This woman’s experience led her to help others in a similar predicament I didn’t have a care coordination provider in 2009 when my daughter and I started caring for my mom, Margaret. It was difficult. I was working; my daughter was in college. There may have been something called “care coordination,” but at that time, many of the care coordination services were in early stages of development or new. I did have lists of caregiving services and phone numbers for my mom, as well as financial statements and housing options. My challenge was taking a fragmented health care system and organizing it into something cohesive to serve her. Known as care coordination, this process is usually tackled by a team of health care professionals working together and sharing information to provide the best care possible at the appropriate time to, in this case, an older adult. The team then monitors and reports to the family on all aspects of the loved one’s care, including medical and physical condition and outside activities. Advantages of Care Coordination Care coordination frequently reduces cost through better, more efficient use of health care services. It also improves quality of life for families and older adults. Care coordination is a good choice for older adults who want to age in place, because services are brought in to the patient. In addition, receiving these services at home is less expensive than living in a nursing home, costing approximately $1,000, compared with more than $5,000 a month at a nursing home. In my mother’s case, I was her care coordinator. I learned as I went. I made mistakes. I got better. I was like most caregivers in the United States: a full 72 percent of us provide...
