A Peoria business is one of the facilitators of a new Medicare program bringing some support to unpaid caregivers of family members with dementia.
Brian Braggs is the franchise owner of Right at Home Peoria, which provides in-home medical care throughout Central Illinois. He says the company has been in Illinois for more than 20 years.
The company also is a participant in a new program offered through the Centers of Medicaid Services [CMS] called the GUIDE model, which stands for Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience. The model was officially launched by CMS in July 2024. This month CMS announced 330 organizations participating in the model.
Those organizations include the California-based Pocket RN care group that Braggs said has a partnership with Right at Home.
“Right at Home and Pocket RN are set to provide assessment and evaluation for helping patients who have either suspected dementia, or they have a diagnosis of dementia on their chart and they’re a traditional Medicare card holder,” said Braggs.
For those patients and their caregivers, Pocket RN evaluates if they are eligible for the GUIDE program and helps get them enrolled. GUIDE is aimed at taking stress off of unpaid caregivers and family members who find themselves taking care of a person with dementia.
“As a primary care provider, most of them are exhausted. They’re overextended, they’re overburdened and they don’t have time to go to their appointments, go to the grocery store or anything of that nature,” said Braggs. “And so what Medicare has done is created this GUIDE Medicare dementia program that gives them respite 80 hours a year.”
The caregivers can schedule those hours of respite in four hour chunks throughout the year. For that time, an in-home medical care provider like Right at Home can step in. For many, access to in-home care like this would be too expensive otherwise.
Braggs said it’s an invaluable model for a growing issue, noting “11.7% of those living in the area of Peoria are diagnosed with that disease and that disease continues to grow. Out of 102 counties in the state of Illinois, Peoria is number 12 that has the most dementia patients in it. I want that data to be shared. We have to get busy. We’ve got to get the word out. We’ve got to get these families support.”
He said the annual benefits of the GUIDE program are equivalent to about $2,500 per patient for in-home care in a year.
Peoria-area Medicare card holders can see if they qualify for the program by calling 309-364-6500 or visiting Right at Home on Sterling Avenue.
