Adult Family Homes offer various benefits over other care options and I wanted to get into the ones we’ve personally experienced through our clients a family testimonials about their individual experiences. Quality of Care There is nothing quite like hearing the joy of a family member who can’t believe the difference they’ve seen in their … Read More “The Benefits of Choosing an Adult Family Home” »
Choosing a care home for a loved one is a significant and often challenging decision. It involves balancing emotional, practical, and financial considerations to ensure that your family member receives the best possible care in a supportive environment. Here’s a guide to help you navigate this important choice and find the best local care home … Read More “Finding the Best Local Care Home for Your Loved Ones” »
Figuring out the right care choice for yourself or a loved one can be difficult as not everyone is going to fit neatly into one category. When it comes to deciding if an Adult Family Home is the right choice, let’s first start with defining what an Adult Family Home is.
An Adult Family Home is a residential care home licensed by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) for up to 8 residents. They can specialize in Dementia, Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health. Most have Medicaid contract with DSHS and may differ in when and how they accept Medicaid residents.
Nursing Home Alternative
Traditionally Adult Family Homes are best seen as a Nursing Home alternative. Their staff has equal or often high qualifications then the general staff at a Nursing Home, the staff to resident ratio is far better, often being 1:3 vs. a Skilled Nursing Facility with 1:10 or even 1:15. The relationship between staff and resident is far closer as they actually have the opportunity to get to know each resident one on one, which allows them to better monitor each one and catch signs and symptoms that may not be obvious to a caregiver that doesn’t know the resident personally and has 14 other residents to care for at any given time.
Once you’ve determined that an Adult Family Home is the best option for yourself or a loved one, now comes the process of placing them. The process is slightly different depending on your source of funds, in this we’ll cover both.
The necessary steps for placing yourself or a loved one in an Adult Family Home
1. Get an Assessment
While it may make sense to start out by looking at the different options available in your area, that can be a little premature without an Assessment. You may have a reasonable idea on what the care needs are, the Assessment will give a detailed description of what the different care needs of you or your loved one, medical conditions, medications, dietary restrictions, behavior issues and other factors that may affect which Adult Family Homes can properly care for you or your loved one.
Placing a loved one or yourself in an Adult Family Home on Medicaid is a slightly different process than for those who will be using Private Pay funds. There is a little more time and planning that goes into it. We want to go over those steps to ensure that you can get everything in order so that you will be able to successfully place in an Adult Family Home and a Medicaid resident.
1. Signing up for Medicaid.
In order to qualify for Medicaid through DSHS you must meet their stringent financial requirements, which means an income of under $2,829 per month and assets under $2,000.
If you or your loved one fits this description and are not yet signed up for Long Term Care benefits with Medicaid, please click below to sign up.
Washington Connection (Your Link to Services)
Washington Connection (youtube.com)
This process can take a few months, so it’s a good idea to get it started as soon as possible.
