those desperate clients in January after the festive fright-             

Develop strategic marketing that brings more customers,

Understand branding         

Develop a positioning strategy so the caller chooses you

Understand lead generation in care management

Get the best marketing software  

Create a 5 Star Marketing Plan for the top 10% of seniors who can afford you.

Click Here To Register 

FIND OUT MORE 

THIS FREE  WEBINAR  FROM 2 PM – 3 PM PST January 23, 2020

SIGN UP NOW  

 

Trouble on The Tracks -11 New Year Resolutions For Aging Parent Worries

Here are some suggestions that you might consider as New Years resolutions-  as we approach January.

You may have already vowed this and not followed through because it is uncomfortable or scary or too much to take on— but this is one that will help avoid disaster.

It’s not “go on a diet,” but what you should do after the holiday with
your parents if you spot red flags that made you concerned about your aging mom or dad. Here is a list of resolutions you might make for your next visit to your parents after the holiday gave you a reason to worry about an aging family member:

11 New Years Resolutions 4 post-holiday parent worries  

  •  Accompany the elderly person to the doctor, and talk to the doctor in person
  •  Gather legal financial and insurance paperwork,scan all, put originals in a safety deposit box and leave easily found  copies for your parents
  • Have all bills except magazines forwarded to yourself or another relative who will manage them
  • Contact and meet with old and present friends and form a network of support
  • Investigate quality of life local programs like a senior center, bridge group anything that would bring your parent joy and engagement
  • If your older family members are in a facility, make contact with staff that cares for them, and the ombudsman.
    Meet with your elderly relative’s present support network or set up a circle of care 
  • Look into Lyft or Uber’s senior driving program  or GoGO- Grandparent if seniors should or no longer wish to drive
  • Arrange a family meeting to see how adult children and friends can share tasks using Lots of Helping Hands
  • Look into Forgiveness techniques for adult siblings  if you have old wounds that may stop you from sharing care with adult brothers and sisters

  • Meet with an aging life or geriatric care manager in the area who can do all these tasks for you

6 Technology Ideas For Long Distance Care Providers

Long-Distance Family Stocking Brimming with Coal

Christmas and Hanukkah are upon us, and many long-distance families will be celebrating with elderly parents. They may call an aging life or geriatric care manager after coming across piles of junk mail, consistently dirty clothes or a house and/or aging parent that looks like lumpy turkey gravy.

 Technology Pushes Coal Out of Stocking

If you get that call, there is excellent new technology for caregivers at a distance. When they visit you might suggest one of these high tech items a part of an older family member’s life. These gero-technologies can help an older parent or relative age in place and improve communicating with loved ones.

Videoconferencing

Videoconferencing is a great way to keep elderly parents connected. It can also be a good tool for adult siblings who live apart to have chats or meetings about Mom or Dad.  Free programs like Skype or another parent-friendly plus easy choice Facetime and the built-in webcams on many computers, make this easy on elders. Amazon Echo uses Alexa, by activating Amazon’s voice. An older standard telephone conference service is still highly rated and still free, as well. Freeconferencecall.com

Med Dispensers

 

Medialert automatic pill dispenser This product is recommended is recommended by the Alzheimers Asso and working well with dementia.   

A device that is very appropriate for elders who have medication abuse problems is Hero Electronic Pill Dispenser   

Alexa of Amazon has a new medication management feature for Alexa owners 

A more modest choice is Electronic Pill Box with Flasing Reminders 

Caregiver Video Cameras

Cameras like Google Nest can monitor an individual’s activities of daily living and provide caregivers with direct video feed on a smartphone, tablet app, or the Web to check on the status of a family member. You should know why as a caregiver you need a camera and how to evaluate the best one.

Monitoring sensors

Wireless systems. Cameras can be viewed remotely from a smartphone or computer. You may be able to get video motion alerts and the ability to pan and zoom

Canary Care. lets you place wireless sensors around the house to monitor the activity of an elderly parent who is declining, while the family is long distance. The information is sent to your Canary Care portal. The sensors are battery powered and the hub uses mobile data to send the information, so no need for a landline or broadband.

TruSense  – can alert long distance or even local adult children if a probable fall occurs. An alert is triggered when TruSense detects that your loved one has not moved from high-risk fall areas (such as a stairwell or restroom) in an unusually long time. Other alerts include doors where the older person could wander.

 

 Sensor Products

Sensor products can check a number of items within a house: motion patterns, stove on/off status, carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide levels, air quality, and presence of smoke or fire. They can also lock doors and control other items in the home remotely.

Daily activity monitoring. Activity sensors can be placed on the refrigerator, stove, door, and other objects around the home. Your relative may also wear a watch that monitors activity. You can allow caregivers and physicians to access the data. Set up notifications to be delivered by e-mail, text, or mobile app.: Live!y is a good choice

 GCM Technology Guide

Technology moves in nano-seconds and changes almost as fast. Give clients and their families the updated information. For a totally overhauled technology chapter,” Technologies That Support Aging in Place “, by GCM Julie Menack and Berkeley’s head of the Center for Aging and Technology, David Lindeman Ph.D. Get the new Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 4th edition 

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Email: cressgcm@got.net

 

 

 

 

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