Interview with Denise Abbott and Complete Care Group

Liberty Oxygen and Medical Equipment is proud to partner with Complete Care Group as a preferred provider. Recently we caught up with Denise Abbott, LSW and Clinical Liaison, and spoke to her about the services Complete Care Group offers to Minnesota seniors and their families. Complete Care Group offers high quality medical care directly to residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota metro area independent living, assisted living and memory care communities through their clinical liaisons and the many preferred providers they partner with. Complete Care Group takes a coordinated and collaborative care approach, which keeps seniors safe and healthy longer and also helps to avoid unnecessary hospital stays. By doing so, this alleviates some of the burden and stress the families and seniors experience when trying to coordinate the various insurance, medical and home care needs, including durable medical equipment. When talking with Denise Abbott, LSW and Clinical Liaison with Complete Care Group, she said “with the growing population of older adults, senior housing has had to respond by offering a wide variety of options.” The level of care the senior requires will dictate what type of senior housing community they may live in, such as:

• Aging in Place – Older adults continue to live in their own home. There is a history and familiarity by staying in their own home, but taking care of a home is tedious and a lot of work. The home may need some modifications. A one-level home would be ideal, but home modifications can get expensive.
• Live with Family – This is a much less expensive option, but adds stress to the family relationship over time.
• Independent Senior Living – Typical age is 55+, many are still working and are very active. Things such as wider door frames, elevators, and common spaces make this type of housing feel like an apartment building. There are also extra amenities and activities geared towards the seniors to encourage socialization.
• Assisted Living – There is staff on duty 24-hours a day 7 days a week offering many levels of care. Some may receive a couple meals each day or medication assistance, others may require bathing assistance. Within this type of housing, you will find some units or entire floors are dedicated to the different types of care requirements. Many have different levels of care on their campus and the senior can move to different units or floors depending on the care they need, but still stay at the same residential community.
• Skilled Nursing Facility – 24-hour nursing care, including medication assistance and complex medical conditions. Typically, there are limitations on visiting hours, smaller rooms, and it can get expensive.

Read this blog post for more information. Assisted living communities are very supportive for those who need some assistance but still have independence, but a common misconception is that this type of residential community offers anything the senior may need, whenever the need arises. One-on-one care is not available at assisted living communities and Denise stated they often receive questions asked by family members, such as these:

• My senior loved one needs therapy, who should we go with?
• Dad needs to use a scooter now, but how do I get it covered by insurance?
• Mom needs a ride to the grocery store, how does that get arranged?

Services like transportation may be available at the senior housing community for group outings, but not usually for individual errands or appointments. This is an example of when Complete Care Group steps in. Complete Care Group is not a home care agency, but they bring many of these supplemental services via their preferred providers who are home care agencies, to seniors at the assisted living center to choose from. To become a preferred provider, there has been extensive background research, meetings, and communication on the expectations of customer service, services provided and turn-around time. Quality care and services including but not limited to home care, primary care, hospice, home health aides, and durable medical equipment are available. Complete Care Group works closely with the home care agencies and coordinates the services needed directly with the provider and the family. Complete Care Group will always honor patient choice in providers. When speaking with Denise, she explains that their customer is the senior housing community and they mainly focus on assisted living, independent living, and memory care type centers. They meet with staff at the housing community and recently our own Mary Rempfer presented an educational session for the residents at a local Minnesota senior housing community on different types of medical equipment & aids for daily living. The Complete Care Group staff also works individually with the residents to determine their supplemental needs. A clinical liaison will perform a head to toe assessment to know exactly what is needed and how to help. The liaisons have some medical training or nursing background as well as triage background. Once an assessment is complete and the resident knows what additional services may be needed, the clinical liaisons work with the senior, their family, and the preferred providers of their choice to fulfill these needs. For example, if it is discovered that a resident needs the use of a walker or other type of medical equipment, they will offer to help arrange this with a preferred provider for durable medical equipment, such as Liberty Oxygen and Medical Equipment, and get the equipment delivered to the resident along with instructions for proper use. Complete Care Group works with many quality health care companies that offer services in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area including physician groups, home care, primary or specialty care physicians, hospice care, podiatry, workout facilities, companion care, skilled nursing, as well as hair salons, prosthetics, and massage therapy. There is no fee for Complete Care Group’s services and the insurance is billed directly to the senior. There are no changes to the individual health insurance providers and if a visit to the primary care physician is needed, the senior will still be responsible for co-pays, and billing as normal. If there are any services or equipment needed, the billing will come from the service provider – you will never receive a bill from Complete Care Group. The liaisons will also assist with any insurance paperwork, questions and to make it easier on the resident the liaison will share the insurance information, with your permission, with each of the preferred providers connected with your senior. One less hassle to worry about! Navigating the health care system as your senior loved one ages and has more health care needs is a daunting task. The professionals at Complete Care Group can help determine what is the best fit for your senior loved one and coordinate the services with quality, trusted care providers like Liberty Oxygen & Medical Equipment. They also ease the burden of having to contact several different agencies for different services, so that senior residents and their family can have just one contact person to follow-up with.