BOSTON - (Business Wire) Seniorlink, Inc. subsidiary Caregiver Homes™ of Massachusetts won first place in Pioneer Institute’s Better Government Competition – announced on June 22, 2009. The competition provides a forum to highlight “innovative ideas and programs to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government.” According to Pioneer Executive Director, Jim Stergios, “The cost of high-quality care for our burgeoning elder population is one of the principal cost drivers in the state’s $10 billion Medicaid budget. We are pleased to award the winning prize to Seniorlink™. We are also pleased to see the breadth of winning entries, covering practical ways to incentivize healthier living and better occupational health, reduce surgical complications, and contain the cost of and increase access to primary care.”
“We are honored to receive Pioneer’s Better Government Award. Their prestigious research centers, publications and independent approach to the issues make their public policy work valued in Massachusetts and beyond,” responded Seniorlink Chairman and CEO, E. Byron Hensley, Jr. “We are pleased to have been selected from among a pool of over 150 applicants to the competition, and to have our work in community-based care and nursing home diversion recognized.”
Caregiver Homes’ (CGH) nursing home diversion program has saved Massachusetts Medicaid approximately $15.9 M since program inception, by giving frail elders and disabled adults a community-based alternative to long term care.
Data from Seniortouch™ - Seniorlink’s proprietary web-based case records system - demonstrate that people with complex medical and social issues are being successfully cared for at home with the Caregiver Homes program. Family and non-family caregivers enter a comprehensive Daily Note in Seniortouch that describes the client’s health and social status, and provides a wealth of data and information about the program and client outcomes. To date, the program has provided clients with 183,000 service days at less than half the cost that Medicaid would have paid for traditional nursing home care.
About Pioneer Institute
Pioneer Institute is an independent, non-partisan, privately-funded research organization that seeks to change the intellectual climate in the Commonwealth by supporting scholarship that challenges the “conventional wisdom” on Massachusetts public policy issues. The Better Government Competition Awards Dinner will be held September 16, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Boston. Keynote speaker Dr. Mark McClellan, Director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, will be featured. Click through for a list of Better Government Competition Runners Up, and for the list of Competition Judges.
About Seniorlink
Seniorlink, Inc. was established in 2000 to help families provide care at home for aging parents and relatives, and now operates two subsidiaries. Seniorlink is guided by a distinguished Medical Advisory Board and Medical Director with geriatric specialization. Seniorlink Care provides professional eldercare advice, in-home geriatric care assessment and ongoing care management services to individuals and employees of corporate partners nationwide.
In 2006, Caregiver Homes’ nursing home diversion program was established, serving primarily Medicaid-eligible adults in Massachusetts. CGH provides community-based care and housing options for seniors and disabled adults in need of daily personal care and assistance, and compensates and supports caregivers with case management, nursing oversight and client care monitoring. Caregiver Homes is in discussion with several states, working with state government and local policy to execute their nursing home diversion program.
Seniorlink, Inc.
Susan Hess, 617-456-3782
Director of Marketing and Communications
shess@seniorlink.com
