Are You Missing The Market For In-Home Services & Supports?

The New York Times recently had a piece, "Patient Money: When Elder Care Problems Escalate, You Can Hire an Expert," on the challenges of getting good advice when it comes to caring for elderly parents. The author recommends families hire a geriatric care manager, and adds that

"you must pay these professionals out of your own pocket. Regular insurance does not cover them, although some long-term care policies do. But a good care manager can buy you time and some peace of mind so you can concentrate on your job, your family and your own health."

In addition, the article comes complete with rates—$100 to $200 for consultation; $500 to $1,200 for assessment; and continuing case management by the hour.

I don't see many of the behavioral health and social service organizations I work with preparing to provide in-home support consultations and management needed by an aging U.S. population. There are so many factors that will assure this is a booming market (both private pay and third-party pay, by the way).

We have an aging population, with predictions that the 50+ population will live to 110 years of age(!). There is the push by financially destitute Medicaid programs to keep people at home and out of state-paid nursing homes, coupled with the increasing amount of service cost that consumers and families must pay out-of-pocket. New technologies allow more people with greater levels of disability to live at home. And, we have a changing consumer demographic—a soon-to-be-aging baby boomer population that wants to remain home as long as possible.

Behavioral health and social service provider organizations that give up the market for in-home services and supports for an aging population risk losing the in-home market altogether. Integration isn't a phenomenon limited to physician offices.