My father in laws lives with us. Our relationship with him not good and we have been trying to find him somehwere to go. He has a ton of health issues and really needs to be somewhere he can have 24 hour care. He is on medicaid and has an aid that comes 30 hours per week. The owner of the home health agency wants to rent her personally owned home to him. It's a private bedroom in a shared home. My concerns are, the agency is very unprofessional to say the least, she is charging him 50% more than the going rate for our area. I feel like this is a major conflict of interest and something just feels off about the situation. Am I overreacting? Does this sound normal?
What I'm wondering is what CARE services are being promised to fil for this $$$? Who's taking care of him 24/7 and how does he get back and forth to doctors? Meds? Who's cooking and what meals are served?
I used to work in a Memory Care Assisted Living and we had a gentleman who's daughter was trying to get him placed with us. He was in terrible shape, long overgrown hair, smelly clothes, wheelchair bound and emaciated. The daughter explained that they were talked into moving him into the private home of one of the nurses at a Sunrise Assisted Living where he WAS living. She approached him to give 2 months notice to Sunrise that he was vacating, and she'd "only" charge him $4k a month vs the $5500 he was paying at Sunrise! That has GOT to be a conflict of interest or breaking a non compete rule! Anyway, things went south pretty fast when none of the promises made to this man were kept and he was seriously neglected and underfed. The daughter was looking into filing charges against this nurse for neglecting a demented elder! She did move him into our place in the end, and OUT of that house of horrors.
If it quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck, chances are its a duck. There's nothing "too good to be true" sounding about this arrangement, it's all suspect and off.
Get dad into a SNF paid by Medicaid and you'll have recourse if something goes wrong. SNFs are monitored by the state for compliance standards. Who's monitoring this owner of the home health agency to insure SHE is compliant? Nobody, chances are, must like nobody was watching the nurse from Sunrise.
Best of luck to you.
As the saying goes---if it sounds too good to be true it more than likely is.
Trust your instincts on this, and start looking for a legit facility in your area that accepts Medicaid, and wash your hands of this agency that you already say is unprofessional.
Your FIL deserves better.
I wouldn’t allow him to rent a room in someone’s house. This isn’t a sensible solution for him.
Look for a permanent solution for his care.
Best wishes to you and your family.
Fortunately, you can say no and move on. I'd ditch the agency, find him a Medicaid bed in a nursing home, and call it good.
I think it is unprofessional on many levels.
But if he decides this is what he wants and no one is POA or his Guardian then it would be difficult to stop him.
I would report the agency to Medicaid/Medicare.
We looked at one of these agencies for my mother's private care. The advantage was that if we wanted to move her out of her home, then she would get to keep the caregiver in the group home, at least for a little while, to ease the transition into the new environment. As it turned out, we didn't use them as their prices for both in-home care and if we had placed her, were far higher that other comparable agencies.
That said, if she is licensed, I'd still say no. You don't like the agency and that is really the determining factor.
The whole purpose of "in home" Medicaid is to keep the person in their home. Looks like for your FIL with his health issues he needs LTC with Medicaid paying their share. He is past being able to be cared at home or even in a private care home.
I think this is a fraud. Lets say she can collect Medicaid, she cannot charge ur FIL more. He is on Medicaid because he can't afford to pay for his care. My Nephew had a Neurologist that he was paying privately for. When he went on Medicaid, he was told the doctor could not take Medicaid. I asked if he could pay privately. I was told no Medicaid does not allow it.
I am just rambling here and just a train of thought, if she is licenced she would only be able to get what Medicaid allowed and maybe his SS and pension if he has it. Nothing more than that. Just like any LTC facility. She would need to provide all his care and meals.
I personally would run this by his caseworker. I would definitely ask for a licence from the Agency Owner that she can operate a care facility in her home. What will Dad get for his "rent". Will she bill Medicaid and does her license give her the ability to take his SS. Will she be setting up a Personal needs account that a small amt of his SS will got into for him to use for his personal needs. (She can't touch it)