Med Plus HealthCare is St. Louis’ premier home care agency, a Medicare and Medicaid-certified organization serving the health care needs of area families for more than five years. We have referral relationships with over 300 physicians and healthcare facilities, and serve patients in 32 Missouri and Illinois counties, typically within twenty four hours of a patient referral.
Partnering with a home care agency and health care professional to care for a loved one is a vitally important decision for any family, and one in which most people have little experience with or are ill prepared for. But you and your referred patients can take comfort in the fact that Med Plus HealthCare is a name well-known and trusted by hundreds of physicians, medical facilities and patients throughout the Midwest.
And you can recommend Med Plus HealthCare with confidence, as we only hire the most qualified medical professionals in their respective medical and therapy disciplines. Throughout your patient’s healthcare service, our team members are dedicated to providing professional and compassionate care, tailored to meet their individual healthcare needs, in the comfort, safety and privacy of the patient’s home.
We deliver appropriate, high-quality home health care and believe it is our mission to treat every patient with genuine kindness, compassion and the respect they deserve. We take great pride in the fact that our patient outcomes are significantly higher than national standards. In addition to Medicare/Medicaid we also work with a wide variety of private insurance providers, especially now that so many employers are offering home health care insurance.
We are also pleased to now provide our physicians with the convenience of our new web-based, HIPPA-secure and Medicare/Medicaid approved electronic signature and referral system “ Physician Link.” Instead of faxing, mailing or taking time away from your patient population to meet a courier, you’ll now be able to sign the Plans of Care and verbal orders electronically. In addition, the system allows your office staff to electronically transmit new referrals directly to our agency. There is no cost to this service and it allows you and your staff the opportunity to create additional efficiencies within you office.
THE THREE COMPONENTS OF PHYSICIAN LINK
APPROVE LINK
The Approve Link section gives you and your approved office staff 24/7 access to view and electronically sign orders sent from Med Plus Healthcare for your patients, from any Internet connection worldwide. It also features a handy timer that tracks the time spent reviewing individual orders by you or your staff, making your office record keeping for reimbursement that much easier.
When ready to approve the order, with a click of the Approve button our records at Med Plus Healthcare will be instantly updated, moving the order from the Approve section to the History section of Physician Link. You can also select view-all mode to see every pending order, and Approve of all unsigned orders at once with a click of the mouse, or view them individually in one-at-a-time mode.
REFERRALS LINK
You and your office staff can quickly and conveniently enter and transmit new referrals to Med Plus Healthcare. You and your approved office personnel can key in as little or as much of the patient data as known or desired. The only required fields to get started are patient name and phone number.
A simple click of the Submit Referral button transmits the referral directly to Med Plus Healthcare via a HIPAA-secure, Medicare and Medicaid-approved, encrypted protocol. Which again, offers an efficient and convenient way of referring patients.
HISTORY LINK
The History Link section provides you and your staff 24/7 access to all previously signed orders for each patient in the system, for review or for printing.
Physician Link provided by Med Plus Healthcare is an innovative online tool which will save you time, money and increase the efficiency of your staff. Please contact us at Med Plus Healthcare to find out more about how this unique web portal can benefit you and your patients, and I am always available to come to your office and personally introduce myself and company in hopes of having the opportunity of partnering with you to serve the needs of your patients in the home.
Rick Rief, President/CEO Med Plus Healthcare
rick.rief@medplushc.com
November was home care and hospice awareness month, a topic that couldn’t be more important to millions of aging Baby Boomers. Many Boomers have decided to buy long-term care insurance after seeing parents and in-laws unable to qualify for government benefits for their home healthcare, assisted living, nursing home or hospice care, and their families have ended up responsible for his or her care.
Most are determined to spare their children from that experience, and for good reason. Currently home care and hospice organizations take care of more than 12 million people a year, a number sure to rise significantly in the years and decades ahead. Home care can include many things, such as nurses monitoring patients’ health care needs, physical, occupational and speech therapy and nutrition consultation. Hospice care is designed to provide comfort and support to patients and their families when a life-limiting illness no longer responds to treatments.
One of the primary fears for many Boomers is that long-term care insurance will become unaffordable in the future. For example, John Hancock, which has a contract with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to provide long-term care insurance for federal employees, recently asked state regulators for an average rate increase of 40% on most of its Non-Federal long-term care insurance policies. So when the five year deal struck with the OPM has to be renegotiated, even former Federal employees are concerned that their rates could skyrocket. Other major players, such as Genworth and Bankers Life and Casualty, have also asked state regulators for rate increases of 30% or more.
Why is this? The same factors that have highlighted the need for long-term care insurance anda rapidly aging population, lengthening longevity and unpredictable health care costs and have made it increasingly unprofitable for insurers.
In addition to health care hyper-inflation, insurance companies are also struggling with record low interest rates on investments, which have dragged down returns. These sustained low interest rates are a game changer for the long-term care insurance industry, having a similar effect as $4-a-gallon gas has to the SUV market, experts say.
And of those insurers who have not raised rates, some have left the business altogether, reducing competition and choice. Earlier this month, MetLife announced that it will stop selling long-term care insurance. The company said it will continue to provide coverage to existing policyholders. “While this is a difficult decision, the financial challenges facing the LTCI industry in the current environment are well known,” Jodi Anatole, vice president of long-term care products for MetLife, said in a statement.
So millions of aging Baby Boomers now face a similar concern and long-term care insurance is supposed to protect seniors and their families from the soaring costs of nursing home and home-based health care – but may become unaffordable in the future.
Policy makers are also acutely aware of the significant impact of long-term care insurance and home healthcare in the marketplace. Not only is it highly preferred by patients, with better outcomes than any other option, but the Kaiser Family Foundation also reports that the increased use of long-term care insurance would also reduce the burden on Medicaid, which currently accounts for about 43% of the cost of nursing home care used in the place of home healthcare.
Who Needs Long Term Insurance, And What To Look Out For
Wealthy Boomers have sufficient assets to pay for long-term care, and low-income Boomers will probably be eligible for federal assistance. But for the vast swath of graying middle-income Boomers, long-term care insurance fills an important vacuum, industry representatives say.
Medicare doesn’t cover long-term care, and Medicaid kicks in only after you’ve exhausted most of your assets. In addition, relying on Medicaid will sharply reduce your options for long-term care, says the AARP.
No surprise to most, AARP research shows that the vast majority of Boomers like where they’re living and are opposed to nursing home care. And Medicaid doesn’t typically pay for home health care. Most long-term care policies include coverage for at-home care, and if you need a nursing home somewhere down the line, you won’t be limited to facilities that accept Medicaid patients.
Although you should be aware and careful of possible deceptive practices from insurance companies, there are many benefits to long-term care insurance, especially for Baby Boomers who can’t count on someone to care for them when they can’t take care of themselves.
Groups that should list long-term care insurance as a must have include singles, seniors whose children live far away, and women. Women tend to be the primary caregivers for their parents and spouses and usually outlive their husbands, says Rick Rief, President of Med Plus Healthcare. “By the time you’re 80, you’re worn out, and there’s nobody left to care for you,” he says. And with the recent drop in the financial markets, long-term care insurance begins to take on an even greater importance.
Still, buying long-term care insurance entails some risks. The majority of consumers buy their policies between ages 55 and 64, according to American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. Even if you wait until you’re in your 60s which will mean higher premiums you could end up paying monthly premiums for 20 years or more before you need long-term care. If your income declines, or premium hikes make your policy unaffordable, you may have to cancel your policy, wiping out your investment. And if you live independently until you’re 95, then die in your sleep, you won’t get anything back for your investment.
Currently, there’s a wide variation in premiums for long-term care. Premiums for policyholders ages 55-64 range from $1,257 to $3,075 a year, according to the AALTC. The average premium for that age group is $2,200 a year. Average premiums for individuals age 65 and older are $3,250. By the time seniors reach their mid-70s, most policies are unaffordable or unavailable.
Ways To Keep Your Premiums Affordable
Opt for time-limited benefits. The biggest rate increases have been for older policies that provided no cap on the number of years they’d cover. Consumers can lower premiums by up to 39% a year by buying a policy that limits coverage to three years, says Mr. Rief. For most people who are in good health, three years of coverage is sufficient, added Rief. “Most of the cost of the health care system is incurred in the final year of life,” he says.
Include a waiting period. Like a higher deductible on your car insurance, a 90-day waiting period will lower your premiums. Most people can rely on family and friends to help out until their coverage kicks in, he says.
Remember, too, that if you require long-term care because of a stroke, broken hip or similar affliction, Medicare will typically cover you for the first 20 days. While some insurers sell coverage that takes effect immediately, that’s a luxury few can afford and protection most won’t need,” Rief says.
Research the history of rate increases. Med Plus Healthcare recommends asking insurers: When was your last rate increase, and how many increases have you had in the last 10 years? You can also get that information from your state’s department of insurance. Your state insurance department can also tell you if there have been a lot of complaints about the insurer. To find your state’s insurance department, go to www.naic.org.
Stick with established companies. It may be a long time before you need long-term care, so you want an insurer that will be around at least as long as you will. Med Plus Healthcare also recommends buying from companies that sell other insurance products, such as annuities and life insurance. Those companies are better able to withstand short-term losses in their long-term care policies.
They may also be more expensive. Jack Reynolds, 61, of St. Charles, Mo., says he pays a higher premium for his policy from Northwestern Mutual than he could have gotten elsewhere. But Northwestern Mutual hasn’t increased its rates since it started offering policies in 1998. Reynolds believes that’s because the company has accurately projected the cost of claims.
Get help. Long-term care insurance can be extraordinarily complicated. There are no standard options you can compare on the Internet. Policies may cover nursing home care and assisted living, in addition to home care, or offer a combination of services. Some will pay a family member to care for you; others require you to hire a certified health professional. Some policies will pay you a lump sum to use however you want, once you’re eligible for coverage.
Policies also have different “triggers” that must transpire before your coverage kicks in. Generally, insurers require that you need assistance with at least two “activities of daily living (ADLs),” such as bathing, eating or walking. Unscrupulous insurers sometimes exploit ambiguity over ADLs to deny claims, Rief says.
Consult with an insurance agent or broker who specializes in long-term care insurance and can help you identify a policy that will fit your income and needs. Even then, you may want to have an attorney review your policy before you sign up, because this is definitely one of those times when you want to be a very wise consumer and spend the time to read all the fine print.
What is Home Healthcare?
Some patients don’t even know that home healthcare is an option when considering other arrangements, such as rehab centers, assisted living facilities, nursing homes or even some hospice care.
Home care staff work closely with doctors, and can come as often as every day or just once in a week. They can help with all sorts of medical requirements, such as – bandage changes or wound care, medication monitoring, physical and occupational therapy, speech pathology – all done by your home health nurses.
Your home health nurse may know that an expensive medication you’ve been prescribed can be found from another source for less, or can alert you, your family and applicable physicians if different doctors have prescribed the same medication(s), or prescribed medicines that may conflict with one another. This can be especially important as today’s seniors are taking many different medications, and may not even completely understand what they are taking.
Your nurse may also be able help with the underlying condition that caused the acute problems in the first place, such as helping a diabetic amputee not only with their prosthesis, but also assistance getting their disease under better control with diet and other lifestyle changes, allowing you to manage your diabetes with pills instead insulin.
“We’re here to keep people in their own homes,” Rief said. “They do so much better at home, and our goal is help people become as independent as possible, as soon as possible.
An effort to develop a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease was halted after data showed that a new drug was doing more harm than good, leading to more memory loss and putting people at a higher risk for skin cancer.
Judy Woodruff from PBS discusses the findings with Dr. Paul Aisen of the University of California, San Diego.
When the U.S. population reached 100 million in 1915, the average lifespan was 54 years. When we hit 200 million in 1967, it was around 70.
Today, the average lifespan of someone living in the U.S. is just months shy of 78, and there is little reason to think that we won’t continue to push the life expectancy envelope.
