Real Life Stories

Licensee Testimonials | Employer Benefit Testimonials

Situation: A long-married couple in their 80’s, having moved from their house to a senior apartment, is facing a crisis. Tom has been hospitalized twice in 30 days because he’s suddenly having trouble managing his diabetes. He and Judy want to continue living together in their apartment. Their grown children, who live in other states, are very concerned about the health and well-being of their parents, and if they really can continue to live safely on their own.

Our Role: Tom and Judy’s daughter asked My Health Care Manager to conduct its Initial Support service – a situational assessment and report with findings and recommendations – after being referred by a social worker concerned about her parents' health and safety.

Tom and Judy’s Health Care Manager collected information from the family, the case worker, physician and neuropsychologist to clearly understand the situation. The research showed Tom was losing some of his cognitive skills and that a physician had diagnosed him with early-stage Alzheimer’s and dementia. My Health Care Manager summarized options and presented them to Tom, Judy and their children. Judy could assume daily responsibility for helping Tom manage his diabetes –a role she has never learned – or, the family could consider moving to an assisted living facility where Tom could hire skilled nursing care.

• Through My Health Care Manager’s hourly services, a one-month plan was created to determine Judy’s abilities in this new role.
• The Health Care Manager coordinated in-home nursing care 1 hour per day, established diabetes education support, designed hourly medication and blood sugar testing schedule for each week for Tom and Judy and visited periodically to monitor and support Judy’s progress and effectiveness.
• Scheduled weekly phone updates with the daughter to keep her informed and increase her peace of mind.

Outcome: Today, Tom and Judy are living well together in their own home. Judy has done an excellent job supporting her husband and assisting in the management of his diabetes. Tom’s blood sugar has been under control and the family has avoided unnecessary or recurrent hospitalizations.

My Health Care Manager continues to partner with Tom, Judy and their children through monthly services.

Situation: Ninety-two year old Ruth lives in an assisted living facility in an independent living unit. She is mostly healthy, although she has previously fallen and broken her hip. Her two sons and daughter want to make sure they are organized and want a health care professional to be on their side to answer questions and help them as needs arise with changes in their mom’s health.

Our Role: The children enrolled Ruth as a member and split the fee among them. Our Assessment was conducted, including a review of health care information, insurance and legal documents. My Health Care Manager created an electronic and printed version of Ruth’s Health Care Record TM, and her children were able to access pertinent health information and her personal wishes whether in time of stable health, times of transition, or even crisis. With the Assessment and recommendations, the family chose a monthly service level, which provided Ruth scheduled visits and a weekly medication schedule to help her follow her doctor’s treatment plans and remember to take her 7 medications.

Outcome: Ruth and her family report they are better organized and pleased to have an experienced, professional Care Manager proactively managing health issues and concerns. Ruth and her doctor are especially happy that she was able to positively impact her health. By graphing blood sugar results 4 times a day for 3 months in her Personal Weekly Schedule, Ruth’s physician was able to get an accurate, pictorial view of her compliance and favorable blood sugar control. Ruth has successfully reduced her blood testing from 4 times daily to 3 times daily; now she is looking forward to reducing her cholesterol level.

Situation: In the last year, 68 year old Olive lost her husband and downsized her home. When moving, Olive enlisted her son to help her pack and sort through paperwork. They were both amazed at how much paperwork and information she had accumulated. After getting settled in her new residence, Olive decided to follow her son’s advice and meet with a geriatric care manager to get organized.

Our Role: A Care Manager met with Olive and her son to conduct an initial assessment, including reviewing all of the documents necessary to create her personal health record. After going over all of Olive’s general medical information (e.g. medications, doctors, special instructions for each prescription), Olive mentioned that she had a long term care policy, but couldn’t locate the paperwork and didn’t really understand all of her benefits. Her Care Manager had her call her agent for another copy of the plan and gave her questions to ask the agent about the coverage and benefits of her long term care policy, as these policies can vary greatly. Reviewing Olive’s advance directives prompted a discussion of her living will, her desire to register as an organ donor, and the need to change her power of attorney for health care from her deceased husband to her son. Her Care Manager also uncovered that Olive had not yet changed her sole beneficiary from her deceased husband to her son, which could have resulted in the state, instead of her family, receiving her estate. After the Care Manager compiled her “My Health Care Manager’s Personal Health Record^SM”, Olive shredded her outdated records and marveled at the convenience of having all of her critical health paperwork in one compact binder..

Outcome: Olive became a member at a level with a monthly visit from her Care Manager to keep her health care record updated, allow her to ask questions, and occasionally have her Care Manager accompany her on doctor visits. She and her son now understand her long term care policy, although she has no intention of needing the coverage anytime soon. Prompted by this experience, Olive enlisted My Health Care Manager to conduct an insurance review- a wise decision, as the review discovered an overlap in plans, allowing her to reduce her coverage and save nearly a thousand dollars per year. Olive also met with her lawyer and updated her advance directives and power of attorney. She continues to live independently, enjoys time with her son, and says that ‘getting things in order’ to ease the burden on her son in the event of a crisis was one of the best decisions she’s ever made.

Situation: George has been in an assisted living facility’s rehabilitation unit recovering from hip replacement surgery. He has not progressed as hoped and his 100 days of Medicare coverage is due to expire. The cost for continuing at his current facility is $156 a day. His four children have different opinions about what to do next: two of the children who live out of town, believe he is ready to return home; another isn’t sure; and the fourth knows Dad needs more help than can be provided at home, but doesn’t know what to do next

Our Role: My Health Care Manager was retained by the family under My Health Care Manager’s Initial Support service to help determine if Dad can safely return home, and if so, to clarify the necessary support services.

MHCM contacted the current care facility and after providing proper HIPAA and Consent documentation, learned from the staff case worker and physical therapist that caring for George at home would be quite an undertaking. He required extensive care, including safety supervision and someone to administer medications 24 hours a day, meal preparation, assistance with mobility including turning in bed at night every two hours, and therapy to increase basic endurance from poor to fair (e.g. stand longer than 2 minutes with minimal assistance).

The family received a detailed report of the findings, which included an hourly staffing grid showing the level of care it would take for George to safely return home.

Outcome: The family agreed that moving George home was not really an option based on input we provided. They engaged My Health Care Manager to identify facility options that could best meet their father’s needs. A week later George moved into a long-term care facility and his children were comforted because they felt he would receive the care he needed to ensure his physical well-being.

Situation: As they prepared for Maury’s upcoming surgery, Grace, 71, and Maury, 74, realized that they might need a little extra help immediately following Maury’s return home. Additionally, they were unsure as to which was a better choice: Maury spending a few days in a rehabilitation facility following surgery or returning home immediately with in-home physical therapy.

Our Role: Maury and Grace enlisted My Health Care Manager to help them weigh the options and then select the appropriate facility or skilled home care agency. After meeting with a Care Manager and discussing their needs, the couple decided that Maury would return to their single-level home following his surgery. Their Care Manager helped them evaluate different skilled home health agencies and provided details such as each company’s policy for screening employees and whether each company carries its own liability insurance. With our help, Maury and Grace selected a home health agency, as well as an agency to provide light housework and grocery delivery during Maury’s recovery. After Maury’s return home, their Care Manager coordinated the care and in-home services for them and completed a home safety assessment. She recommended things like installing safety bars in the bathroom, removing throw rugs, and augmenting the lighting to improve the safety of the home for Maury during his recovery.

Outcome: Grace and Maury were pleased with Maury’s recovery and impressed by the seamless delivery of services under the coordination of their Care Manager. During Maury’s hospital stay and home recovery, Grace took over many responsibilities including their bill paying and finances. She realized how little of this she had done in their marriage, as Maury had always taken care of it, and confided to their Care Manager that she would really like to better understand it. During their next meeting, their Care Manager opened a dialogue about the future, and urged them to plan ahead. She suggested that in addition to organizing their legal documents and medical information, they should meet with their financial advisor. Maury realized that if something ever happened to him, he wanted Grace to be in a position to confidently ‘take over’ their finances. He helped her learn more about their financial matters and began to encourage her take a more active role in them. Today Maury and Grace are healthy, happy, and prepared for the future. They maintain a relationship with My Health Care Manager to address questions as they arise and keep their Care Manager ‘in the loop’ in case they need her help in another unexpected situation.

Situation: 70-year-old Phillip recently moved his wife to an assisted living facility’s Alzheimer’s unit. His primary concern is for his wife - he wants to be sure that she receives quality and effective care. He knows his wife’s memory is failing and that their lives are changing in ways they did not expect. A retired, successful executive, Phillip now recognizes that they are not prepared for this stage of life - their health care information is not well organized and he doesn’t even know if his insurance policy will cover his wife’s care.

Our Role: My Health Care Manager’s services helped Phillip get organized, clarified his insurance coverage, and helped him feel confident that he is receiving professional, unbiased guidance and information. Phillip enrolled his wife as a Member, and their Care Manager conducted an Assessment to gather extensive information about health, skills, safety and other factors by meeting with day to day care providers, the social worker from the long-term care facility and Phillip.

After the Assessment, Phillip determined that My Health Care Manager’s Assisted Living Support service was the best solution. This included:

• monthly visits by the Care Manager;
• participation in the care planning meetings at the facility;
• communication with Phillip and the care facility to ensure Phillip's wife’s needs are being met and that she is receiving the care her husband has arranged and expects;
• random visits to ensure Phillip’s wife is receiving proper and quality care.

Outcome: Phillip’s daily visits with his wife improved. He feels the staff has been more responsive to his concerns and that his wife has been more content. By relying on My Health Care Manager to manage the care plan details, he has spent more quality time with her. Phillip still misses the past, but has fewer worries about the future.

Phillip soon realized that he did not want to live apart from his wife, and joined her at the facility within the independent living community. My Health Care Manager provided assistance and coordination helping Phillip move from his condominium to his new home.