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Private Duty: Home Care Your Way Some people will choose to pay privately for in-home care. This allows them to choose the hours and days they want help and just what services they'd like. Private duty is home care your way, and the sky's the limit to what private duty can provide. Depending on state licensure and regulations, its potential scope may range from personal care to skilled nursing, from home maintenance to medication reminders. In some cases, private duty agencies provide caregivers to drive clients to the doctor's office, take them shopping, and even go with them on trips. Others may offer concierge services such as manicures, pedicures, massages, and more. Whether it's for a few hours a week or 24/7, private duty is tailored to fit individual needs, so an agency rep learns what they are before service even starts. They talk with clients, family members, friends, and medical providers. They do in-home assessments and provide personal care plans that change over time as clients' needs evolve. Once care has begun, private duty agencies keep working with clients, their families, and doctors to ensure safety and independent living. Private duty also supports aging in place, just what the baby boomers will want as they retire over the next few decades. They're discerning consumers who will expect customized services in their golden years. They will want a good product at a reasonable price. They will want a warm relationship with providers, and private duty can give them what they want. Private duty agencies know a happy client is a healthier client, so they strive to be caring and responsive. These attributes will make private duty the wave of the future, especially when the retirement of the boomers leads to an overwhelming age wave. By then, it's likely that funding sources for home care will have shifted. Medicare will increase from $18 to $40 billion. Medicaid will grow to be about $80 billion, but the largest payor, at about $200 billion, will be private duty. The change will require clients and family members to bear the cost through private long-term care insurance, personal savings, reverse mortgages, and other forms of out-of-pocket payment, some of which may not yet be in place. Whatever the sources of funding, the market for private duty home care is on the verge of explosive growth. The nation's aging population is growing rapidly. By 2030, the number of adults age 65 and older will nearly double to 70 million. With the life expectancy for Americans reaching over 75 years of age, the need for senior care will continue to grow because most boomers want to remain in their homes. In coming years, boomers will look to providers who believe in this goal: giving clients care their way and doing it in the comfort of their homes, wherever those homes may be. |
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