Continuing care at home programs are proving to be valuable partners for home care firms. Westlake,OH-based Kendal at Home is a prime example.
The company recently announced it is expanding into northern Kentucky as well as the Boston metropolitan area. Kendal at Home CEO Lynne Giacobbe told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse local partnerships were critical to the company’s expansion. The company contracts with a variety of service providers, including home health and home care firms and meal services to bring the advantages of senior living communities into the home.
“It might be coordinating therapy services that are covered under their Medicare,” Giacobbe explained. “If they need help with meals, help with their personal care — getting their groceries, preparing their meals, assisting them with light housekeeping — that care coordinator is bringing together the entire team of people that are needed in order for that member to stay in their home.”
Established concept
Continuing care at home programs have been around for more than three decades. Senior services nonprofit LeadingAge estimates there are an estimated 30 programs in 18 states and calls the programs “an integral part of the continuum of care.”
CCAH programs let people 50 and older remain in their homes, yet enjoy many of the benefits of retirement community living. Members pay a one-time entry fee, as well as a monthly fee to cover the cost of long-term care. A care coordinator assigned to a member helps arrange the services the client needs.
Multistate program
Kendal at Home has operations in Ohio, Kentucky and Massachusetts, but it also provides services to members living in about a dozen other states. Giacobbe said the program is portable, so Kendal will arrange services for members who relocate to states outside of its service area.
“There is a credentialing process when we bring our providers on,” Giacobbe said. “They have to meet certain criteria, such as insurance, workers compensation, criminal background checks, drug screenings. All of those things have to be in place.”
Giacobbe said the pandemic has definitely encouraged more seniors to age in place. She said in the nearly 20 years Kendal at Home has been operating, only about a dozen members have moved into skilled nursing facilities. That track record can make for long-lasting partnerships with seniors and senior service providers.
