How Care Managers Can Serve Veterans on Memorial Day-

May 24, 2020

Veterans have not been well treated by the VA during this huge pandemic. The VA gave hydroxychloroquine, debunked as a treatment for COVID_19, to 1300 veterans. The number of COVID-19 deaths in VA facilities has soared to 10,000 to the very veterans who risked their lives and we celebrate on Memorial Day.

In spite of this VA Memorial day travesty, Geriatric care managers can be a huge help to older veterans to get VA benefits. With nearly 10 million veterans in the U.S. who over the age of 65, older vets are usually good candidates for geriatric care management services both now and in the future.

Unfortunately, navigating the services, supports, and benefits available to older veterans can be a challenge for geriatric care managers and clients alike. Services and supports for this population are available at the federal, state, and local level in addition to the service navigation complexity. The configuration of services received by veterans and their families is likely to consist of federal services provided by the Veterans Administration in addition to more localized services for older adults in general like those provided by senior centers, area agencies on aging, etc.

Benefits available to veterans and their families range from federal VA home improvement grants, burial benefits, medical care, respite, housing programs, pension, and even local benefits like business loans and discount programs.

Like most clients served by geriatric care managers, this population will need personalized assistance in meeting their care needs. For this reason, it is important to note that services and supports designed for older adults, in general, are also key resources for veterans.

While the VA is a great resource, don’t overlook the value and expertise offered by local organizations like local healthcare centers, senior centers, and Area Agencies on Aging, among others.

Find the many ways care managers can access hard to find VA services and serve retired vets.

Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 4th edition includes a new chapter that will help you help vets Maximizing the Health and Wells-Being of Older Veterans by Dr. Lenard Kaye, director of the Center for Aging at the University of Maine and Glenn Osbourne, director of the National Veterans Legal Aid Group . As an aging life or geriatric care manager, or senior advocate, learn how to to get an elder veteran the benefits he or she so deserves.

On Memorial Day, while abiding California’s Stay at Home Order, I celebrate my Dad, Harry V. Cress, in this photo, who was shot down in World War II and was in Stalag 17 when I was born. His lifelong struggle with PTSD inspired my respect for the VA GRECC program, who served him so well. But I am left now with disdain for the VA now especially allowing these Vets who gave so much and suffered grievously, like my Dad to die in VA facilities without adequate PPE -especially on Memorial Day- a day set aside to honor these men and women.

California Cuts Pushing Frail Elders into the Cesspools of COViD-19

May 22, 2020

Here in California, the frailest, poorest and oldest in the state are being potentially knifed in the back by slashing budget cuts to the very services that keep them out of nursing homes.

The Multipurpose Senior Services Program , one of the first geriatric care management programs in the nation, designed to keep fail elders out of nursing homes, is set to axed from the California State budget.

The Governor has also proposed elimination of $2.9 million of state funding and $3.9 million in federal matching funds for the 11 statewide Caregiver Resource Centers,

providing critical respite care and counseling to caregivers of adults with chronic and disabling health conditions.

Both programs were designed 4 decades ago to keep elders at home and out of more expensive nursing homes and staunch family caregiver burnout. They offer huge safety nets, designed to keep frail seniors in the community.

MSSP is of a daycare program providing rich social and health services to frail elders and their families. The Care Resources Program caregiver respite and support to overwhelmed family caregivers.

These programs save the state a bundle of money. Each of the MSSP clients is disabled enough to be eligible for nursing homes and poor enough to be eligible for MediCal. So instead of the state paying $80,000 or $90,000 per person per year in a nursing home, the State pays only on average a little over $5,000 for the person to be in MSSP.This makes the cuts both fiscally stupid and mystifying.

What California government is doing is ripping giant holes in this web plummeting 45,000 seniors into the cesspool of COVID-19 skilled nursing facilities, where almost half of California COVID-19 deaths occured.

Without the services and supports available through MSSP, and the Caregiver Resource Center, many older Californians will have no other choice but to be admitted to nursing homes, where nearly half of all deaths related to COVID-19 have occurred.

But the doors may be barred. Given the high risk of COVID-19 in nursing homes, owners are reluctant to take new patients. So, the elimination of the Caregiver Resources Center and MSSP is really a death sentence to frail elders. It leaves no fire extinguisher for caregiver burnout of the family caregivers who care for elders with the toughest disease: brain impairment- Alzheimer’s, stroke, dementia, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s other conditions that may cause memory loss or confusion.

This may cause a cascade effect- placement of these horribly demented elders, into the plague-infested nursing home or also to death’s door

Governor Newsome has been a national hero as the first governor to issue a stay at home order to close counties down in California. He slowed the spread of coronavirus and kept California in a safe zone compared to most other states. But this was at the cost of taxpayer dollars as 4.7 Californians were put out of work.

He finds himself in a double bind now with a chasm of a budget hole, that he is trying up to fill with cuts like the ones proposed to the senior program. But the cuts will lead seniors to nursing homes costing $80,000 a year instead of the $5000 for MSSP into those caldrons of coronavirus

California is always the canary in the coal mine- the innovator that most states follow. So, these cuts can be expected across the nationwide. Who is the real villain in these cuts, the Trump Presidency. 875 billion was approved in the House of representatives in the HEROES Act. Cutting both programs saves $119 million. But these cuts would be eliminated if Congress OKs this aid for state and local governments — a prospect many state lawmakers believe is unlikely as President Trump is threatening to veto the money to the states . This has spurred a cacophony of outrage from local legislators and senior advocates. angered state lawmakers from both

major political parties who say it’s irresponsible in light of the coronavirus pandemic that has spread through nursing homes across the state. It’s one of many conflicts emerging this week as lawmakers hold public hearings examining Newsom’s proposal before they must vote on a spending plan by June 15.

Want to help save these programs

PUBLIC COMMENTS – WRITTEN: Submit written public comments by email to: sbud.committee@sen.ca.gov

You Need a Virtual Rolladex on Speed Now to Market in Covid-19

May 20, 2020

What is a Rolladex on Speed?

During the Covid-19 pandemic, when many geriatric care managers are shut down, they need a virtual rolladex on speed- or an email marketing and marketing automation platform. An email marketing database is essential for keeping your prospective, existing customers warmed up and ready to buy your services or products. You store your contacts or customers and send information that will entice them to use your agency. Constant Contact is the most common. I use it because it has great customer services for non-natives in technology like me plus excellent templates. But other alternatives like Survey Monkey and Moosend and many others can be considered. Think of this as your old Rolodex on speed.

During this pandemic, this gives you the ability to let your third parties like elderlaw attorneys and existing an potential new clients know you are still here, still care about their needs and show them what preventative steps you have taken in

Advertise Your Agencies Coronavirus Universal Saftey Precautions

Use the e-mail newsletter to update contacts on your staff’s training in universal precautions and use of all the necessary masks, gloves, and PPE . You should assure that caregivers are required to take their own temperature prior to each shift and all shifts are available.

Share Community Resources During Pandemic

You can let clients and 3rd parties, know helpful information about coping with “shelter in place”, in your town. For example, a list of all the grocery stores that deliver, as older people are not supposed to go shopping or if they do -the times when only they are allowed in the store. If your care providers can do that shopping you could add this to the newsletter.

If you do a Virtual Quality of Life Program for lonely and isolated seniors unable to get out during Covid-19, share your service in the newsletter. If you do not offer a Quality of Life program, point them toward geriatric care manager Nina Herndon’s excellent virtual quality of life program.

If you have a partnership with your county health department, which is a very good idea, you can add that in your newsletter. You can keep customers up to date on Covid-19 information in your area. You can both use it in your agency and share it through your newsletter. Other ideas are adding photos of your staff in PPE or even staff making masks if you have sewing talents. Or there is a volunteer group in your county making PPE for hospitals, share that and with photos in your newsletter

Care Management Start-Ups -Start an E-newsletter Now

Any aging life or geriatric care management business has to start out with a foundation of great customer relationships. Get an email marketing database now or before you open your doors and fill it up with contacts including old, new and potential clients,3rd party referral sources like- elder law attorneys, trust officers, concierge physicians, and all target professionals who refer families to you who need GCM.

You, the aging life or GCM marketer, must connect with aging families who need your product at this time of the pandemic and at all times in the future. The best way is through your social media database.

As your company expands these Aging Life or GCM business connections grow more sophisticated. You start to manage a myriad of connections, across time, within each referral contact you do business with.

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Conquer Care Management Sales- 5 Steps Close the Sale on COVID-19Products

Boost Your Sales in COVID-19 Slow Down

Sales have severely declined in COVID-19. Learn how to increase your, clients, through all your

products but especially new Covid-19 and telehealth. Sell Successfully this and any GCM product in a 2-part intake. Closing the sale means the client signing your

contract and giving you a deposit. Most care managers are untrained and terrified of this process.

They are more terrified of going out of business with COVID 19

Learn the 5 steps to make and close a care management sale to get that contract signed, get a deposit, grow your business, bolster cash flow, make payroll, and stop you from being one of the 50% of new US businesses that fail after five years.

When?

Date Tuesday, June 23

Time 2:00 PM -3:30 PM

You will Learn

What are Covid-19 GCM Services you can offer

How to make the sale in the inquiry call -with a complimentary consultation

How to ” Identify needs using client” challenge questions” to find the problem you need to solve to make the sale

How to present your offer by selling solutions to the problem with a mini care plan

How to manage objections if the caller has concerns about price or product

How to close the sale with non-aggressive closing questions to have your contract signed, get a deposit, and grow your business with a new client

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5 Things Geriatric Care Managers and Concierge Physicians have in Common & and How Do you Market to Them

May 18, 2020

What Do you Have in Common with a Concierge Physician

Concierge Physicians and geriatric care managers have much in common

They both serve must serve the top 10% in the US. because of Income equality

Geriatric care management and long term care are not covered by Medicare, so the top 10% can only afford private geriatric care management.

Medicare rates for the physician are so low, especially Geriatricians,(who are the lowest paid that they disappearing), is one of the reasons physicians have fled to a concierge practice. This allows them to actually see a client for more than 10 minutes and make housecalls where they can actually observe the most about the patient’s ability to care for themselves.

Both in Business, Serving the Elderly & Wealthy taking health care into the world of Profit.

The third commonality is Concierge Physicians and geriatric care managers both make house calls have small practices and spend time with a patient like an old fashioned doctor. More important they both know that you see the most about the functional ability of the client/patient in their home not a brief office visit

Small CASE Loads a big Similarity

The fourth similarity is the caseload. Concierge Physician has an average caseload of 50, while the average internist has 2500 patients. The average GCM carries a caseload of 25-35. But even that may be too high when serving highly entitled concierge clients. Wealthy clients can demand boatloads of attention, have more family friction between adult siblings and the older parent-based on too much money, not enough love, and no skills passed on to nurture when the parent needs care. This constant bickering or worse cut off and often elder physical and fiscal abuse siphons lots of hours of the GCM’ s time to get the care that the older client needs. So large GCM caseloads among the uber-wealthy are almost impossible.

NO WAIT TIME TO SEE GCM OR CONCIERGE PHYSICIANS

The fifth kindred feature between the GCM and concierge physicians is “wait time”. Wait time to see your doctor in the US can be a very long time. According to the New York Times”A survey released in March by Merritt Hawkins, a Dallas medical consulting and recruiting firm, found it takes 29 days on average to secure an appointment with a family care physician, up from 19.5 days in 2014. For some specialties, the delays are similarly long, with a 32-day wait to see a dermatologist and a 21-day delay at the typical cardiologist’s office. But Concierge Physicians get back to their patient’s right away because of the small caseloads and the personalized one to one care they represent. Care managers, who offer gold standard care, generally get out to see new clients within a day. Both professionals go by ” Ask and Ye Shall Receive”.

BOTH TREATING COVID-19’s Hand of Death Reaching for Seniors

During the coronavirus both doctors and care managers, see their clients/ patients the largest target of the deadly virus, dying in deadly droves, especially in

nursing homes and are themselves overwhelmed by the stress of not being able to save or even see their caseload.

So when you market the Concierge Physicians, what benefits to do you offer that will allow her or him to refer to you.

We will use the “So What” that show benefits to any profession

1) You serve the same upper 10% with the same 1-1 hands-on excellent care “So What” you can support the physician’s patient without training

2) You do facilitation with dysfunctional families ( often in these patient caseloads) “So What” You will use your skills to get families to agree on care for the older person so concierge physicians will not have to deal with these difficult barriers to care

3)You will manage adult siblings who often disrupt older parent care because of ” Mom Loved You Best” squabbles “So What” so the Concierge physician can give the medical care the parent needs without hiring a social worker or trying to be one.

4)You can counsel families through technology through the fears of COVID1- and strategies to help clients cope with the choices they may have in the epidemic so what so the mental health breakdown of the aging family can address.

Join Me in My Latest Webinar

Conquer Care Management Sales- 5 Steps Close the Sale on COVID-19Products

Sales have severely declined in COVID_19, geriatric care management is not deemed essential business. Learn how to increase your, clients, through all your products but

especially the new Covid-19 and telehealth. Sell Successfully this and any GCM product in a 2-part intake. Closing the sale means the client signing your contract and giving you a deposit. Most care managers are untrained and terrified of this process. They are more terrified of going out of business with COVID 19

When?

Date Tuesday, June 23

Time 2:00 PM -3:30 PM

You will Learn

What are Covid-19 GCM Services you can offer

How to make the sale in the inquiry call -with a complimentary consultation

How to ” Identify needs using client” challenge questions” to find the problem you need to solve to make the sale

How to present your offer by selling solutions to the problem with a mini care plan

How to manage objections if the caller has concerns about price or product

How to close the sale with non-aggressive closing questions to have your contract signed, get a deposit, and grow your business with a new client

SIGN UP FOR FREE

Aging Life or Care Management Intakes- Do You Know How to Make the Sale?

May 15, 2020

Do you know how to increase your slower inquiry calls during COVID-19?

It all starts

with having Covid-19 products, alongside your existing products and services. But the sale is made at the inquiry when the client calls you.

Especially during the pandemic do you know how to sell over the phone when you cannot yet go to all people’s homes? Even so, do you make this fatal and costly mistake with a client inquiry? When you get a request for information, over the phone, do you drive to the client’s home to do the intake- without first getting a deposit and contract first? How does this break your bank balance?

Aging Life care manager Sally Sanitze received an inquiry call and drove an hour to see the client. After spending two hours explaining her services, doing a geriatric assessment then asking for a deposit and signed contract the older gentleman said he could not afford her services and would not sign the contract at that time. The Aging Life care manager came up empty-handed.

How do you avoid traveling for two hours, spending 3 or more hours with a client, and not getting the case or making the sale?

You do the inquiry over the phone with a complimentary consultation, and then make the sale and ask for the contract and the deposit. You do not drive to the client’s home without first getting a signed contract deposit – first.

Here’s how You Do Two Call Intake

You do a two-call intake. The first inquiry call to your agency taken by a highly experienced staff in your office. That person must clearly understand the client problem, prompting the call to your agency and crucially finding out how it impacts both the client and the care providers.

They then offer an appointment to do a complimentary consultation for 30 minutes scheduled within 24 hours, made for the agency director.

What To Do in the Complementary Consultation

Do briefly outline how you are an expert at solving the problems (moving,keeping at home, COVID-19 safety in an elder’s home or home from the hospital with Covid-19)
Do a mini care plan showing exactly how you would solve the client ‘sand care providers problem outlined in the first inquiry call
Do make the sale by asking the client if they are ready to move forward with a contract and deposit
If they say yes send out a contract through Adobe and get a deposit through Pay Pal.

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