Benefits for YOU!
You’re in Good Hands with VoCare
- Why? Because you are now directly connected with your doctor, so he/she can take better care of you.
- Why? Because your family is tied more closely to you than ever before.
- Why? Because VoCare believes health and safety go hand-in-hand. Healthy and safe people live independently - longer. VoCare is the only company to offer affordable and easy-to-use health and safety tools to keep you "in good hands".
Patients and Seniors Enjoy Many Benefits
- Provides patients with independent living, as opposed to moving to assisted living or worse, a nursing home.
- Enhances confidence and safety, and reduces anxiety for seniors, patients and family members.
- Improves health outcomes and patients’ quality of life.
- Reduces major health risks by capturing biological data at home.
- Offers immediate access to care, especially for patients living in rural areas.
- Links patient with his/her provider daily or as often as needed.
- Minimizes or eliminates travel to and long lines in doctor’s office.
- Provides early detection to reduce ER visits and hospitalizations.
- Promotes early-managed discharge from hospitalized care.
- Greatly enhances a patient's level of satisfaction with care and the care provider.
- By bundling these needed services together, seniors pay less per month with one simple bill.
- Optimizes safety and security for seniors desiring to live independently.
- Helps seniors stay connected with their families and physicians for enhanced peace of mind.
- A single telephone number for both home and mobile phones makes life less complicated and save money for seniors.
Important information YOU need to know:
- Patient Reimbursement
- My SimpleOne™ Mobile Phone Payments
- My SafetyButton™ Medical Alert Emergency Device Payments
- Remote Doctor Office Visits
- Final Thoughts Regarding Reimbursement or Payment
Patient Reimbursement
Accessing health care is a burden that is carried solely by patients and families. The costs in terms of time, energy, actual dollars, and community impact can be significant when an adult child is caring for an aging parent. Calculating the cost drivers of monitoring safety and wellness of the elderly by family members, costs of assisting with health care appointments, coordinating and ensuring safe medication administration, providing adequate social interactions, etc., runs into the hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars a month for many families. In addition, the costs associated with an averted hip fracture, hypothermia, or other adverse event or omission of necessary medications and therapies, all add to the cost drivers. Patients themselves, but more often, family caregivers, are very interested in strategies that reduce the burden on caregivers.
The out-of-pocket cost of caring for an aging parent or spouse averages $5,531 a year, according to the nation's first in-depth study of such expenses, a sum that is more than double previous estimates and more than the average American household spends each year on health care and entertainment combined. In November 2007, the National Alliance for Caregiving released its study, "The Evercare Study of Family Caregivers—What They Spend, What They Sacrifice."
The Evercare/NAC study found that as many as 17 million people, or 51% of the 34 million that a 2004 NAC/AARP survey found, care for a loved one 50 years or older, and on average spend more than 10% of their annual income on caregiving expenses.. One-third of the respondents said that they have dipped into their own savings to help with care.1
Family members will be interested in any strategy that will reduce the burden and worry, improve safety and security, and assist with medical management of the elderly, disabled, or other loved one with significant health care needs. Physicians can offer a cost-based service to family members that will reduce the out-of-pocket expenses that the family carries in monitoring the aging family member.
The physician can write a prescription to the patient for the monitoring devices where the patient goes to a local retailer for the systems, or can provide the systems out of the office. The second method increases inventory costs to the physician and is not the preferred model. Using a durable medical equipment model is the best system for the physician’s office. The physician then charges the patient (family caregiver system) a monthly fee for monitoring and alert management, with support for patient education and social networking with other patients in the practice with like conditions.
Reimbursement for the patient varies from device to device, service to service and state to state. However, as you will learn from this web site, as well as near-future news and press releases, there is a HUGE transformation that is taking place. A significant amount of emphasis and interest are being placed on telehealth and its associated benefits. You will see more and more programs being offered to assist in the reimbursement of these products and services.
Read the latest on reimbursement policy:
References
My SimpleOne™ Mobile Phone Payments
There are several organizations that can help keep you connected by making the My SimpleOne™ Mobile Phone even more affordable then it already is.
- Lifeline Assistance provides discounts on basic monthly service at your primary residence for qualified telephone subscribers. These discounts can be up to $10.00 per month, depending on the state of residence. To determine if your state offers these additional discounts, contact your state’s public utility commission, by visiting the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. For more information about qualifying, please visit the LifelineSupport.org website.
- Link-Up America helps income-eligible consumers initiate telephone service. This program pays one-half (up to a maximum of $30) of the initial installation fee for a traditional, wire line telephone or activation fee for a wireless telephone for a primary residence. It also allows participants to pay the remaining amount they owe on a deferred schedule, interest-free. For more information about qualifying, please visit the FCC's Lifeline and Link-Up program website.
My SafetyButton™ Medical Alert Emergency Device Payments
The good news about payment to patients for the use of the My SafetyButton™ Medical Alert is that a significant portion of the fee to use this technology is paid for by Federal Government Waivers Programs and/or Insurance Companies.
The other good news from VoCare is that the upfront cost to purchase our My SafetyButton™ Medical Alert, as well as the ongoing monthly service fee, are less than all of the major brands currently in the market.
To find out more, please ask your physician, or contact your insurance provider, including Medicare and/or Medicaid. They will tell you the exact dollars you would be required to pay.
Remote Doctor Office Visits
Payment of services rendered is always a concern for patients and their physicians. However, in a situation where a remote “office” visit (via MyHealth Tablet™) is provided in place of an in-office visit, an interesting opportunity arises.
Instead of making the co-pay necessary for an in-office visit, which usually ranges from $30 to $50, the patient simply pays the physician directly for the remote office visit. In other words, instead of paying a co-pay and then billing the insurance company for the remainder, the patient pays, usually by credit card, for the remote office visit with the physician.
Best of all, the fee for the remote office visit is usually the same amount as the co-pay. So, instead of driving to the doctor’s office, waiting to see the doctor, waiting in the exam room, seeing the doctor, then checking out and driving home, the patient simply meets with the doctor via MyHealth Tablet™ without ever leaving the comfort and security of his/her home. And, most amazingly, it costs no more than if the patient were to go see the doctor at his/her office.
This arrangement is a win/win/win for everyone! The insurance company wins because the patient visit does not cost them a penny. The physician wins because he/she does not have to involve the insurance company and is paid immediately. Most importantly, the patient wins, since he/she can get the same level of care from their home as they would have if they went to the doctor’s office. That’s why all three groups (payers, providers and patients) love VoCare.
Final Thoughts Regarding Reimbursement or Payment
There is a wide range of considerations to be made regarding payment for services related to telehealth and safety. Frankly, it can get quite confusing at times. One company says one thing, and another company says another.
The challenge for VoCare is to keep our information fresh and up to date. This industry is changing so fast, that it’s difficult to keep up with the changes. No one likes being told one thing, only to find that the next day, it has been changed or updated.
Therefore, IF you have any questions about anything related to VoCare products and/or services as they relate to costs, please feel free to call our support line or ask your physician. We’ll be happy to help!
