What Does a Geriatric Manager Do?

Author

CARSON ELDERCARE

For more information about the author, click to view their website: Carson Eldercare Consulting & Management

Posted on

Sep 04, 2024

Book/Edition

Pennsylvania - Greater Pittsburgh Area

The Role of a Geriatric Care Manager

The share of the United States population over the age of 65 has risen to 16%, and it is expected to climb further to 23% by 2060. People are living longer, and that means that people also have more specialized health care needs.

Aging life care calls for a different kind of attention, as various conditions and syndromes begin to present themselves. Depending on which conditions those are, the situation can get complicated pretty quickly. In some cases, it might be worthwhile to consider hiring a geriatric care manager.

As we and our loved ones age, we usually end up needing support from the people around us to make sure our needs are met. Family members in particular tend to shoulder this responsibility. But there are many reasons that might make it difficult to have a good support network in place. The most common reason is that family caregivers simply live too far away to provide reliable senior care management.

In this context, geriatric care managers can be thought of as "professional relatives." If a family member is not able to provide long term care, geriatric care managers can help provide any and all services related to elder care. They are usually licenced nurses or social workers who are trained in aging life care, and they organize care plans and advocate for their patients’ needs.

If you hire a geriatric care manager, you will be able to count on them to navigate the complexities of the health care system. It can also be helpful to have someone who can make decisions from a neutral point of view, as family caregivers sometimes have to make difficult decisions that are deeply personal.

The primary responsibilities of a geriatric care manager are:

  • Coordinating elder care between multiple service providers

  • Developing both short and long term care plans

  • Helping manage emotional concerns, stress, and anxieties

  • Helping manage transitional care

  • Hiring additional caregivers as necessary

  • Make home visits and evaluate living conditions

  • Ongoing assessment of aging life care needs

All of this helps take the pressure off family members and ensures that geriatric care management is always under control.

When to Seek Support With an Aging Life Care Expert

There are many cases in which families are perfectly capable of managing aging life care for someone they love. But it can be challenging to know when you might be taking on more than you can reasonably expect to handle. As discussed above, one of the most obvious challenges is that family members do not live near the person who needs their care. But other complications are not as straightforward.

You should consider hiring a geriatric care manager when:

  • You need help with a complex issue. Lots of medical conditions can lead to the kinds of behaviors that should really be handled by aging life care professionals. Issues related to dementia, verbal abuse, or physical violence are among these.

  • Your loved one will not talk to you about their health. Whether it is out of concern for privacy, a soured relationship, or an inability to describe what they are experiencing, older adults sometimes do not let relatives help them. A geriatric care manager gives them someone they feel comfortable talking to about their health. 

  • You are having trouble communicating with service providers. Geriatric care managers have a better understanding of where other aging life care professionals are coming from, so if you have run into a wall in negotiations or are not able to get the information you are looking for, your care manager is in a position to communicate more effectively.

  • You do not know what to do. Caring for a loved one can be complicated for reasons beyond their health. We always want the best for them, but sometimes there are multiple pathways and it is not clear which one will be best. Geriatric care managers can provide their objective point of view to help your loved one receive the senior care that is right for them

Finding Geriatric Care Managers

A geriatric care manager does not have to hold a state level license. But because many of them come from fields in health care, they elect to maintain their credentials. Care managers who come from social work often have to have active licensure in order to practice in their state.

So on the one hand, a lack of certification or licensure is not necessarily a deal breaker. On the other hand, it is important that they can demonstrate their experience as aging life care professionals. If you are hiring a geriatric care manager, be sure to ask about the following:

  • Do they have direct experience with managing issues specific to your loved one? This is especially important to cover in cases of severe injury or cognitive decline.

  • Do they have experience with crisis care management? If your loved one is prone to seizures or is at high risk for falls or heart attacks, aging life care professionals need to know how to handle this type of emergency situation. Also ask them if they are available to respond around the clock, or if they have set hours.

  • How will they communicate information to you? It might seem like a tedious question, but being on the same page about communication methods and styles can save everyone a lot of frustration and confusion.

  • Can they provide references? It can be hard to really understand who you are working with based on their resume alone. Talking to people who know them well is a good way to corroborate your first impressions.

  • How are their costs and fees structured? Senior care can be expensive — it is typically not covered under Medicare or most other insurance plans — so it is important to understand how much things will cost up front. Geriatric care managers charge by the hour, typically within a range of $75–200 per hour.

When families turn to aging life care professionals for care management services, they need to know as much as possible about the roles and responsibilities of the people they are bringing into the fold. Geriatric care managers help families navigate the complexities of elder care and relieve them of the stress and anxiety that so often comes along with it. They are experienced in working with a variety of national and local resources, care providers, and care services to ensure the highest quality of life possible.

Give me a call for a FREE 20 minute consultation at 714-403-7040. 

source: Keystone Health, 2024. https://keystone.health/geriatric-care-manager-role-responsibilities#table-of-contents

Other Articles You May Like

The Perfect Estate Plan for Baby Boomers?

As an estate planning and elder law attorney, I am becoming increasingly frustrated to see how the long term care system is failing our seniors. I had a conversation with a client this week, who feels that the government programs supporting seniors are broken. My clients mom is in a nursing home and we are assisting them to get Medicaid eligibility to pay the nursing home. What he said really resonated with me, because people are continuing to go broke due to the long term care system.In a recent podcast, I discussed the article that was published in the news, about the baby boomers being the wealthiest generation in history. However, 70% of the wealth is concentrated in 7% of the population. Most of the people we work with are the middle-class baby boomers, who are part of the other 93% population. They own their house and have some money in the bank. Most of them have worked for 40-50 years trying to save a nest egg for their retirement. They have been sold this story that they will have healthcare coverage with Medicare when they retire at 65, and believe they will be taken care of should they get sick.Medicare Wont Pay for Long Term CareUnfortunately, Medicare wont pay for long term care. We help many families every month, going through the process of trying to gain eligibility for Medicaid benefits to pay for long term care. This requires some dramatic legal moves and I can appreciate why my clients feel so frustrated.On the long term care website, I read that around 70% of baby boomers are going to need some form of long term care if they get dementia or Alzheimers. Added to that, 20% of those seniors will need long term care for more than five years. Given the cost of nursing homes in this country, which is $150,000 a year, this is unaffordable for most families.The Future is Uncertain, But We Can Still PlanWe dont know what the future holds, and we cannot prevent the likelihood of getting dementia. However, we can take steps to protect ourselves and avoid going broke. If I end up with dementia, I want to make sure my wife has a house to live in and some money in the bank. We meet many families who want to protect themselves from this system, and ask us to advise them. Some people tell us they already have a will and want to know why they need an estate plan. I understand their confusion when I advise my clients that they need more than a Will. It is unfortunate that the attorney they worked with previously, only offered them a Will. This could be because they met with attorneys who work with clients that have a high net worth. They may also have gone to a general practice law firm, who deals with divorces, traffic tickets and Wills, and not estate planning. The attorneys, financial advisors, tax man and nursing homes know that there are ways to avoid seniors going broke, but none of them are doing anything to help.A Will Is Not EnoughA Will only states who will get your stuff when you pass away. Estate planning is not only about who gets your stuff when you pass away but it helps to provide a sense of security, by protecting your house and money. You have worked for your money, and you should keep it not the government or the nursing home. I want to ensure you have a peaceful retirement, without worrying about going broke to pay for long term care. If you need more than five years of long term care, you definitely want to protect your assets.Many of my clients like to use trusts, and I recommend putting your house and some money into an irrevocable asset protection trust. This means that after five years, the house is safe from any claims from the nursing home. You would have to give up access to the equity of the house, assuming of course you wont need to do a reverse mortgage. You also wont receive a distribution from the trust. However, you can still live in your home, but the difference is your house is now protected from the nursing home if you get sick.You Can Avoid ProbateIf you have IRAs, they will need to be beneficiary designated, and will avoid probate. You can put any other money you have that you want access to, in a revocable trust. Having your house in the asset protection trust and money in a revocable trust, will allow you to avoid probate. Your life wont change, but a large percentage of your net worth is protected from long term care costs. This in my opinion is a much better estate plan for you.We will help you to establish a Power of Attorney, as well as health care planning. The result of planning like this, is that you dont have to worry about the nursing home, or probate. We also teach your children, who are the future executors and trustees, about their future roles and responsibilities. Handing legal documents to your adult child and expecting them to know what to do is unfair and unrealistic. Do The Right Thing Get An Estate Plan To learn more about doing good planning for your family, come to one of our Three Secrets Workshops. I am sure you want to have a good retirement without worrying about anything intercepting your inheritance to your kids. Our free workshops will teach you all you need to know to make informed decisions. You will then be able to have the best estate plan for you and your family. By offering the education in a classroom setting, it makes it more affordable for you to do estate planning. Visit sechlerlawfirm.com/workshops to register for a workshop now.

Why You Need To Do A Trust For Your Kids

Why You Need To Do A Trust For Your KidsIf you have been listening to my radio shows or podcasts, and reading my blogs, you will know that I have focused a lot on estate planning for retirees, or soon to be retirees, and how to protect their stuff and their family from the issues that they face. These include care costs, eventual probate expenses and taxes. For most of my career I have been dedicated to working through those issues. In fact, my law firm exists because I watched my own grandfather go through all of this money paying for care. Sadly he was battling Alzheimers disease and spent many years in a nursing home. Having spent so many years working on elder law issues, weve become to know how to properly plan for these issues. Working With Young FamiliesRecently weve been working with folks from a young family demographic. My wife and I recently redid our own personal estate plan because our children are getting older, and there are changes in our financial situation too. It is necessary every few years to see if our estate plan does what we want it to do. Most of us learn from our experiences and the situations we find ourselves in, and how to respond the next time. Thats one of the one of the great things about life because we get to learn from mistakes and challenges. Ive been through some challenges with some families that are similarly situated to mine, when has thrown them a curveball. Many of them have had to deal with injuries, disabilities and deaths, as well as unexpected situations. This has made me realise the importance of needing to plan when it comes to younger families. We actually have an entire webinar series for younger families, called Five Secrets to Protect Your Family. We teach you the things you need to know to protect your kids from the cradle to college. Raising Good HumansAs parents of young children, I think our primary job is to raise good humans who will be happy and self sufficient. Hopefully they will find careers that theyre passionate about and a spouse they love and are happy with. Eventually they will have their own kids and it is my job to prepare them for that. I think we also need to accept that our duty of raising good humans who will outlive us, is something we need to plan for too. We need to also face the reality that although it would be devastating if both parents passed away suddenly, there needs to be plan in place for the kids to be taken care of.A Simple Will Is Not EnoughUnfortunately, most young parents of young kids dont actually plan for this. Most young families only have a will which will name who gets the stuff when they pass away. Most young families often dont have many assets, so it is important for them to buy life insurance. You would definitely need life insurance or a retirement account. While it is not enough to only have a Will, it can be used to do some planning. You would need to name an executor who will administer your estate, and guardians for your kids. A guardian would essentially step into your shoes if you pass away. However, guardianship ends when your child is 18 years of age. While they are considered an adult at age 18, leaving money to your 18 year old could be a big mistake for many reasons. I know that people will advise you that you only need a simple Will, which states that everything is left to your spouse and then to your kids. If your kid is a minor when they inherit money, your kid will get their money in a Uniform Transfer to Minors Act Account. This means that somebody else would be in control of the money, until the kid turns 21. However, after the age of 21, your kid is on their own. If I think about it, if at the age of 21 I had been left an inheritance of a million dollars, I would not have make good decisions with spending the money. I dont believe most 21 year old kids would know what to do either. This illustrates why it is not enough to just have a Will, and why one needs to plan for all eventualities.Why You Should Create a Trust for Your ChildI would encourage you to create trusts. The Trust has certain terms and conditions to determine what will happen with the money. Wills have to go through probate which is the court administration process for administering the Will. What happens when somebody passes away with a Will, the executor cant do anything until the judge allows him and it becomes a court process. The Will is then mailed to the beneficiaries, with details of what theyre allowed to have. This can take weeks or months to find out what the deceased owned. The probate process is a time consuming task and also expensive, and we advise to avoid it if possible. This is exactly why we suggest using a trust.Divorce is a Financial ThreatRather than giving the money to your kids outright, the money is held in a separate trust until they reach the age which you determine is suitable. This is known as an underage trust and it protects the kids from their own poor decisions as a youngster. When your child reaches the age you have agreed upon which is often 25 or 30, for them to receive their inheritance, the trust then terminates. However, you need to consider protecting your kids from the next potential issue and the biggest financial threat for adults in their 20s and 30s, which is divorce. What I like to do is for my kid to become a trustee on the trust. Were not distributing the money so it doesnt become a marital asset. It would also be protected from the general creditors, divorces and lawsuits. The money is held in trust for my kid until they turn 25 and can get control of the trust. This is effective estate planning and is more important than having a simple Will. It often happens that most people just do beneficiary designations on their life insurance policies. When the parent passes away, the kids get their money on their 21st birthday. This is not a good idea and it is better for that money to be in a trust. Having a good estate plan in place helps you to do your job as a parent and raise good people.Register for our Webinar for Young Families This is all possible when you start with education because educated decisions are better decisions. Thats why we offer a free webinar called Five Secrets to Protect your family. You can find it sechlerlawfirm.com/workshops. We teach you a lot of the things you need to know about how trusts work. We also share other important information you need to know. Join us!

Estate Planning Is About More Than Wills and Inheritance

Estate Planning Is About More Than Wills and InheritanceTraditionally, estate planning brings up thoughts of wills, trusts, and discussions about who inherits what. These are undoubtedly important, but theres another side to the storythe potential for incapacity. Life is unpredictable. Accidents, illnesses, or progressive conditions like dementia can render us unable to make decisions or communicate our wishes. Thats when the true test of an estate plan comes into play.The Spousal AssumptionTheres a widespread assumption that marriage grants spouses the ability to automatically make decisions for each other. This myth is pervasive, yet the legal system tells a different story. Strict privacy and healthcare laws mean that without explicit legal permissions such as a Power of Attorney or a healthcare directive a spouses hands may be tied, unable to manage finances, make medical decisions, or even get information from doctors.The Costly Path of ConservatorshipWithout proper documentation, the only recourse may be to seek a conservatorship where a court appoints someone to oversee the incapacitated persons affairs. Its a route fraught with challenges: it is time-consuming, can be quite expensive, and throws open what are very personal matters to the public eye.How to Protect Your Voice and Your ChoicesThe key to maintaining control is preparation. Here are the documents that every adult should consider: Durable Power of Attorney: This allows you to appoint a trusted individual to handle your financial affairs if you cannot do so yourself. Healthcare Power of Attorney: It enables you to designate someone to make healthcare decisions on your behalf in case youre incapacitated. Living Will: This document spells out your wishes regarding medical treatment, including life support and other critical decisions. The Role of TrustsA Revocable Living Trust can also play a pivotal role. By creating a trust, you not only plan for the distribution of your assets after your passing but also ensure that someone you trust can manage your affairs without court intervention if youre not able to during your life.Educate, Communicate, UpdateCreating these documents is just the first step. Educate the people youve appointed about their roles and your wishes. Keep the lines of communication open and review these documents regularly to ensure they reflect your current circumstances and wishes.Final ThoughtsJay Lenos situation is a lesson for us all, highlighting the need for comprehensive estate planning that anticipates not just death, but also lifes unexpected turns. It emphasizes the importance of preparing for situations where we might not be able to speak for ourselves. For those ready to take the next step, or if youve realized theres a missing piece in your estate plan, were here to guide you. Ensuring your estate plan is complete and up-to-date is the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones from the uncertainties of the future. Please feel free to contact the office at 724 546 6615 if you need assistance getting started.

Local Services By This Author

Carson Eldercare Consulting & Management

Elder Care Planning & Consulting Sewickley Heights, , Pennsylvania, 15143

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the complexities and difficulties associated with aging? Have the responsibilities in caring for your loved one become unmanageable? Do you live far away and are unable to provide reliable senior care management? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you may want to consider hiring an eldercare manager. Hi, my name is Laura. I have been a Registered Nurse (RN) for over 20 years and have witnessed firsthand the challenges and complications that aging presents. It affects not only the aging themselves but also their families and loved ones. Health care is complex, and in this increasingly fragmented and overburdened system, it can be extremely helpful to have a professional oversee all aspects of care. As your eldercare manager, I will comprehensively assess the needs of your loved one and we will work together in establishing a care plan. I will assist you and your family with difficult decisions and help promote healthy communication on issues that are often difficult to address and navigate. An expanded version of my core services are summarized below: MANAGE health care needs, chronic conditions, illnesses, and coordination of careOPTIMIZE health outcomes via my extensive knowledge and experience in the healthcare system. I provide necessary education on chronic diseases and treatment plans, promote collaboration and communication amongst the health care team, ask the right questions of health care personnel, and any other needed activities in order to promote the safety and wellness of my clientsNAVIGATE the complex health system ADVOCATE for individuals to receive high quality care. I do this by such actions as asking the right questions of health care personnel, requesting a referral, second opinion, or further resources when appropriate, and anticipating/ planning for future health care needsTRANSITION clients to appropriate living conditions and proper levels of care. This may be from out of a private home into independent or residential living. It can also entail transition to a skilled nursing facility, assisted living, long term acute care, and hospice. There are many factors and variables to be considered when making these changes, and I provide assistance and support.  The above services represent the bulk of my client/family needs. Some other services provided are:Comprehensive health status assessmentAssistance with medication complianceAssessing safety of the home and providing measures to reduce falls  Helping clients/ families make difficult health decisions while navigating familydynamics and promoting effective communicationBeing present with client during doctor appointments etc. to ask the rightquestions and help assimilate health informationVisiting and interacting with clients at hospitals and facilities to assess healthstatus, monitor progress, and assist with any needs upon discharge or transfer Contact me today for a free 20-minute consultation!