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Fidelis Care expanding in-home care program
BY BETHANY BUMP Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Bethany Bump at 395-3107 or bbump@dailygazette.net.

    Catholic health insurance company Fidelis Care is expanding an in-home care program for the chronically ill and disabled to nearly every county in the state, including much of the Capital Region.
    The New York State Catholic Health Plan announced Thursday that its Fidelis Care at Home Managed Long-Term Care program will be available in an additional 39 counties — including Albany, Schenectady, Schoharie, Fulton and Montgomery counties — making cost-effective, in-home care available to individuals throughout 50 counties.
    The program was borne out of the recognition that many chronically ill and disabled individuals are unable to live on their own without help but may not be able to afford the level of care a nursing home provides.
    Those who qualify for Fidelis’ Managed Long-Term Care program can remain at home and receive flexible, tailored care. A nurse care manager is assigned to each member, and works with their physicians, service providers and family to develop a plan tailored to their needs.
    Following initiatives proposed by the New York State Medicaid Redesign Team, its services include: in-home nursing and health aides; physical, occupational and speech therapy; medical social services; adult health or social day care; durable medical equipment and supplies; prosthetics and orthotics; podiatry, dental, audiological and optometric services; nutrition care and home-delivered meals; and non-emergency transportation.
    Members are also eligible for nursing home care, if it’s eventually needed.
    To qualify, an applicant must be at least 18 years old, eligible for Medicaid, reside in one of the approved counties, be eligible for nursing home-level care and require the plan’s services for at least four months. They also have to be able to remain in their home without putting their health or safety at risk. .............................>>>>.............................>>>>.....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r02203&AppName=1

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They also have to be able to remain in their home without putting their health or safety at risk

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Sender, hospitals can't discharge patients home if they are not going to be safe at home...if they can't do their dressing changes, can't manage their meds, or appointments, or various other activities...rather than have the person placed in a nursing home this will allow them to stay at home longer (at a much lower cost). Safe discharge is a huge part of hospital care...if a patient is readmitted within a certain time span of discharge the hospital does not get paid--and even when they are paid the cost is a lot more than if they had a nurse or aide check them at home.

This is actually a good thing. Better care, cheaper care and people remaining independent longer.

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No it's not. You can't send home a 90 year old who can't do their own dressing changes home and say it's fine...so what, they come back in two days with their wound even more infected, but now they are also dehydrated and have renal failure because the infection kept them from being as to ambulate?  

If that's what you think then fine, don't allow people to sue the hospital or doctors when people start dieing at home days after being released from the hospital, and stop expecting the hospitals to take care of them when they do come back.

If you can't take care of yourself then it's not safe. It's not a government definition--it's a medical one that is just nowgrowing in importance because of the age wave and increase of chronic conditions.

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Long term care---nursing home care---is cover by medicaid for the majority of elderly/disabled. How this has been explained to me is that rather than use that long term care for a very expensive nursing home, it will be utilized for these at home care programs. Those who don't have medicaid should be able to use other programs that are recently establised or being set up by hospitals and private insurance. It's all far from perfect, and far from the end vision that those in the medical community envision, but it is a step towards better, more appropriate care. Again---far from perfect--but trying to go towards cheaper yet individually appropriate care.

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LOCAL NEWS
SCHENECTADY : SCCC graduates 166 from health profession program
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Michael Goot at 395-3105 or mgoot@dailygazette.net.
Rebecca Berschwinger said she never expected she would become part of the health-care industry.
   The Duanesburg resident held various part-time positions, but now the wife and mother is a critical care technician in Ellis Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
   “I love it. I’m able to be around people that are in need,” she said.
   Berschwinger said this wouldn’t have been possible without Schenectady County Community College’s Health Profession Opportunity Grant program, which provides education to low-income residents. The program was funded through a $11.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SCCC was one of just four institutions in New York state and 32 in the nation to receive the job-training funds.
   Berschwinger was one of 166 certifi ed nursing aides and emergency medical technicians who received their diplomas at a ceremony Thursday in the college’s Taylor Auditorium. Not everyone could attend the event, but those who did heard from people who encouraged them to seek employment and continue learning.
   Matthew Grattan, the college’s executive director of workforce development, said health care is a great fi eld to enter because it is stable and filled with opportunities. Grattan cited U.S. Department of Labor estimates that from 2008 to 2018 in the Capital Region, there is projected to be more than 1,000 new health care diagnostic, treatment and technician jobs.
   Mark Olsen, administrator at the Kingsway Arms nursing home, said the grant came about four years ago when he was approached by officials at SCCC to help develop a front-line training program for certified nursing aides. That began a partnership that ultimately led to applying for the grant.
   The college partners with the Albany Community Action Partnership, Schenectady Community Action Program and Northeast Parent and Child Society to train public assistance recipients and people with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level upstate.
   Students get hands-on training in classrooms designed to look like rooms in a hospital or health care facility, complete with a bed and medical equipment. Olsen said the graduates will be well-prepared.
   “You have successfully completed a difficult and rigorous program that can lead to a successful and rewarding career,” he said. “Use this experience to move up the career ladder if you wish, but remember, you can’t climb the ladder with hands in your pockets. Be proactive and search for future opportunities.”
   More than 460 students have enrolled in the program since March 2011 and 90 percent have gone on to become licensed CNAs. College officials say more than 200 graduates have obtained employment in the first two years of the grant.
   Amy Goldfarb, project director for the local program, quoted inspirational lines, including a line from rapper Eminem that got a cheer from the crowd.
   “I’m not afraid to take a stand. Everybody come take my hand. We’ll walk this road together, through the storm,” she said.
   New graduate Paula Harris said the program took longer than she thought. She had a habit of being late, she said, so she had to learn time management and grow up.
   “You’ve got to stop making excuses for yourself. You’ve got to do it,” she said.
   U.S. Rep Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, said the program is an offshoot of the Affordable Care Act to provide accessible and affordable health care.
   “To make it work, we need the people. We need the trained clinicians, the service provider network I see before me,” he said.
   Tonko added that this grant provides meaningful work to many people who have been affected by chronically high unemployment.
   Friends Shenade Griffith and Shakira Grant, both of Schenectady, said they were anxiously waiting to find a job but were optimistic.
   “I’ve already been called back for two interviews,” Griffith said.

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No it's not. You can't send home a 90 year old who can't do their own dressing changes home and say it's fine...so what, they come back in two days with their wound even more infected, but now they are also dehydrated and have renal failure because the infection kept them from being as to ambulate?  

If that's what you think then fine, don't allow people to sue the hospital or doctors when people start dieing at home days after being released from the hospital, and stop expecting the hospitals to take care of them when they do come back.

If you can't take care of yourself then it's not safe. It's not a government definition--it's a medical one that is just nowgrowing in importance because of the age wave and increase of chronic conditions.