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What to Do when your Parent Needs Medical Care
by Charlene Perrone
Navigating the healthcare industry is difficult, especially during an emergency or when you need quick answers to help a loved one find the support they need.
Imagine that your mom is hospitalized and the doctor wants her to go to a rehab facility for a couple of weeks. They give you a list, but you have no idea which one to choose. You could talk with the discharge planner, or get input from the doctor, but they may not have experience with all your rehab options. Thankfully, Medicare has come up with a handy resource that could help with these tough decisions. It's called Care-Compare and you can find it online at medicare.gov/care-compare. It's an easy tool to find and compare Medicare providers like physicians, hospitals, nursing homes, home health and hospice agencies. Just plug in your location and the kind of help you're seeking and you'll get a list of providers rated by Medicare and by patients themselves.
Just as we rely on Yelp and Google to help us decide what vendors to use, this is a long-overdue system to help us navigate the healthcare industry. And yes, these ratings are important and constantly updated by Medicare, since low ratings indicate higher risks of complications and poorly-rated facilities can face reduced government reimbursements and fewer network referrals. There's also information on the site to help figure out what kind of provider is best for you, which is often just as difficult to determine. Think of this as Medicare's gift to all of us who may be feeling overwhelmed by a fragmented, unfriendly healthcare environment.
Charlene Perrone is the owner of Home Instead. 254-8701

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