What is private care management?

Private care management is way to have a personal care advocate and assistant in the event of a care need. It entails hiring a care manager to provide a comprehensive assessment of care needs and offer you 24-hour, seven days access to an experienced professional, on whom you can rely to access, obtain, monitor, and manage the logistics of your selected care in today’s increasingly complex and confusing health care system.

What does a private care manager do?

Private care managers respond to medical conditions, emergencies, and individual needs in community and institutional settings. Their approach is comprehensive. Services are determined by assessing a client’s medical, psychosocial and environmental needs, recommending and/or arranging care, and then coordinating, monitoring and evaluating the direct delivery of services.

What are private care management goals?

The goals are to address issues of treatment, safety and patient care. This is accomplished through the following processes:

• Assessing physical, environmental, financial, cognitive and functional levels;
• Identifying present needs and problems;
• Developing a plan of care by determining needs and recommending services based on quality of care, cost efficiency, and effectiveness;
• Locating and coordinating the delivery of services;
• Monitoring the provision of services and adjusting service as required;
• Consulting with physicians and/or other service providers;
• Keeping the family informed of their loved one’s status, given the patient’s consent.

What are three important reasons for hiring a private care manager?

1. Medical, social, technological advances have altered care.

People live longer and they require more specialized care and different kinds of treatment, in different kinds of settings. The system is also more complex because it has become larger, more diverse and more bureaucratic. Hospitals provide one type of care, rehabilitation centers, another, and community service still another. And, each network is separate and has its own rules, regulations and treatment protocols for the patient. They don’t communicate with one another. Insurance has complicated the issue and the maze of benefits and entitlements is varied and vast. A care manager knows the systems, what’s appropriate in each setting, and is skilled at navigating the matrix of care. A care manager coordinates and communicates appropriate aspects of care among patient, family and professionals.

2. Care at home has become more complex

Care at home is not the same as care in an institution. The client is not in an isolated environment, where all necessary staff and equipment is available on a 24-hour basis. Therapies performed in a hospital may not be available at home. Hospitals and rehabilitation centers are often anxious to discharge patients quickly and frequently are not focused on care once the patient returns home.

3. Specialization has led to the need for care management

A care manager is trained to assess the patient’s present need, home environment and support network to ensure availability of the widest array of supportive resources to the client at home. This includes, but is not limited to, family, skilled medical care (nursing, doctors, therapists, social workers), home care (nutrition, reminders to take medication, making and escorting to appointments, errands, paying bills or banking, legal services, such as: preservation of assets, wills, health care proxies, etc.). When the patient is finally home, the care manager’s job is to ensure safety, well-being, continuity of care, emotional support, all in the service of independent living and the highest level of functioning.

How are quality and costs controlled?

The care manager can contain costs and prevent inappropriate institutional care and the overuse of services by matching services to the client’s needs. Ongoing client monitoring usually ensures appropriate of care and thwarts crises.

What should I look for in a private care manager?

Credentials and experience, reputation in the community, a feeling of rapport, and someone who is results-oriented.