The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model is live. Among its participants are a wide range of home-based care providers.
CMS said that there will be almost 400 participating organizations building Dementia Care Programs (DCPs) to serve Medicare beneficiaries at first.
“DCPs represent a wide range of health care providers, including large academic medical centers, small group practices, community-based organizations, health systems, hospice agencies, telehealth organizations and other practices,” the agency wrote.
Those include Lifespark, InHome Connect, VNA Health System, Memory Care Home Solutions, CaringAtHome, Honest Home Health Services, Andwell Health Partners, Preferred Choice Home Healthcare and Providence Home Care and Hospice, among many others.
The GUIDE Model, initially announced in July of last year, is aimed at improving the quality of life for people living with dementia. One of its primary goals is keeping dementia patients out of brick-and-mortar facilities and in their homes and communities.
Currently, it falls under the jurisdiction of the CMS Innovation Center. It is a “key deliverable” of President Joe Biden’s April 2023 executive order on “Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers,” according to CMS.
There are many ways for home-based care providers to get involved with the GUIDE Model, whether they are direct participants or not.
The model represents yet another way for providers to engage with alternative payment sources. That’s particularly true for non-medical home care providers, who often deal with dementia patients, but don’t always work with Medicare as a payer.
“If the participant can’t meet the GUIDE care delivery requirements alone, they have the ability to contract with other Medicare providers/suppliers to meet the care delivery requirements,” CMS wrote in an explainer last year.
On a Home Health Care News webinar last month, Senior Helpers COO Mari Baxter said the GUIDE Model was something all home care providers should be trying to get involved in.
“We’re looking at that as a real opportunity for us, and I think everybody is,” Baxter said. “You’d have to have your head in your sand not to.”
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