In the aging process, if you are unfortunately no longer able to make and participate in health decisions because of some form of incapacitation, your wishes can still be exercised. Prior to this state, you were you own final absolute decision maker. Now that you no longer have autonomy, your medical directives become all the more important because of your foresight, planning and legal documentation. Your health care directive is your responsibility as the elder states person of your own life. You can lay down the law concerning how your medical treatment will be directed by creating the physician order for life sustaining treatment, a living will and or a durable power of attorney for healthcare. As senior care specialists, we say “Take ownership and be empowered in the aging process.”
We are here together helping seniors by encouragement, support, expertise and direction to guarantee a better and more certain future with respect to this process. The alternative to this intelligent and diligent action is either to say: 1. “Later” which means to bury your head in the sand and implies ultimately “God Help YOU!” because you are at the mercy of others; or 2. “Just shoot me” which you know will never ever happen and therefore you are back at square one. Even if you do not exercise this prerogative, by your indecision you have essentially allowed the bureaucratic state of California, specifically the county of Los Angeles or Ventura, to be your proxy on healthcare treatment for the incapacitated you and unfortunately that can spell trouble. This is your life and the principal of autonomy is not relinquished unless you let it be.
What can you do now to protect yourself? How do you immediately ensure that your medical wishes are fulfilled and that you do not become a custodian of the impersonal state of California? Together Helping Seniors will walk you through the difficult process. It all begins with you realizing and initializing the critical aspects of healthcare planning with respect to your continued happiness. Looking out for your best interest is what a senior care specialist does to keep you satisfied and on track. Remember always that good judgement occurs when you possess the use of your full faculties without the stress of a serious illness. When you are very sick, angry, and hopeless, you do yourself no favor by rashly deciding only to regret the unwise choice afterwards. Advanced care planning is exercising prudence so that in the event of a serious illness, you are not caught off guard. It is talking about the underlying goals of health insurance in order that you understand the real healthcare implications in your daily life. Please take action now for your own sake and your family.
The senior care specialist will discuss the particular process of advanced care planning so that you are familiar with the details and scope when we have the follow up conversations with your geriatrician and elder lawyer. Do not be afraid! Our workshop will prepare you for when you eventually meet with the experts in medicine and law. Your geriatric doctor and elder lawyer will see and appreciate that you are ready and willing to live your life to the fullest. The goal is to have you well informed and feeling comfortable before you meet with them to iron out the specific details of your health arrangements. The physician will bill Medicare on its occurrence under the heading of advanced care planning CPT codes 99497 and 99498. Medicare requires documentation in the medical record concerning a.) this discussion with the beneficiary (or family members and/surrogate), b.) an explanation of advanced directives along with the a completion of those when performed and c.) the time spent in the face to face encounter. It is important here to remember that many non-geriatric doctors can have this conversation in very general terms, but a legal instrument such as the advanced care directive is not formulated. Moreover, they are unwilling to converse at length on the subject because of their apprehension about the end of life issues, time constraints with having to see the next patient and its legal ramifications. But with our preparation, you can do it in fewer visits and save money and time when we meet with these more expensive professionals. The meeting with the elder care lawyer who will draft and finalize the legal documents will also go much smoother after the senior care specialist has prepared you. We will address the meeting with the lawyer in our legal section. To conclude, it is your life to the very end of the journey; and Together Helping Seniors maximizes the peace and joy of it.