My mom has been living at home with me in Miami, Florida for the past 3 years and now my sister is going to take her for 1 year or more into her home in East Walpole, Massachusetts, we don't want to lose her long term care benefits and need to know the best way to either transfer her case to Massachusetts or what we should say because we don't want to have to go through transferring every year. She has Medicaid Coventry/Aetna in Florida and Medicare since she is a 100% bedbound patient. Does anyone know of a GOOD program that is national? Any advise or recommendation of good Live at home long term care programs in Massachusetts would be greatly appreciated.
I don't have answers for your questions but did check another of your posts and wanted to share a concern. You wrote that your mother has cancer and is bedridden.
I'm wondering about the difficulty of moving from Florida to Massachusetts given your mother's immobile condition, as well as continuing the cancer treatment with a presumably new group of oncologists and physicians.
It seems this annual transfer will continue in the future. I'm sure you've addressed long term transport issues - it's the change on your mother, the disruption and perhaps disorientation that concerns me.
As to the continuation of Medicaid coverage, I think your sister should probably contact the Medicaid authorities in Massachusetts to find out how to continue care without going through the whole process again. I have little if any experience so I can't offer much advice. But there might be some way to transfer at the state level.
You might also contact your own Medicaid office in Florida to ask about this issue.
Have you discussed this with her local doctors? How do they feel about moving her -- might it have an adverse impact on her health? Get referrals to doctors on the other end.
How does Mother feel about moving? How is her mental health?
You are very wise to attempt to avoid burnout. If after you have thoroughly explored this you conclude that sharing between states is not feasible, don't give up the idea of avoiding burnout. Arrange plenty of respite care. Ask the Medicaid caseworker for suggestions for regular respite, even if Medicaid will not cover it. Maybe Sis can help fund the respite care. There may be volunteer programs that would spell you for a few hours each week. Various facilities may offer respite care for a week or more. Maybe Sis can come in twice a year for you to take a one-week vacation. If moving Mom won't be feasible, keep working on ways to get relief from your constant on-call status.
The other possibility, of course, is for Mom to be placed in an appropriate level care center, and for you to visit her frequently and Sis to visit as often as she can. You can both go back to the role of loving daughters while 3 shifts of professionals take on the day-to-day caregiver roles.
Best wishes to you all, and do keep us posted on how this works ou.
If your mom is bedridden I'd be concerned about her moving back and forth. It sounds like your sister wants to pitch in, which is wonderful, but it sounds like an awful lot for your mom to endure. Someone who is bedridden is the most difficult to care for and if they have any type of dementia or acute illness it makes it all the harder to care for them.
But it sounds like you are getting a break and that's good.