As your parent gets older, you want then to remain happy and healthy in their own homes. And you want to make sure they have the support to do so.

The Federal Government provides funds for Home Care Packages that ensure your parents can afford this support. But navigating the system can be overwhelming.

This article will help you to get funds for assistive technology, such as InteliLiving, in a Home Care Package.

 

Types of Home Care Packages

Home Care Packages broadly come in three different forms of support, to help your parent stay:

  • in their own home
  • happy and healthy, this includes things such as personal care, nursing services and allied health
  • connected to the community, through transport and social services
  • safe at home, including cleaning, home maintenance and modifications and assistive technology.

Depending on the level of support your parent is eligible for, the government will subsidise your parent to the tune of between about $9000 to $52,000 a year.

 

Getting services in your Home Care Package

When your parent is approved for a Home Care Package, they may choose who will manage their care package for them. Once they have chosen a provider, they will be assigned a care coordinator to look after their needs. They will work with your parent to achieve their goals and determine which services and products enable that to occur.

If your parent already has a Home Care Package, they can talk to their care coordinator at any time to make adjustments to any services. So even if they already have a range of supports, they can add more as long as they fit within the budget.

InteliLiving is fully approved by MyAgedCare and currently used by many HCP clients around Australia.  Using sensors that track daily living activities it helps you, and anyone your parent authorises – for example, carers, neighbours or grandkids – detect falls and identify changes. This may be things like not eating regularly, moving less or more and other leading indicators that may show a potential decline in your parent’s wellbeing, that could be used to prevent hospitalisation or exiting from home.

 

Introducing your Home Care Provider to InteliLiving

Your Home Care provider may not have heard of InteliLiving.

With three levels of protection – connect, detect, and prevent – InteliLiving’s smart-home system helps your parent live independently in their own home as they age. It can detect and help prevent falls and illnesses that could result in hospitalisation or residential care.

When speaking to your care co-ordinator, explain to them your parent needs InteliLiving to reduce stress and anxiety and to keep them from declining or being undetected if they do have a fall. It will reduce the anxiety of both you and your parent by knowing they are being watched over when they are home alone.

Tell your home care provider that you specifically want InteliLiving because it:

  • helps your parent remain at home for longer
  • doesn’t use any cameras, so it is less intrusive and protects their privacy
  • provides 24/7 data on behaviour to prevent accidents before they happen
  • gives family and carers daily well-being updates, reducing stress and anxiety
  • helps families coordinate care, no matter how far away the individuals live

Many occupational therapists are recommending InteliLiving for their clients, and if your parent has an OT assessment, this is a good time to ask the OT to research InteliLiving and make a recommendation to add it to the care plan.

 

Including InteliLiving in your Home Care Package

Your parent can ask the care coordinator to include InteliLiving in their care plan and have it paid for out of their care package.

You have two options:

  • Request your Home Care Provider contact InteliCare and co-ordinate the payment and invoice to be paid directly by the Care Provider, or
  • You can contact InteliCare directly, make payment and then present the invoice to the Care Provider for reimbursement. It is best to check with your provider first to confirm that they will make a payment on the invoice and there are unspent funds available.

 

How long will the process take

Care coordinators are busy people, and often have upwards of 50 clients. You may need to be insistent and keep asking your coordinator for it.

If your parent has an occupational therapist, they usually respond quickly and can get InteliLiving approved within a few days.  Have your OT call or email InteliLiving directly.

Once they contact InteliCare, they will get a response within 48 hours, then it could take a week or so for the paperwork to be finalised and another week for it to be installed. You can do this yourself, or InteliCare can help you.

 

Get started with InteliLiving now

If your parent doesn’t have a Home Care Package, be aware that the waitlist for a Home Care Package can be lengthy – from six months to a couple of years. To keep your parent safe while waiting for government assistance, you will want to purchase and fund InteliLiving directly. Once they are on a package, you can then request for the monthly subscription to be paid out of the package.

If your parent already has a Home Care and you want to learn more about how InteliLiving can help them remain safe at home, contact one of our friendly team via our contact form, or by calling 1300 001 145.

With more and more Australians seniors choosing to age at home, InteliLiving helps them do this safely and happily, with minimal intrusion.