“HOSPITAL AT HOME” – a new medical benefit for the geezer!!!

On July 17th Presbyterian Health Services, which I had joined in January 2014,  sent a nurse-practioner to visit my wife and me in our home. She explained that they were just trying to set up a data base for us and see if there was anything we needed. They come once a year if you want. It is an interview, not a physical. Naturally, when she searched our names, there was not much in our data-base.

I will have them come each year because:

1. She checked the medicines we were taking, called our druggist and called our primary care doctors. There were a few things that needed to be sorted out. Old people frequently take too much medicine and don’t know what it is for. There are also a lot of unexpected interactions and the amount you take makes a difference.

2. She suggested several programs for us including Silver Sneakers.

3. She took our blood pressure and listened to our heart beat. She asked questions about our life-style and general health. She spent several hours with us.

4. We will be able to access our records on our computer anywhere in the world. So, when we travel and get sick, we can pull up our records for the physician who treats us in some foreign country. I haven’t tried this, but will report when I get my access information.

5. Most importantly she told us about a program that Presbyterian has called “Hospital at Home.” If you meet the requirements,  you can elect, hopefully in the emergency room, to either be admitted to the hospital or be sent home. If you are sent home, a doctor visits you once a day, a nurse up to 3 times a day, you are monitored, and they deliver the equipment and drugs you need. The hospital benefits because it is 32% cheaper; you benefit because you are not in the hospital. I haven’t tried it, but will if the need ever arises. It probably helps to have a spouse, significant other, or caring neighbor.

You can read more about this in USAToday.

The geezer is becoming more aware of his health and the role he has to  play. My idea is to be comfortable and pain-free. I haven’t figured out any way to live forever, but am working on it.

At a few weeks shy of 74, based on my present condition, my genes, my family history, etc., I can expect ten “good” years; ten “so-so” years; and, 4 years in the “home.”  So….