Geriatric Care Management

So, what is “geriatric care management” anyway?

It is very possible that some folks could find the term “Geriatric Care Management” to be sort of unappealing. After all, who wants to be thought of as:

• Geriatric?
• Needing care?
• Needing to be managed?

Someday I hope that we’ll find a better term for this profession. For now, we’ll forget about the name and talk about what it IS.

Geriatric Care Management (often referred to by its acronym, “GCM”) is a family of services in which:

1. The care needs of older adults and their families are assessed by trained professionals, usually social workers, who then
2. Develop care plans for the acquisition of services to take care of those needs,
3. Implement those care plans,
4. Advocate for the client when needed, which often occurs when other service providers are unresponsive,
5. Monitor the results and make changes as needed, and,
6. Report as required to family, referral sources, and other authorized persons.

This series of steps all sounds very tidy and orderly. Actually, it almost never happens that way in real life.

In fact, most GCM cases present with some acute problem or crisis which requires immediate action. After the acute problem is solved, the GCM professional may continue to be involved to monitor the client’s status and needs on an ongoing basis. Other times, the family or friends take back control of the day to day care needs of the client.

Many GCM cases arise where the older adult lives far away from his or her family or friends. Because of the distances involved, a GCM professional located near the client’s home is called upon to solve the acute problem, if there is one, and then to monitor and provide “family assurance visits and reports” on a periodic basis if so requested.

If this sounds like the sort of help that you need with your own parents or other loved ones, you can get immediate help by going to the website of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers and using the “Find a Care Manager” link there to locate GCM professionals in your area.

Of course, we welcome inquiries to our own company for situations within our service area, which is San Diego County and South Orange County. You can find out more about us by visiting our website at A Servant’s Heart Senior Care. You are also welcome to contact us via comments to this article and we’ll suggest appropriate sources of help if we can.

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