Q. My husband has become frail, and his doctor says he may need to go into a nursing home. However, neither of us is happy with that plan. I want to keep him home. Is there a program that might help us?
A. Yes. The “Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly” (“PACE”) may be just the ticket. The PACE program has been designed to help frail elders live independently as long as possible in their own home, which is exactly what both of you desire. It is designed for those elders who would otherwise be at risk of nursing home placement. Here’s how it works: several times each week PACE would pick him up at home in a specially designed van and transport him to a local community health center where he would receive all medical care, rehabilitation therapy, social services, recreation, socialization and hot meals with other seniors. At the end of the day, he would be transported back home to be with you. It would also provide some in home care services to assist him with his needs at home, and thus help relieve the burden upon you.
To be eligible for the program, one must be at least 55 years of age, have medical problems which require ongoing care, but yet be able to live at home safely (perhaps, with a spouse or other care person to assist), as determined by the evaluation team. The level of care is designed to be comparable to the care received in a nursing facility. The senior must also live in a service area covered by the PACE program and, fortunately, you probably do if you reside in the Bay Area. Once your husband joins the PACE program, all medical care will be provided by the PACE program, which unfortunately means that he will have to give up his own physicians and, instead, begin seeing the physicians at the PACE facility. However, the good news is that the PACE program provides a team of doctors, nurses, social workers, personal care attendants and dietitians who would be responsible for all of his care, and all of that care would be centralized at the PACE Center and supplemented by in-home and referral services. In the event your husband needed hospitalization, even expensive surgery, PACE would pay for that without additional cost.
PACE is primarily paid for by Medi-Cal and Medicare, and most participants are covered by one or both programs and have either a modest flat monthly co-pay, or none at all. The PACE program would also work if one or both of you lived in an Assisted-Living Facility, although it would then only cover medical costs but not room and board. Also, if one of you needed PACE services and the other did not, the good news is that the Medi-Cal law — which includes provisions designed to avoid Spousal Impoverishment — would help protect savings and household income for the “well spouse”. PACE enrollment can also work for a single senior, as the in-home services include personal care as well as some housekeeping, shopping, meals, and the like.
To learn more about PACE, contact the Center for Elder’s Independence at 844-319-1150 or visit some of these other resources on line: National PACE Association ; California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform article
OnLOK website; Kaiser Health News; Disability Rights California; California State Medi-Cal site. California ZIP codes eligible for PACE participation: see top of page 6 for Alameda and related counties
To learn more about protecting assets under the Spousal Impoverishment Laws, contact an Elder Law Attorney.