Does Medicare Pay For Home Check Ups

[Sophia3]

I know MediCAID pays for much more than Medicare but this question is for Ohio Medicare pts.

If you live alone, and forget to take important medication, will medicare pay for somebody to come by daily to make sure you've taken your medicine. OR to help clean your house. I've seen somebody with ANS issues talk of this but can't remember if it was church people helping them out or some Medicare agency.

I do not think Medicare does but a friend is asking me this for his mother who is 75. She does not have Dysautonomia per se but gets fatigued easily and too stubborn to see a doctor for her sudden inability to think and do things. could be too low BP from medications or early dementia. ..sigh...this is the Reader's Digest version... Anyway, they live in Jefferson County, Ohio.

When my elderly mother was very ill with temporary dementia due to a medicine, we had to check in with her ourselves. If she FORGOT to take medicines, some local person came by from elder care and said to give her a pill box. HECK that thing was confusing with it's pop up lids with days of the week listed. With MY BRAIN fog I would've gotten confused.

Anyway, just wondered if some fellow Medicare folks could help me out. I wish I could get somebody to come do my laundry/cook but can't afford it. . .But I wanted to ask this question for a friend as his mom is hours away from him!

thanks in advance.

[potsgirl]

I think that Medicare will provide some funding for home care, but don't quote me. The best bet is to call Medicare to find out what that individual's plan is, and see what they say and would your friend would need to do to put it into place. Going directly to the source is your best option. I call Medicare once in a while and they're been very helpful on what's covered and what isn't. Your friend could also go online to Medicare.gov with his mother's Medicare number and look up coverage options. She may need to set up an account first.

Hope this helps a little. You've probably already done it by now...

I'm sending positive thoughts to you, your friend, and your friend's mother.

[Sophia3]

Medicare will NOT help in this individual situation.

Thanks. They are going to get outside help in. Appreciate the feedback.

[Guest tearose]

Why not ask your friend to offer a reminder alarm to help his mother. Or maybe have someone call her?

[potsgirl]

Sophia~

My mom wears one of this 'life alerts' around her neck that is locally based. It makes me feel much better since she is in Iowa and I'm here in Arizona. Best to you all!

[comfortzone]

Local home health agencies can bring a wealth of information to the table. Sometimes if someone happens to be freshly discharged from the hospital -- the case manager at the hospital can arrange for a few nursing visits, home health aide visits, social work visits, physical and occupational therapy visits and respiratory care visits.

The first of the visitors does the intake and then orders the appropriate treatment team and modalities. It's then that you have a captive audience and can ask the home nurse a ton of question as to how to best get a loved one to take meds in a timely fashion daily, get food organized, have the home be safe etc... The social worker can be the most effective member of the team for these kinds of social situations....they often have insights as to what's available community wide to aide someone or their loved one in againg or sickness.

Sometimes you can get 'free' information from a local reputable home health agency too....such as phone numbers or a list of agencies that provide light housekeeping, some basic ADL care etc...

Non compliance to medications can be multifactorial in reasonings....sometimes the reasons escape people .... such as the person simply not caring....or any number of psycho-soc reasons aside from forgetting.

Wishing the best..

[Sophia3]

Thanks all. It's for a friend who's mom has early Alzheimer's. So they are having a family meeting when a brother flies in from out of town to see what's next. A son does live very close & checks on his mom daily...but figuring out if she tooks pills is no easy feat..so it's a complicated situation.

Appreciate the tips. Medicare is a drag with NO COLA increase for 2011...second year in a row...even though our costs have gone up!!