St. Mary's Hospital Madison Wisconsin Applies To Be an ACO

The Wisconsin State Journal has reported St. Mary's Hospital will apply to the federal government to become an ACO Accountable Care Organization. This is a benefit provided to the Wisconsin community through the 2010 Health Reform Law.

Under Health Care Reform Law St. Mary's Hospital in Madison Wisconsin will be challenged to improve information sharing. ACO Accountable Care organizations are required to work together sharing information as a way to demonstrate improved quality and efficiency.

Accountable Care Organizations will interconnect network health care providers through out the defined service area. The service area will be larger, regions. An integrated information system will provide each of the participating health network providers a means to accurately identify patients and quickly aggregate, consolidate key electronic portions of their medical records. Less time, less labor, and more money available to serve patients.

An emergency room nurse could retrieve a presenting patients medical records (emergency department, clinical notes, discharge summaries, lab, pathology, radiology results, prescriptions, referral data and more) immediately. The information on the nurses computer screen would be an accumulation of all past visits recorded by participating network providers. This reduces duplication. Patient satisfaction is improved as they are not sent home to try an earlier prescribed treatment that did not help.

This is a network of health care providers capable of sharing patient specific information. Critical data can be drawn from all providers serving the region in which the patient resides. Safer prescribing. Patients will begin to expect the benefits of expansion in data sharing. The focus is on improving the quality of health care across the region through enabling technology that links care givers through a common system, with key patient data. Better for patients and health care delivery costs are reduced.

Home Care Path http://www.homecarepath.com/ congratulates St. Mary's Hospital on taking steps to become and ACO.

Wisconsin Dells Area Adult Day Care Survey

Home Care Path a leading provider of senior care services is researching the feasibility of an affordable day care service in the Wisconsin Dells area. Survey results are updated as they arrive at http://homecarepath.com/AdultDayCareSurveyResults.aspx . The survey steps beyond the typical "is there adequate senior stay at home options in the Wisconsin Dells Area" to assess community planners readiness.

The survey assesses community planners readiness for the change taking place to accomidate the aging of the population. As the United States population ages most public funded programs will continue to reduce service in the wake of high utilization. This means clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes are being called on to serve more people with less staff. Less staff translates to less time being spent with each individual patient.

Access to over night stays in hospitals will require the presence of severe symptoms. Those admitted to hospitals and nursing homes will be much more ill. Discharge planning can be more time consuming when you are dealing with a population of very ill individuals.

The past community planners paradigm of sending the senior to the clinic and if needed on to the hospital, and if needed on to the nursing home and Medicare pays for the needs is no longer valid. Seniors are being confronted with conditions that require additonal assistance and medicare will not pay for the help. Existing discharge planners find it difficult to vere from the traditional paradigm of clinic to hospital to nursing home and medicare is the pay source.

This survey is designed to assess the readiness of community planners to accept the changes taking place with the old paradigm. Many discharge planners are being forced to become familiar with all the options available in the community. Two well documented options that medicare does not pay for include 1. In home long term chronic care providers and 2. assisted living buildings one would leave home and move in to. Two options that fill the care gap being left by changes that have reduced the effectiveness of the old paradigm.

Home Care Path Transitions To Microsoft Office 365

This is to remind online user's at Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com that we will be tranisitioning from Microsoft Office Live to Microsoft Office 365. This will include the moving of our customer domain. Images will need to be saved to the computer. The risk of the entire move appears to be the loss of data. Because the Home Care Path web site contains an evolving, changing content display, the risk is minimal. Microsoft Office 365 adds to the list of key service features. Because we are transitioning a custom domain an expected 24-48 hour lag for email retreival is anticipated. Copies of web pages can be saved to internet explorer for referring to later. The countdown to Microsoft Office 365 transition begins in 3-2-1............

5.4 million Americans with Alzheimers

The Wisconsin State Journal Newspaper reports today there are 5.4 million Americans living with Alzheimer's disease. The most easily recognized symptom of Alzheimer's and dementia is memory loss. In south central Wisconsin there are 20 thousand persons living with dementia.

The medical community categorizes the memory loss in approximately 3 stages. The medical provider refers to the condition as being in the early stage, at a middle stage, or in an advanced, end stage.

Throughout all stages of memory loss the caregiver is challenged to manage change. Balancing the risk of harm with self autonomy is essential to both quality of life, and maintaining financial reserve.

Fostering an interdependence between family and in home providers can enhance household safety and insure proper care.

Participating in ongoing planning that adjusts the tasks of in home care can best compensate for functional changes or a fluctuation in daily abilities.

Recognize how the familiar facilitates cooperation. A familiar care giver, a familiar environment, all carry a noticable value.

Assisting a senior with memory loss includes both face to face care and tasks to maintain the household.

Focus on strategies that seem to be the most productive when helping a senior with memory loss. This means moving from ways of doing thngs that no longer work, to ways that now seem to help.

Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com is a leader in providing senior care services to elders in south central Wisconsin. Choose from our senior care services:
-in home staffing for elders
-inpatient advocacy for safe successful hospital stays
-transitional counseling when more structured service is needed
-downsizing home contents when stuff matters
-temporary assistance with a day surgical procedure
-computer fun with facebook the social communication tool
Simply call 608-432-4286 to schedule an in home interview. Or email seniorcare@homecarepath.com Valueing home and human life. We can be there when you are working.

Seniors Selling Todays Collectables

Seniors today have a lot of options for selling the objects collected over the years. Seniors often sell duplicate objects in the collection as a way to down size and better manage space.

Technology affords sellers access to a global population of potential collectors. The local value of a rare object will be different than the global value.

Consider listing an object on an internet selling site as a way to generate interest in the collecting community. Remember a viewer of your listing may not buy immediately but tell a collector friend about the available object.

Practise good presentation with an adequate description of the object. Add to your description as you find new information.

Track on line sales of similar objects to get a sense of price, and varied explanations of the same object.

Offer an option to the take it all or leave it idea of selling a large collection. Allow the purchase of individual objects at an agreed upon value.

Take pictures of the object to visually communicate the detail to a potential buyer.

Selling household valuables today can involve more options to a patient and thoughtful collector.

Home Care Path http://www.homecarepath.com/ assists seniors with downsizing home contents when stuff matters. This service affords the senior and family a luxury of control that cannot be experienced in a one day long local auction. Simply call 608-432-4286 to schedule an in home interview. Email seniorcare@homecarepath.com Valueing home and human life!

Kovels reports soda and milk bottles, melamine, plastic, pyrex dishes, and cut glass down in price since 2008. Average about 12 percent less than 2008 values. Tips: restoration lowers resale price, signature on jewelry adds 30%. Repainting metal toys can lower the value up to 75%. These are trends, and trends change.

What Are Non Probate Assets

Probate is the court supervised process of locating and approximating the value of the assets owned in the individual name of a deceased person. This is a process for paying the dead persons final bills, estate taxes, inheritance tax, and distributing the remaining assets to the listed heirs.

Non probated assets are specifically assets that will not have to go through the court supervised process after the person dies. Typically the assets have a beneficiary named, who then receives the asset directly upon the death of the individual. If the listed beneficiary is deceased as well, the asset would flow in to the probate process.

Examples of non probate assets:

Assets owned by the deceased with a spouse or others with rights of survivorship

Assets owned by the deceased with a spouse as tenants by the entirety

Assets owned by the deceased in a revocable living trust

Assets owned by the deceased as payable on death accounts

Assets owned by the deceased as transfer on death accounts

Assets owned by the deceased as in trust for accounts

Assets owned by the deceased in Totten accounts

Assets owned by the deceased as life insurance policies

Assets owned by the deceased as IRA's, 401K's, or annuities

Assets owned by the deceased as health, medical savings accounts

This is a breif description of non probate assets. Home Care Path encourages families to consult an independent estate planning service for a better understanding of probate process. Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com is a leading senior care provider serving south central Wisconsin. Choose from our elder care services:

-in home staffing for seniors
-inpatient advocacy for safe successful hospital stays
-transitional counseling when more structured service is needed
-downsizing home contents when stuff matters
-computer fun with facebook the communication tool
Call 608-432-4286 to schedule an in home interview. Email seniorcare@homecarepath.com Valueing home and human life!

WHO Respect and Inclusion Aging Communities

The World Health Organization ( WHO) has listed guidelines to assist community planners with making their community a place where people want to grow old. Below lists ideas for respect and inclusion.

Elders are regularly consulted by public, voluntary and commercial services on how to serve them better

Services and products to suit varying needs and preferences are provided by public and commercial services

Services and products are available to help serve seniors and families with varied levels of financial structure.

Service staff are courteous and helpful

Older people are visible in the local media, and are depicted positively and without stereotyping

Community wide settings, activities, and events attract all generations by accommodating age specific needs and preferences

Older people are specifically included in community activities for families

Schools provide opportunities to learn about ageing and older people, and involve older people in school activities

Older people are recognized by the community for their past as well as their present contributions

Older people who are less well off have good access to public, voluntary and private services

Home Care Path http://www.homecarepath.com/ is a leading provider of senior care services in south central Wisconsin. Choose from our elder care services:
-in home staffing for seniors
-inpatient advocacy for safe successful hospital stays
-transitional counseling when more structured service is needed
-downsizing home contents when stuff matters
-computer fun with facebook the social communication tool
Simply call 608-432-4286 to schedule an in home interview. Email seniorcare@homecarepath.com Valueing home and human life.