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A new option for Worcester area seniors
by Senator Richard T. Moore November 14, 2006...One of the most daunting aspects of aging is navigating our fragmented, complicated and often confusing health care system. But a new program of one-stop health care shopping is now available for low-income seniors. It offers comprehensive care – including all prescription drugs – and gives seniors the option of staying in their homes. Massachusetts is one of the first states to offer the program, called Senior Care Options (SCOs), and Worcester is one of the first cities in the state, as well as the towns in the region, where it is now available. Currently, two organizations – Senior Whole Health and Evercare – are making the program available in the Worcester area. Senior Whole Health (SWH) anticipates an initial network of over 850 participating physicians, 5 hospitals and 6 nursing homes in the region to provide ample choice to seniors. SCO’s, like Senior Whole Health, were designed to provide comprehensive health care to low-income seniors where they live – in private homes and subsidized housing, with relatives or in nursing homes. Massachusetts has moved ahead with the program, in part, because nearly 6 percent of our senior lives in nursing homes compared to just over 4 percent nationally. The way it works is that a doctor, nurse and geriatric social worker evaluate each new patient and write a care plan that then must be approved by the senior and his or her family. Then the treatment teams assemble the services, drawing on and aggregating programs that are typically offered by different state and federal agencies. In addition, a nurse is available for consultation 24 hours a day. One of the best features of SCOs is that patients get to pick their primary care doctor. There are no co-pays and no deductibles, everything is 100 percent covered and coordinated through the SCO. It is one stop shopping. Another benefit is that in addition to providing all medical care – including hospital stays and prescription drugs – the program provides preventive and home-support services that allow patients to live in their own homes. And while SCOs cover seniors where they live, they are really designed to help senior keep living independently. Program eligibility is for anyone 65 years and older who qualifies for MassHealth Standard, the state’s Medicaid program. Seniors who also are receiving Medicare are eligible. The program is already proving successful and popular among seniors. State-wide over 5,000 senior have already enrolled in an SCO program and in some communities up to 50% of eligible senior are participating in SCOs. Massachusetts recently passed new health care reform law that is the first of its kind in the nation. SCOs represent that same spirit of creativity and innovation. As a primary legislative sponsor of both the health reform law and the SCO legislation, I am especially pleased to see this program offered in Central Massachusetts. The future of senior health care is here, and it’s available in the Worcester area. For more information on Senior Care Organizations please call 888-885-0494 or 888-821-5225 for people with partial or total hearing loss or visit www.mass.gov/masshealth Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, is Senate Chairman of the Legislature’s Joint committee on Health Care Financing, and was the primary sponsor of legislation creating the new SCO program. |
