fishkill elder law

Changes to National Labor Laws May Change Home Health Care for Those Who Need it the Most

Published on: April 9, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

If you have a beloved elder who currently needs or will eventually need long term, in-home health care, you need to know about new changes to federal labor laws that may not only raise the cost of these services but potentially alter quality aspects. In addition to federal labor and wage laws, state and even local laws may impact what you pay for in home health care and who provides it.

When a person suffers from dementia, alzheimer’s, or or another cognitive health condition, he or she will likely need the aid of a home health care aide to provide even the most basic of care needs. For many years, home health care providers who also lived in the patient’s home were subject to different portions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which made them exempt from overtime and would essentially earn less than minimum wage because the individual was expected to be on call even during the evening.

However, a recent legal decision determined these in-home health care workers were not overtime exempt and must be paid one and a half times their average hourly wage when working more than 40-hours per week. This meant that it became economically feasible for many families to maintain constant care to their loved one from a familiar person that could be counted on to provide attentive, individualized service to the patient.

New Technology To Help Support Caregivers

Published on: March 9, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Caregivers are in high demand and that demand is ever increasing as the aging population continuously grows every day. However, caregiving can be a difficult and underappreciated job that has left it with little public desire to go into the field, due to the lack of benefits, support and adequate pay. As a way to motivate those seeking employment to explore the field of caretaking and to help provide for those who are currently caregivers, new technology is being established in order to help support and ease communication between caregivers and the elderly they support.

Seeing the struggle for adequate communication measures between caregivers, their elderly client, the elderly client’s family, one technology company is seeking to establish a smartphone application that will hopefully increase that transparency. When caregivers sign up through the application, they will be able to directly communicate with their client and their client’s family members, log all appropriate information in one place on the application , as well as request time off, similar to many corporate structures. Caregiver are able to leave detailed notes about events of the day as well as medication schedules.

Another issue with caregiving is the inability of the caretaker to take time off due to lack of backup support. This application is aimed at offering that back up support, along with paid time off and many other benefits, if properly certified through the company. In order to receive these benefits, the caregiver must be trained through Care Pros, the official caregiver network, which will come with a number of additional benefits. Caretakers can also opt for workers’ compensation benefits in the event that they sustain an injury on the job, which can be a real possibility when a fair amount of heavy lifting is required. Additionally, caretaker are offered stock options as well as pay that is at least 10% above the market rate in their area of employment.

Budget Cuts in Boston

Published on: February 7, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The new year has brought a number of changes to our healthcare system and is projected to make many more in the coming months. In an effort to control the state budget, many lawmakers are attempting to find ways in which to decrease spending in order to get out of the major defect they have incurred over the past few years.

One of those states is Massachusetts, where, Governor Baker, is attempting to reduce their budget by cutting nearly $100 million dollars in funding for a number of organizations. This budget cut was cited as an adjustment due to lagging state revenues, which need to be counterbalanced. The organizations most affected by the cuts include HIV treatment centers, opioid abuse relief centers that assist many citizens of the state in dealing with the drug problem that has run rampant through the city, as well as other elder care organizations.

The majority of the funding to be cut will come from programs in charge of assistance in paying for long term care, nurse visits, as well as other specialists. This ultimately affects the demographic of aging people who seek to age in place and receive care in their home as their health declines.

Medical Devices and Infection

Published on: January 23, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Recent Recalls

Open heart surgery has saved the lives of thousands of patients across America, as well as the world. Performing this task takes a highly skilled team of doctors well equipped with the right medical devices to assist them. All of these tools require FDA approval and specific cleaning procedures prior to their implementation during surgery. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention announced that a heater cooler unit that has been used in the majority of these surgeries since 2012, could have been contaminated when it was in the manufacturing process.

Heater Cooler Units for Open Heart Surgery

Securing Quality Care – Nursing Home Appeals

Published on: December 23, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Nursing Homes

Elderly adults end up in nursing homes for a variety of reasons, including rehabilitation after a hospital stay, voluntary admittance in order to have assistance with their daily care, disability, as well as problematic behaviors associated with mental conditions such as dementia. In order to be admitted and afford to one of these nursing homes, many elderly adults rely on government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. As a result of their reliance on government funded programs, some nursing homes will end services for an individual if their coverage is running out or they feel that the patient is ready for release, however, the patient may not agree with that same reasoning.

Why Am I Being Discharged?

Fiduciary Duties & The New Rule for Financial Advisors

Published on: November 22, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The New Rule

When consulting a financial advisor, we all assume that they would have our best interest in mind when determining where our portfolio should be invested and what investments best suit our interests, however, this has not always been the case. This year, the Labor Department issued new regulations that require industry professionals dealing with individual retirement accounts and 401k accounts to act on the best behalf of their clients.

Before this new standard was issued, financial advisors only needed to meet a suitability standard, meaning that the financial advisor only has to choose what is suitable for the portfolio, which is not always what is in the client’s best interest. A financial advisor under this standard could invest in a fund he found suitable, but may be more risky or expensive, although a similar option is available with a different fund. This suitability standard led to many advisors investing in funds they were personally interested in, sparking a need for change.

The Right to Die: New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act

Published on: July 12, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Nationwide

The Death with Dignity Act gained national attention when it Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old woman suffering from an incurable brain tumor, chose to end her life with the help of a lethal dose of medication. Since then, a national debate has resurfaced about terminally ill patient’s ability to decide when, not if, they are going to die. Currently, the Death with Dignity Act has been passed in California, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, with proposals in many more states, including New York.

New York

Back to the Basics – What is a Bequest?

Published on: July 5, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

When writing a will, many people seek to ensure that certain people in their lives get specific things, such as a family heirloom necklace, property, or an allotted amount of money. The gifting of property or assets to a certain person through the provisions of your will is called a bequest. There are few types of bequests and different situations in which to use them.

(1) Specific Bequest: It is the gifting of a specified property or asset to an identified person or entity, distinguished from the property in the estate. For example, a specific bequest would be gifting your home to your son, or gifting your diamond earrings to your niece. The main issue faced by the estate is when, upon death, the specific gift that is to be given, i.e. the property or the diamond earrings, are no longer owned by the testator. In this situation, the intended beneficiary then gets nothing, because there is nothing to satisfy or substitute from the estate.

(2) General Bequest: A general bequest is what most people think of when they think of gifts in a will. This bequest is a gift that is payable from the assets of the estate. Most commonly seen are provisions gifting a specified amount of money to a certain person, for example, $10,000 to my nephew, or a stock or securities bond. Unlike specific bequests, these type of bequests are not for a specified item, so other assets in the estate may be sold to satisfy the gift if it is not available when distribution comes.

Elders Right to Live in the Community

Published on: June 16, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

In 1999, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Olmstead v. L.C. that, consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals with mental disabilities have a right to live within their community as opposed to an institution, if professionals have determined that the patient’s ability to adapt and live in their community is appropriate, the patient can be reasonably accommodated and the move to community living offers a less restrictive setting. Following this ruling, President Clinton then directed all states to evaluate individuals in mental hospitals, as well as nursing homes and state institutions to determine whether they could too be acclimated back into their communities. Due not only to the major expenses facing Medicaid and maintaining nursing homes, this was thought to be a possible solution to overcrowding and retaining civil rights for those affected individuals.

However, in the decade and a half since the Supreme Court ruling and the President’s policy statement, the government has done little comparatively to remedy the problem. This has resulted in too many disabled and handicapped people remaining in institutions against their will and left without a method of recourse. While the federal government can control state spending for nursing homes and how Medicaid is spent, the community based care programs that so many disabled and handicapped people are seeking care from are optional.

Yet, Medicaid only pays for about 40% of all long term care services, thus, major bills are still piling up on patients, and in states such as South Dakota, the state with the highest percentage of individuals in nursing homes that have a low need or no need at all the services provided for the institution, they are forced to remain in the institution to receive any kind of care. With over 1.4 million individuals in nursing homes throughout the United States, some states are taking active steps to address the issue by allocating a portion of Medicaid funds to in-home care.

HOW DOES THE DEATH OF A SPOUSE AFFECT MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY

Published on: April 14, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

NEED FOR UPDATED ESTATE PLANNING WHEN ONE SPOUSE GOES INTO NURSING HOME

When one spouse goes into a nursing home, there is a good chance that he/she is using to pay for their care. That means that the community spouse will have to live survive on certain income thresholds determined by Medicaid. There are also asset limits that are allowed under Medicaid. Estate planning can allow for a middle class family to have one spouse qualify for Medicaid through such legal mechanisms as spousal refusal, which is only allowed in a few states, New York being one of them. These asset and income thresholds presuppose that there is one spouse in a nursing home and the other in the community.

If the spouse in the nursing home passes away, there may be some legal effect on the community spouse, depending on what means based programs he/she qualifies for. They may also receive Medicaid but only receive community based care or any number of other programs, such as the veterans aid and attendance program. On the other hand, if the community spouse passes away first, there will be a much greater chance that the spouse in the nursing home will risk losing their Medicaid benefits or have that additional income provide for the medical care of the spouse in the nursing home and the assets liquidated. The retirement account, the family home any life insurance proceeds from the community spouse’s passing as well as any investments or valuable personal property owned by the community spouse. All of this may be quite contrary to the estate plans that both spouses had. They would have rather left their nest egg to their children and grandchildren rather than have it pay for a Medicaid lien.