It takes a village to provide quality care to an individual. From the patient centric perspective in senior care, the senior care partner ecosystem consists of 4 distinct segments.
- Payers – In the United States, the largest payer for senior care is the government. Through its various programs including Medicaid, Medicare and VA, the government pays for nearly 60cents of every dollar spent on senior care. Long term care insurance pays for 8% and remaining 12% is paid for by the out of pocket expenses (Source- Who Will Care for Us, Paul Osterman)
- Care Administrators – For medicaid beneficiaries, Care administration is done through Area agencies on Aging (AAA) and case management companies. For seniors for whom reimbursement are processed based on their long term care insurance policies, various Third Party adjudicators may play the critical role of care administrations.
- Caregivers and other office staff – while the professional caregiver has the closest and day-to-day responsibilities of providing care to care recipient seniors, office staff at senior care businesses also play an important role albeit behind the scenes in scheduling the right caregiver and ensuring that quality of care is maintained.
- Client’s Family – Family members often suffer from feelings of anxiety for their loved ones and sometimes guilt, for not being able to look after their loved ones themselves. Family members are often in direct communication with senior care business staff, keeping themselves abreast of the care provided.
