Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: co-care agreements?

[Chris ScottHanson (cscotthanson]

WOW - Wendy…  This is extremely valuable information.  Thank you so much.

Chris ScottHanson
Fifth Street Commons <http://fifthstreetcommons.com/>
130 Fifth Street, C101
Langley, WA 98260

(206) 601-7802



> On Jan 25, 2017, at 7:01 PM, Wendy Willbanks Wiesner <wwiesner [at] 
> affordablecohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Muriel at Shadowlake wrote:
> 
> "At some point, residents with serious physical or cognitive issues should
> expect to sell their house and move to senior
> living/assisted living.  In fact in the last couple of years, four singles
> or couples have done just that, and two more residents are about to leave
> as well because of their increasing age-related physical limitations."
> 
> Muriel, Mary, Dyan, Sharon et al:
> 
> I suggest considering the PACE program as communities put their Aging in
> Place Plan together.  The program is designed to address precisely the
> issues that you highlighted in the above quote, Muriel.  Here are the
> details:
> 
> *DESCRIPTION:*
> 
> PACE (Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) is a Medicare (and
> Medicaid) program that helps people meet their health care needs in the
> community instead of going to a nursing home or other care facility.
> 
> The program offers a team of health care professionals providing
> coordinated, comprehensive care, including a geriatrician who oversees
> medical care provided by a team of physicians, nurses, therapists and
> social workers.  The program also provides home health workers and sends
> contractors to make a participant's home safer and more accessible.
> 
> *COST*
> 
> If you have Medicare, you pay:
> 
> A monthly premium to cover the long-term care portion of the PACE benefit
> (no premium if you qualify for Medicaid).
> 
> A premium for Medicare Part D drugs.
> 
> No deductible or copayment for any drug, service, or care approved by your
> health care team.
> 
> If you don't have Medicare or Medicaid, you can pay for PACE privately.
> 
> *QUALIFICATIONS*
> 
> To qualify you must
> 
> 1)  Be 55 or older.
> 
> 2)  Live in the service area of a PACE organization.
> 
> To date, there are 121 programs in 31 states with the program rapidly
> growing.  See the National Pace Association (NPA) at npaonline.org for
> up-to-date information.
> 
> 3)  Currently need, or be "at risk" for needing nursing home-level of care
> (assessment criteria varies by state).  Common criteria include needing
> assistance preparing meals, dressing and/or bathing; chronic medical
> conditions are also considered.  Exemptions may apply.
> 
> AND most relevant to cohousing communities IMHO--
> 
> *4)  Be able to live safely in the community with help from PACE.*
> 
> *The willingness of residents in cohousing to provide mutual support--so
> that residents can "live safely in the community with help from PACE"--will
> influence whether an individual can meet this PACE criteria or not.  *
> 
> What needs to happen next for cohousers wanting to age in place with PACE
> is to work through a few community-level test cases (to my knowledge this
> has not been done in either a coordinated or even an ad hoc way yet).
> I've identified NM as a good test case because the state and its
> vertically-integrated hospital system provider is a recognized pioneer with
> the PACE program, and thus influences others.  This same hospital system
> will be providing health care automation to the State of NC, so NC is an
> interesting possibility as well.  CO is also a sensible and strategic
> choice, given work done with the Director of the Denver Office of Aging and
> the ED of the Colorado Gerontological Society, where together we've all
> been on a housing workgroup focused on Community Wealth Building (cohousing
> being one very impactful way to build Community Wealth).
> 
> *Please let me know if your community is interested in being a test case,
> either in NM, NC, CO or in one of the other 31 PACE program states. *
> 
> *Muriel, there's a PACE program out of Roanoke that may cover Blacksburg.
> Refer to http://www.kissitopace.org/ <http://www.kissitopace.org/>. *
> 
> *Dyan, a program out of Holyoke that covers Western MA:
> http://mymercylife.com/ <http://mymercylife.com/>.*
> 
> *Sharon, no PACE currently in DC.*
> 
> Those communities interested in being test cases could clarify PACE
> Qualification Criteria #3 and #4 (above), as they relate specifically to
> cohousing.  Having a range of test cases would give us a better opportunity
> to capture the unique choices that cohousing communities are making today--
> on what we know is actually a continuum of "mutual support".
> 
> Now speaking in general terms, cohousers will need access to the
> comprehensive medical care that PACE provides, but often not need
> transportation/meals on an everyday basis, nor the more extensive
> housekeeping/maintenance/checking up associated with the larg(er),
> traditionally isolated single family home, nor the "social activities" that
> are part of PACE programs.
> 
> 
> *This means potentially reducing the cost/increasing the ease of providing
> care in cohousing, giving PACE providers a clear incentive to work with
> cohousing communities and their residents.  *
> 
> At the very least, if your cohousing community is not currently covered by
> a PACE program, it is possible that your community could participate in a
> development phase PACE program.  Thus cohousing could be considered in the
> program from the get-go.
> 
> Wendy
> 
> Wendy Willbanks Wiesner
> Executive Director
> Partnerships for Affordable Cohousing (PFAC)
> affordablecohousing.org
> 
> [image: Inline image 1]
> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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