Help Choose Home

The Help Choose Home podcast series provides information on home care options. This episode features Theresa Schmidt, speaking about benefits of hospice care. The series is hosted by Merrily Orsini, president and CEO of corecubed, who leads a team of industry experts providing elder care marketing solutions to home care agencies.

As the editor-in-chief of Today’s Caregiver magazine, Gary Barg utilizes his magazine, Caregiving.com, and the Fearless Caregiver conferences, as platforms to provide support and guidance through the shared experience of caregiving. Barg likens the family caregiver to a CEO. In applying a business term to describe a family caregiver, the complexity of his or her role instantly becomes obvious. To learn about ways in which family caregivers can be supported in their roles, listen to the full interview on Help Choose Home.

In this episode of Help Choose Home, Merrily Orsini talks with Katie Roper, CEO of Catenary Consulting and home care industry expert. Roper discusses the specifics to look for when selecting in home care for your senior loved one and the importance of being informed.

Allen Hager, Executive Chairman of Risemark, founded one of the largest franchise platforms in the industry, which you may know as Right at Home. Risemark consists of three wholly owned subsidiaries including Right at Home, Right at Home International, and IKOR that serve more than 500 territories globally. Allen Hager has a perspective on the healthcare at home industry that spans decades and includes trends and opportunities. He has some special messages for consumers and also leads the way in solving problems that get in the way of care at home. When I asked him for a vision of the future, he replied, “ Much of the future of homecare will be driven by the healthcare systems need for low cost, high-value services.”

Joanne Cunningham, President/CEO, Home Care Association of New York State for 11 years now, is leading her state's home health agencies to advance home and community-based services and promote high-quality care in the home. She also always looks for ways to expand opportunities for the home care provider community. She is very active and engaged in policy and advocacy for healthcare at home as well. Home health care is complex. Having some understanding of how the health care delivery system works vis a vis healthcare at home, is just another way of helping to understand how to choose home as a care option.

Matt Hansen, who has a doctorate in physical therapy and serves as General Manager for Homespire, a new Intermountain Healthcare Company based in Utah, is our guest today. Matt’s passion is in population health in addition to his provision of skilled Lifecare Management and Personal Skill services in the home. Matt Hansen uses his personal insights, education, and training to take a different approach to healthcare at home. Like many of our interviewees, Matt understands the importance of care management to success for the long term at home. Patient engagement is key to making positive strides in care at home.

Maryglenn Boals has spent her entire career focused on healthcare, insurance and the challenges faced by the aging and disabled. LTCi is her career path and her passion. She is a former licensed nursing home administrator, recognized locally and nationally for her work in the field of Aging. She is certified by the Corporation for Long Term Care, and has trained with one of the country’s top elder law attorneys. Maryglenn holds a certificate in gerontology. But, her personal life experience has taught her how valuable knowing the ins and outs of long-term care can be. Understanding long-term care insurance coverage is a first step in appreciating how it can be used in planning for care at home.

Laura Page-Greifinger, BSN, MPA CEO of QIRT- Quality in Real Time. Laura has worked in home care and hospice for over 30 years as a nurse, supervisor, and clinical consultant. Her passion for home health care began in a rotation while in nursing school and that passion has continued to influence her work over the past few decades. A focus on the patient as an individual with individual needs starts with all care providers in their workflow processes or operations that create a patient journey from initial referral through reimbursement. Because home health care is 24/7/365 QIRT's employees come from 44 states and most work remotely. The company works 24/7/365 days a year.    

Dr. Steven Landers a certified family doctor and geriatrician who is currently President and CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association Health Group, Inc., the nation’s second-largest not-for-profit home health care organization servicing New Jersey and Ohio.   Dr. Landers is a graduate of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.  Dr. Landers has authored several articles on the role of home care in national publications, including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medicine.  Dr. Landers most recently joined the Huffington Post as a regular blogger focusing on health policy, family caregivers, and nurses and finding ways to improve quality and value in American health care. 

Laurie M. Orlov, a tech industry veteran, writer, speaker and elder care advocate, is the founder of Aging in Place Technology Watch which provides market research that provides thought leadership, analysis, and guidance about technologies and services that enable boomers and seniors to remain longer in their home of choice. In addition to her technology background and years as a technology industry analyst, Laurie has served as a volunteer long-term care ombudsman and is certified in Geriatric Care Management from the University of Florida.

This is the second part of a 2-part series with Arnie Cisneros, President of Home Health Strategic Management. Our discussion covers many areas that affect quality in home health care. Arnie's primary focus now is on quality, and he was instrumental in spearheading one of the nation’s first Accountable Care Organizations in an era when the government is looking to lower costs while maintaining quality.  

Arnie Cisneros, President of Home Health Strategic Management, is our guest today on Help Choose Home. Arnie has been involved in home care, as a Physical Therapist and consultant for over 30 years. His primary focus now is on quality, and he was instrumental in spearheading one of the nation’s first Accountable Care Organizations in an era when the government is looking to lower costs while maintaining quality.

Peter Sosnow, Integration Leader at Humana at Home. Peter was literally born into a home care family as his father, Larry Sosnow started Patient Care in New York and New Jersey several decades ago. He has been on the care managed side of home care with Senior Bridge and now is at Humana at Home helping change how the world receives and delivers healthcare at home. CMS has just announced that Medicare Advantage plans will start covering personal care services in 2019. Humana has been ahead of the game on using care management and personal care services to keep costs down in some of their markets.

Jeannee Parker Martin, President and CEO of Leading Age California, and a long time industry leader as an equity partner is The Corridor Group for over 25 years. Martin has a masters in public health from Yale University and is considered one of the thought leaders in the healthcare at home industry.

Join Matt Hughes, Vice President of Business Development for the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) as he discusses the role that accreditation plays in the industry and how that affects consumers who are looking to choose home care. ACHC is a nonprofit accreditation organization that has stood as a symbol of quality and excellence since 1986. ACHC has CMS Deeming Authority for Home Health, Hospice, and DMEPOS and a quality management system that is ISO 9001:2015 certified.

Cathy Cress. MSW, talks about how using a geriatric care manager can make care easier as an aging life care professional can assist with difficult care decisions. Should mom and dad remain at home? Move elsewhere? What kinds of options are available? A teacher, a communicator and a caring family member, Cathy shares professional and personal stories to help others choose home.

David Totaro, as Chief Governmental Affairs Officer for Bayada Home Health Care, also serves as Chair of the Partnership for Medicaid Home Based Care. He is active all across the United States in advocating at the state and local level to gain awareness and support for healthcare at home.

Dr. Warren Hebert is a long time nurse in home care, who now runs an association for healthcare at home in Louisiana and also teaches at Loyola University. His insights into providing care in the home setting are invaluable.

Helping choose home when a care need arises depends on the care that is possible to receive in the home. Jennifer Gibson is a seasoned home care nurse who loves her job and helps explain about home care to a consumer audience.

Deborah Hoyt, the President and CEO of the Connecticut Association for Healthcare at Home, has been actively advocating for home care for years. Because home care is the lowest cost, and usually highest quality option for care, the system of reimbursement needs to switch from bricks and mortar to care at home.