News
Thank you, Marie: An Anecdote from an Elder Care Lawyer
As an elder care lawyer, I have had the privilege of meeting and assisting countless families and seniors over the years. And over those years, some stand out in the mind…like Marie. In February 2017, Marie left her home and transitioned to a personal care home. Her husband was in poor health and in a nursing home. She had no children and needed an elder care lawyer to help her navigate these changes. Given her situation, Marie’s close friend scheduled a meeting with myself, Kathleen Magee, our Director of Care Coordination, and Marie to discuss how our team of elder [...]
The Value of Home Modifications For Older Adults
The focus of our elder care law firm is to offer a multi-disciplinary approach to address the issues associated with the aging process. Traditional legal services such as drafting estate planning documents, trust planning, and guardianships are important legal tools that everyone should plan for. However, these purely legal tools do not prevent seniors from falling in their home and subsequently requiring a hospital stay and possible nursing home placement. As such, we provide both legal and non-legal care advocacy services to keep seniors at home where most older adults want to be. COVID -19 and its aftermath have made [...]
“Shared Living” – Older Parents Living with their Adult Children
“Shared Living” is a term that can refer to parents moving in with their adult children. This type of shared living has become more common in recent years for many reasons. Parents may move into their adult children’s homes because of financial or medical reasons, as well as to simply strengthen family bonds. The Covid-19 pandemic has also spurred an increase in shared living as families have been concerned about the high incidence of infections of Covid-19 in nursing homes and other senior living alternatives. Recently, a friend and his siblings worked together to assist their mother in her move [...]
Where is My Third Stimulus Check?: Possible Problems
As your friends and family receive their third stimulus checks, you may have grown increasingly worried about the status of your own economic impact payment. Due to some changes in check distribution this time around, your third economic impact payment may still be coming. Additionally, the IRS is no longer providing assistance via phone, as they did for the first stimulus payments, instead encouraging those eligible to check the status of their payment through the IRS's payment tracker tool, which you can access by clicking here. If your payment has been delayed, the most common reasons are outlined below. Where [...]
Update on Rothkoff Law Status
As we move into the second year of dealing with the effects of COVID-19, at the present time, most of our office team continues to be hard at work with the assistance of technology. We continue to be very productive working remotely, and are at the office when needed to meet with clients or perform tasks they cannot accomplish remotely. However, as more of our clients and staff are fully vaccinated over the coming weeks, we expect to start engaging in more in-person client appointments and have more staff return to the office. However, we will continue to give our [...]
Expanded Skilled Nursing Facility Medicare Coverage During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly devastating for nursing homes and their residents. Aside from the tragically disproportionate loss of life, care for surviving residents has been delayed or interrupted due to infection, facility lockdowns or other health system disruptions. As a result, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has waived two limitations on Medicare Part A skilled nursing facility (SNF) coverage during the coronavirus pandemic: The 3-day qualifying hospital stay requirement; and The 100-day benefit period. However, CMS treats the two SNF coverage expansions differently from each other with regard to its connection to COVID-19. Three Day [...]
Rothkoff Law 2021 Virtual Elder Care Symposium on October 21, 2021
We are excited to announce our virtual Symposium for 2021, to be held on October 21, 2021. Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Jason Karlawish, author of the new book, The Problem of Alzheimer’s – How Science, Culture, And Politics Turned a Rare Disease Into A Crisis And What We Can Do About It. Due to the uncertainty of large in-person gatherings this fall, we have decided to have the Symposium remain in a virtual setting this year. However, we have a very exciting new virtual platform we will be utilizing which we believe will delight all attendees and sponsors. [...]
The Struggle for a National Agenda on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia
I am into my third decade of being an elder care law attorney. Early on in my career, I realized the shortcomings of a traditional elder law practice focused exclusively on financial issues. Our clients and families needed a multi-disciplinary approach to aging and chronic care issues, which focused on helping families navigate the health care system. This is the reason we now have five geriatric social workers in our elder care law firm. In 1989, Dr. Margaret Noel, a geriatrician, founded the Center for Older Adults at Thoms Rehabilitation Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. Her center saw older adults [...]
How the $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Bill Impacts Seniors, Health Care
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, commonly known as the COVID Relief Bill, became law on March 11, 2021. The law includes the widely publicized $1,400.00 stimulus checks and expanding vaccine distribution, in addition to increasing access to health insurance, funding for the long-term care community, and continued support for the Elder Justice and Older Americans Acts. For those on Medicaid, the the COVID Relief Bill stimulus check is not income or a resource for Medicaid purposes. The funds may be gifted penalty-free for the first 12 months. After 12 months, it is considered a resource impacting Medicaid eligibility. [...]
Unsupported Elders and Advocacy Services
Prior to starting my job as the Rothkoff Law Group Pennsylvania Client Services Director, where I work with many clients, including unsupported elders, I had plenty of experience in senior care, but I did not have any experience in the legal field. I was under the assumption that you meet with an elder care law attorney to have your will and powers of attorney prepared. I quickly realized that this could not be further from the truth. Outside of knowing my title, quite honestly, I was unaware of what my daily routine would be and what role I would play [...]
Expanded Skilled Nursing Facility Medicare Coverage During the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly devastating for nursing homes and their residents. Aside from the tragically disproportionate loss of life, care for surviving residents has been delayed or interrupted due to infection, facility lockdowns, or other health system disruptions. As a result, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has waived two limitations on Medicare Part A skilled nursing facility (SNF) coverage during the coronavirus pandemic: The 3-day qualifying hospital stay requirement; and The 100-day benefit period. However, CMS treats the two SNF coverage expansions differently from each other with regard to its connection to COVID-19. Three Day [...]
Addressing the Needs of an Elderly Parent and Her Special Needs Adult Child
Mary’s mother and sister needed help. Lots of it. The sister, Violet, is developmentally disabled and needs 24-hour care. Janice, their mother, was Violet’s sole caregiver for over 50 years. Mary knew that Janice was becoming increasingly confused, but it seemed like she was still taking great care of Violet. Then, Janice and Violet went for a long walk that ended with them wandering into a local nursing home and Janice asking if they could move in. Alarmed, a manager at the facility called for help. Janice was admitted to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, and Janice was placed [...]
Elder Law Planning: More Than Just Medicaid
When it comes to elder law planning, and when I meet with clients, the focus tends to be heavily centered on finances. When retirement accounts are dwindling due to a spouse’s high nursing home bill or a parent’s complex financial management style has left an adult child overwhelmed and confused, it is easy to become focused on Medicaid as the magic solution. However, Medicaid is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. A few years ago, I worked with the sister caregiver of a client who required long-term care. Due to the brother’s medical diagnoses and young age, his [...]
Supernova: A Love Story for Valentine’s Day
Director Harry Macqueen’s sophomore film, Supernova (2020), joins the ranks of Away From Her (2007), The Savages (2007), and Still Alice (2015)—films that depict individuals with dementia struggling to maintain their independence and the mental toll the illness takes on not only the patient but also their kin. What makes Supernova distinct from its predecessors, however, is its focus on a gay couple. Tuskar (Stanley Tucci), a man living with early-onset dementia, and his husband, Sam (Colin Firth), struggle to navigate the uncertain terrain that accompanies caring for a loved one with dementia. While on a road trip to revisit their memories together, Tusker tells Sam, “You’re not supposed to [...]
Update on Telehealth Insurance Coverage
Over the past year, telehealth insurance coverage has evolved. While telehealth is not a new practice, it has become much more widely utilized since the outbreak of COVID-19. Historically, telehealth was utilized in certain instances, such as for patients who lived in more rural areas with limited access to resources. In regard to telehealth insurance coverage, effective March 2020, Medicare began covering these visits under much broader guidelines and were paid at the same rate as in-person visits. Some of the most common technology platforms include FaceTime, Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Skype. Under the guidelines during the pandemic, the use [...]