Hospice COO was in a conference call with nurse, therapist & myself, without my knowledge. Is this wrong?

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Hospice COO was in a conference call with nurse, therapist & myself, without my knowledge. Is this wrong?

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Just got my mother's records. Am I the only one who thinks that is wrong? It's in the notes about the call with a therapist. Since she let me know the nurse was on the line specifically, I find this especially alarming. He does not have a degree in the medical field, only management.

Apparently one of the nurses also alerted him weeks earlier to my disagreeing with a policy that we left their service over.

Care Plan Elder Law Hospice Therapy

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Your post proves that not all hospice providers are created equally. Some are good and others aren’t all they are cracked up to be.

You’ve received wonderful advice from the forum, so there is no need for me to repeat it.

Just stopped by to wish you well.

Take care.

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Thank you--and I have, I appreciate all the comments and perspectives. I am so stressed by all the lies and manipulation that it is tricky to be sure I am really seeing clearly at this point. Reading the paperwork definitely cleared a lot up too--right there in black and white.

This hospice is the only one in my area, but has 4 stars on Medicare.gov which meant it should have been good. It also has deemed status from the Joint Commission--which is supposed to mean that they've proven they take proper care. I think folks are just usually too upset and in the middle of a terrible crisis to see everything I've seen.

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You can always call Medicare and find out what Hospice is suppose to cover. I do not understand a therapist being involved at all if not being requested. Do you mean a SW who can be a therapist? I am sure my Mom didn't need a therapist for Dad when he was on Hospice. My Mom sure did not have one since it was only the last week of her life and she never got out of bed and the Dementia would have made therapy not needed. They considered u need therapy? Only if u asked IMO. If so, that was against ur HIPPA rights, Hospice is not for you but for Mom. I consider having a minister, SW or therapist on board is if its requested. Not automatic.

So yes, it was wrong have a 3rd party present without ur knowledge.

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Thanks--The call was with a massage therapist who just wanted to clarify the services she'd be performing & how. They were unhappy that I kept pushing for physical and occupational therapy, only offered massage on a woman who has very little meat left on her bones to rub and very delicate skin. We did have a SW, who forgot 2 of our 4 appointments.

I did call Medicare and they are supposed to cover physical, occupational and speech therapy to do maintenance, prevent decline and get pain relief. They lied and said it is not covered.

Hospice is actually for the whole family, it is not just for the patient--even so, my mother did not get appropriate care. They are supposed to offer counseling to the family and patient if needed--I was clearly progressing down a bad path trying to get them to help her and was offered no real help. Probably because they knew they were causing my distress.

After reading the intake papers, she should have been recommended for simple home care and not hospice--another issue with what went down being wrong. (My mother is not disabled the way they described. She's very limited but fully self-cable of dressing, bathing and eating a meal--they said she could do none of those without major assistance.)

I asked for therapy to retain those functions.

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Two points: there has been A lOT of bad press recently about corporate-owned hospice. I think you might find political folks very interested.

If mom has straight Medicare and a supplemental plan, that's NOT Medicare Advantage. MA plans are those that are administered privately and take the place of Medicare parts A and B.

Any hospice program should accept straight Medicare, I believe.

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This is a non profit and a monopoly in the area as far as options for hospice goes. I really am dumbfounded by what I've learned since I stopped relinquishing control to them and did some digging into what should and shouldn't be.

She has an MA plan, and when we opted for hospice, it took the back seat and Medicare handled the payments directly for all the hospice care, the MA plan was still available for other services (like eye glasses). Now that we are out of hospice, I am just looking for homecare for the housebound and will cross the next assistance bridge when we come to it.

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I would talk to a lawyer if I were you. If you are your mother's POA (both medical and financial) then every plan or action taken has to be run by you first.

When a stroke made my POA active for my father, I called the lawyer who drew up the papers because I wanted to know exactly what POA meant and what I should do.

He told me that legally I should consider myself as my father. That every decision and action taken should be as if he was doing it himself. Pay his bills, take care of hs property, make good decisions concerning health and business.

The nursing home could not so mych as give him an aspirin without running it by me first. They stepped out of line and tried petitioning for conservatorship and lost.

Do not let the nursing home get away with this. You talk to a lawyer. Any lawyer can help you out or put you in touch with one who can better handle your situation. The first consultation is usually free. Talk to one. I hope you do.

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Thank you--I am her sole caretaker & will double check what my POA encompasses. We were doing home hospice, and it's the sneakiness of how that call went--oh, we have nurse on the line today--left me thinking it was a 3 way call but it was a 4 way call.

Their paperwork says info might be shared w others in the company to for professional review, to check on quality, business management and cost management among other things.

As soon as the state DOH finishes their investigation (my first complaint to authorities, others to follow when I see the report in case they learn something I should include) I will follow up with a lawyer. I don't want to go in half-cocked--I want to be able to say that the DOH found fault or didn't--so they know where things stand before giving their professional advice.

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Absolutely!

Hospice gets A LOT of money per day per patient from Medicare; I read recently that it's over &200 per day

Does mom have straight Medicare or Medicare (dis) Advantage? If the later, you might look into switching her back during open enrollment.

Find out if your local elected representative (City/State/Federal) have staffers who are involved in helping constituents with aging issues and/or healthcare. They might be BE VERY interested.

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Thanks--yes, they start at over $200 a day for the first 60 day and then get $160 after that for Level 1 care. She just had straight Medicare paying for hospice, but never dropped her advantage plan, luckily.

I will look into local officials, but hospice is such a special thing in most people's eyes, to criticize it is self-damning which politicians don't like to do. It will have to be a special politician who'd like not to be invited to the parties and fundraisers--and will stop giving the hospice giant grants every year if they get elected. And thing folks will still vote for them.

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I think it is unprofessional not to announce yourself when you are on a conference call.

Do you feel you or your mom was harmed?

Consider sending a complaint to CMS. And perhaps to the Ombudsman.

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Thank you--I think they are denying appropriate services and have realized I am on to it, and put their guard up as early as one week in to a month long participation by bringing the COO in on phone meeting between the nurse and the doctor about my mother's care.

Hospice COO was in a conference call with nurse, therapist & myself, without my knowledge. Is this wrong?

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