Geriatric care management

Geriatric care management is the process of planning and coordinating care of the elderly and others with physical and/or mental impairments to meet their long term care needs, improve their quality of life, and maintain their independence for as long as possible. It entails working with persons of old age and their families in managing, rendering and referring various types of health and social care services. Geriatric care managers accomplish this by combining a working knowledge of health and psychology, human development, family dynamics, public and private resources as well as funding sources, while advocating for their clients throughout the continuum of care. For example, they may assist families of older adults and others with chronic needs such as those suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other dementia. Geriatric care management integrates health care and psychological care with other needed services such as: housing, home care services, nutritional services, assistance with activities of daily living, socialization programs, as well as financial and legal planning (e.g. banking, trusts). A care plan tailored for specific circumstances is prepared after a comprehensive assessment has taken place, and is continuously monitored and modified as needed. A comprehensive geriatric care assessment is thorough and can take anywhere from two to five hours in length, this of course is broken down into two or three assessment visits with the patient/family members. The comprehensive assessment is really a compilation of smaller individual assessments with the first one being a primary intake assessment which includes demographic type data as well as a health history, social history, and legal/financial history. From there, a medication profile assessment is included, as well as an assessment of ADLs (activities of daily living) and IADLs (instrumental activities of daily living).