Use Assisted Living physicians?

MaryMN

My MIL is moving into an assisted living community that contracts with a service that provides primary care through their own physicians and nurse practitioners. I'm wondering if it's best to switch her records over to them, with the obvious benefit that most of her health care visits won't require her to leave the community. Or do we keep using the physicians associated with her current network, knowing that they have access to all of her medical records for the past 60 years? She would still be switching doctors since she's moving 90 minutes away. We'd also be responsible for getting her to any medical appointments, but the clinic is only 7 minutes away. What have others done?

April23

For my dad's primary doctor/nurse practitioner, I used the visiting service at his MC because it was contracted with a major hospital where he lives and through which his other specialists were affiliated with anyway. I believe the service asked for his records from his former PCP and acquired them without me doing anything. I was very happy with it and loved his geriatric doctor and NP. I still took him out for visits with his specialists as long as he was able and it made sense. He is on hospice now. But the visiting appointments with the NP every 4-6 weeks and the geriatric doctor were very convenient, I had a portal through which I could contact them and see any test results, they did labs and xrays, it was a great service.

ARIL

When my dad moved to AL, we went with the facility doctors. Now two years later (and three facilities in two states), we are still using a facility doctor, and I am very pleased with the decision. These doctors are more familiar with the elderly population than his original PCP was, and at this stage it would be a bit of a nightmare to get him to outside appointments—if I could manage that at all. He has a doctor who sees him at least monthly and has been proactive and responsive to me. I have a lot of confidence in him.

H1235

I was never very impressed with moms pcp. She was not aware of the struggles related to dementia. The physician through Al seemed much more familiar with dementia. It was also through a different network, but I think it was worth it. Mom got angry if I was there for the doctor visits, so the doctor would call and go over everything with me. It also gave me a chance to explain some of moms odd concerns. There was also a patient portal that allowed me to view current medication and ask questions. It saved me from having to get her out which was nice.

psg712

When I moved my mom from out of state to live in an AL near me, I scheduled a visit with a PCP nearby. Unfortunately I could only get a visit three months after her move. Once she was in AL, I was informed that she was required to have a physical within 30 days of entry into the community. I felt pressured to accept care from the service that came to AL.

I was pleasantly surprised at the knowledge and professionalism of the PA who came to see her. I decided to continue with the service instead of keeping the appointment with the office where I had scheduled her. The service has changed providers twice in four years, and I'm not as satisfied with the current NP, but I make my concerns known. Now that Mom is in MC, it's definitely better to have medical care on site than to take her out to an office.

harshedbuzz

Team Facility Physician.

Dad PCP was fine, mom still sees him, but he doesn't really practice dementia-informed care. He's still very big on routine screenings and tests that generally wouldn't be appropriate for someone who already has a terminal diagnosis. With dementia, and even extreme old-age, the question becomes "what are we going to do with this information?"

The facility's doc was a geriatric specialist and able to order bloodwork and x-rays in-house which was great. Dad saw a urologist for prostate cancer hormone shots 2x yearly. By the time he was in the MCF, getting him to appointments meant dealing with falls so we hired medical transport for those visits.

Dad's MCF also had an amazing geripsych available as well. She was amazing.

HB

terei

Having my mom use the AL/MC medical services was the best decision I ever made. They are familiar with the geriatric issues they see every day and I was able to stop taking her to outside dr visits which took tremendous pressure off the family members that had to take her to visits. The in house medical was generally able to quickly see her for every need she had during the 4 years she was in a facility and I was very happy with it.

CaliforniaGirl-1

A physician who will see your mom in the place she lives, is knowledgeable about dementia and geriatric issues, and has good communication with the care staff is absolutely the best thing possible, as long as they also have good communication with you.

I contrast this with driving parents to multiple doctor's appointments and trying to make sure nothing got lost in communication. This is something that becomes harder and harder as your parent becomes more confused or less mobile.

Finding a physician who sees my LO in the facility is the best decision I made both for her care and for myself.

lisn2cats

I still have both for my mom - the AL medical team have access to her records and perform basic maintenance care and add notes to her medical records shared by her PCP who she's had for years. I still have to take her out for specialty care (sigh) but, luckily, the AL is surrounded by medical offices, many of whom my parents have visited over the course of the past 20 years (her AL is 2 miles from the family house). Definitely makes it easier to have inhouse care at the AL since I get nervous taking her out by myself these days (even with her walker, she's a bit unsteady and I don't want her to fall on my watch).

sandwichone123

I did move to the facility MD when Joe moved in, but after the facility filled all his prescriptions I made sure to say that I will fill all his prescriptions moving forward. The pharmacy they used provides delivery and is convenient, but charged about eight (8) times as much as CVS. The other benefit (to me) was that I was always aware of what medications he was on. The downside was that, if they ordered something new I'd have to make a special trip to pick it up.