June 2, 2025 • 44 mins
Listen in as host Steve Kuker, President of Senior Care Consulting, visits with Craig Sprinkle, CEO, and Dana Janssen, Chief Product Officer, from MedCerts. MedCerts is a leading online education company offering career training programs in senior care, with a strong emphasis on practical, job-ready skills. They discuss how MedCerts can help with training, retention, and certification of new and existing staff, leading to higher quality care and outcomes. With today’s severe staffing shortage in senior care, MedCerts’ advanced online training programs are more important and valuable than ever before! Steve discusses what to do when living in an Assisted Living community and running out of money to pay for care. Spoiler alert: do NOT wait until the last minute! Then Steve answers the important question: If you are qualified for Medicaid and living in long term care, can you move to another long term care community and keep your Medicaid benefit? #SeniorCare #SeniorCareLive #SeniorCareConsulting #SeniorLiving #KansasCitySeniorCare #SeniorCarePlacement #SeniorCareAdvisor #Franchise #SeniorCareFranchise(800) 331-6445
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Are you
a senior searching for answers? Welcome to Senior Care Live,
a program dedicated to you, providing information, education and resources
for seniors and their caregivers. And now America's Senior care Consultant.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Steve Keecker, Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm
Steve Keeker, your senior care consultant, and I really appreciate
you tuning in today. We have a wonderful program on
tab and it's going to be very very interesting with
my special guests and they are not able to be
(00:42):
in the studio, but through the magic of technology, we're
going to talk to the two leaders of Medserts and
Medsertz is a leading online education company and they offer
over fifty career training programs in healthcare and it with
this strong emphasis on practical job ready skills. So this
(01:04):
is a heads up to anyone working in the space
of senior living at any level. You will be very
interested in this discussion. So with that, let's introduce Craig Sprinkle,
he's the CEO of a wonderful company called Medserts and
Dana Janssen, he's the Chief product Officer again with Medserts.
(01:25):
And with that, Craig and Dana, welcome to Senior Care Live.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Thanks so much, ste you great to be here and
thanks for having us you bet.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Yeah, thanks Steve, appreciate the.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Time absolutely, and Craig. For those of us who may
not be very familiar with the company, what is Medserts
and how does it help organizations in the healthcare and
senior care space.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah? Absolutely, I mean you hit on it a little bit.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
In sort of your intro comments, but a little bit.
At the core, Medschurtch is actually a career training school
that primarily focused on providing certification training and allied health
care and it we're playing a very critical role in
closing the vacancy, skills and retention gaps that plague nearly
every healthcare and senior care facility today. We actually accomplished
this by offering affordable, flexible training that fits an individual
(02:13):
learner's schedule. Our training is one hundred percent online, it's
self paced, and it prepares learners to obtain nationally recognized
credentials that employers consider critical for their success.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So that's really interesting and I think this is going
to be super super helpful. I mean, it's no if
anyone works in this space, it is no surprise we
appear to have a shrinking staffing pool, if you will,
and we have an increasing demand. So that's those things.
They don't go together very well. So you're addressing that.
(02:46):
I love the self paced, I love the online and
so for someone who may be working in a different
field that's interested in working in the area of senior care,
they can do this on their own time and then
make that transition pretty easily.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It sounds like, yeah, absolutely they can.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
And we actually see a lot of that activity happening
where individuals we're doing a certain job or in a
certain profession before and they're looking for transition and we
really help support that.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
That's awesome. That's awesome. So, Craig, we know staffing and
training are just major major issues in senior care. So
how is Medicarts helping facilities all these senior care communities
overcome the issues.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
Yeah, it is absolutely a major challenge out there, and
we partner with senior care facilities in a number of
different ways. All of them are focused on solving the
challenges that those facilities have. If it happens to be
related to filling open vacancies, we can source that new
candidates on the employer's behalf, We train and help them
get certified, and then the employer actually has a fully
skilled person ready to fill an open position. If their
(03:45):
challenge happens to be related to closing training or skills gaps,
we can actually upskill or reskill their existing employees at
scale and all on behalf of that employer. And then lastly,
if it's related to just simply improving retention or reducing turnover,
we have a number of customized solutions we can provide
employers to enable their trained staff to obtain new and
specialized skills that enables them to advance into more concentrated
(04:08):
or even specialized areas of care.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
See and I love that because the turnover is it's bad. Yeah,
it's pretty tough. So if you're one of these, say
if you're an assisted living community, maybe you are a
company that has you know, dozens or maybe even hundreds
of assistant living communities all around the country, you know
(04:31):
how valuable your staff is, and you also know the
tremendous expense and turnover and then having to recruit a
new staff person and then train them and then train
them into your system and then get them on the
floor actually providing the care. So if you can help
them become more valuable and add more certifications, that does
(04:52):
help with the retention. It translates to better continuity of care,
and there's so many benefits. It's just incredible. So I
that and data. How does offering training like CNA certification
or maybe memory care essentials improve this employee satisfaction and
retention for senior care providers?
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, you know, I'd say court about development is important
to most caregivers and providing opportunities for them to advance
through training help the employee feel like they're building a career,
not just working, you know, a job.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
In Recruiting and maintaining a trained staff boosts competence. It
also boosts competence when facing complex or sense in the situations,
especially if you're talking about dealing with dementia and memory care.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
It also helps.
Speaker 6 (05:40):
Provide an improvement in morale. It shows that the employer
is investing in their people, and by and large, when
workers feel supported and valued, they're more likely to stick around.
So I think you mentioned that retention is a huge
challenge across all allied health jobs right now. But it's
matchle to crist that when you look at the deficit
(06:02):
of nursing assistance right now, we're talking about a workforce
gap of over I think it's about seventy thousand nursing assistants.
That's the single largest gap among all healthcare support roles. So,
you know, I think lastly, i'd say when employees are
trained and they do their jobs well, residents tend to
receive better care and that typically leads to a higher
(06:23):
job satisfaction for that for that team member.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
And very critically so in my business senior care consulting,
I help families and individuals, you know, find the right
community and one part of that is looking into their
past and looking into the records of healthcare surveys, et cetera,
(06:48):
et cetera. So all of this is going to lead
to better care, better continuity of care, and fewer mistakes.
That would also lead to fewer deficiencies in the most
recent health survey, which all of it adds up. All
of it is super important. So I love what you're doing.
If this is catching your attention in the listening audience
(07:08):
and you're like, hey, we need to we need to
find out more about this. Here's some contact information you're
going to want to write it down. Go online to
partners dot medserts. I'm going to spell that out for
you M D C E R T S Partners dot
medserts dot com. You know, so I'll call one eight
hundred seven three four one one seven five. That's one
(07:31):
eight hundred seven three four one one seven five and
learn more about how you could benefit from all of
the all the training options and and upskilling available from
medserts and Craig. One of the concerns that many leaders
have is time, and so how can Medserts help facilities
(07:51):
in some of these senior care communities offer training without
taking staff away from their day to day work.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah, it's spot on.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Time is really really a big consideration. And I mentioned
earlier that our training is one hundred percent online.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
And felt faate.
Speaker 5 (08:07):
So what that means is that that gives staff a
tremendous amount of flexibility to complete their training on a
schedule and at times that work bets for them. There's
not preconceived class times, they don't have to go on
site somewhere. This can all be done at their leisure.
It could be done at home, it can be done
off hours, whatever happens to work best for their particular schedule.
(08:27):
Similar to this, we've actually seen several use cases where
employers are now dedicating a certain amount of time during
shifts for their employees to actually take their training in
between fulfilling their daily responsibilities on the floor and supporting patients.
This has actually proven to also help improve retention. Dana
was talking about that a minute ago, as that staff
sees this as yet another way their employers investing back
(08:49):
in them without requiring them to invest time outside of
work that otherwise is intended for them to be able
to focus on their families. So it just gives them
that much extra flexibility, you know, whether it's done off
hours or they're in a fortunate situation that the employers
need that as being incredibly important during the normal work
day and they actually carve.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Time out and still have coverage on the floor.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Well in it. I'll tell you what, that will differentiate
the employer big time, because, frankly, there are a lot
of places that kind of take this level at the CNA,
CMA and this is very very hands on and sometimes
you know, difficult caregiving responsibilities, but I think sometimes they
feel a little taken for granted. And so if the
(09:32):
employer says, look, you're important to us, and we don't
take you for granted, and we're going to offer you
this additional training and we're going to allow you to
do some of that while you're on the clock and
not have to take time away from your son, your daughter,
your husband, wife, your family, your leisure time. That's all important,
(09:52):
and we recognize you, we're going to invest in you,
and that will help retention, better health care, better qualitycare,
better continuum of care, and fewer deficiencies. Everyone wins. It's
just it's a win win win all the way across
the board as I see it.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, absolutely agree with that.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
So again today we're speaking with Craig Sprinkle, he's the
CEO of MEDSIRTS and Dana Jansen, chief Products Officer and MEDSIRTS.
If you want more information, go online to Partners dot
medserts dot com or call one eight hundred seven three
four one one seven five and we'll have more coming
(10:35):
up next.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
We'll have more with Steve coming up next. A recent
Internet search for nursing homes in Kansas City provided thirty
(11:06):
two million results. It's daunting to think that there are
over three hundred and fifty senior care communities to choose
from in the Kansas City metro and on average, you'll
spend fifty to one hundred hours trying to find a
place for your loved one. If this sounds overwhelming, that's
because it is. I invite you to reach out to
Senior Care Consulting. We've been serving family since two thousand
(11:28):
and two. With our premium service, we do most of
the work for you. You'll spend just a few hours of
your time finding the best place available, and you can
trust us to be objective because we don't receive reimbursement
from any provider. We work for you. To learn more,
call Senior Care Consulting at nine three nine four five
(11:49):
twenty eight hundred nine nine four five twenty eight hundred,
a placement service with integrity at Seniorcare Consulting dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, go to seniorcare
Live dot com. All right, back with my special guests
on the line here mister Craig Sprinkle, he's the CEO
of Medserts and Dana Jansen, chief product officer again of Medserts.
(12:28):
And if this is catching your attention, be sure to
write this information down and reach out to them online
partners dot Medserts, me E d C E r t
S dot com, Partners dot medserts dot com. That's your
online contact. We can give him a call at one
eight hundred seven three four one one seven five. And Craig,
(12:51):
why should senior care communities view Medserts as their go
to partner for staff training and upskilling.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
I'm going to admit that I'm a little biased on
this one.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
That's okay.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Now, I'm going to tell.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
You that I believe that the quality of our content
and the learning experience that we provide is far superior
to anything else you'll find in the market. And on
the surface, they may sound like, oh gosh, you know,
you've got nice graphics and things are nice and pretty
on screen.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
And all of that. That's not what it's about.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
It's really about our instructional model, which is highly diverse
and very engaging. We've received a number of awards recognizing
our work on this front. Further, because of the depth
and breadth of our programs, we can actually serve up
career paths solutions that most other training providers just can't do.
And then, lastly, we now offer training in areas of
(13:42):
specialization and soft and durable skills that further round out
the skill set of employees. More and more, we're hearing
from employers that having a fully certified person to fill
an open job that's just merely the anti to play.
We actually offer that. Plus we can demonstrate an employees
proficiency with critical soft skills that employers have also deemed
important along with training and care. Areas of specialization such
(14:05):
as geriatric care, confection and disease control, memory care, and
many more for that.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Matter, all of those are absolutely important in the area
of senior care, whether or not it's it's assistant living
or long term care. And I love the fact that
you're also going in depth in dementia, dementia care and
dementia training. That's super important. Data. Can you walk us through,
you know some of the programs that are especially beneficial
for staff working in senior care, maybe assisted living communities.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
I think mentioned earlier that you know, we have a
catalog of course offer program offering that's over fifty at
this point. But really over the last few years we've
expanded our offerings related to patient care to the point
where we have a variety of different options based on
what aspects of care getting an individual might like to target.
(14:57):
So first, we have medical assistant medical since tend to
straddle both the clinical and administrative side within these settings.
We also have, and this is relatively new offering for
us in the last six months, is you know, if
an individual wants to play more emphasis on actual directation care,
we have options to both certified and non certified nursing
assistance as well as home health AIDS and then sometimes
(15:19):
assisted living facilities are other facilities higher patient care technicians
where the role is virtually all clinical and a majority
clinical and the scope of practice tends to be more
expanded compared to nursing assistants. So we've really kind of
developed a pretty expansive suite of caregiving program opportunities, and
(15:42):
as Craig mentioned earlier, we also have a suite of
specialty course offerings that these learners can further upskill and
train into very focused areas.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
And so you know, within within settings, you know, each
of these allied health professionals would absolutely benefit from specialty training.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
We've been developed a series of courses, which, as Craig mentioned,
are geriatric infection prevention and control, mental health, memory care.
We have a theory that extends really over.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
The next eighteen months that we're going to be launching
that very well overlap and enhance each one of these
care getting programs. So ultimately, if a facility is looking
for quality, job ready candidates or looking for merely upskilling
their existing workforce, we have solutions for both.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Excellent excellent reach out to Medsertz here it is online
partners dot medserts dot com or one eight hundred seven
three four one one seven five and data. How is
the geriatric medical Assistant program different from the standard medical
assistant program and then why is that important for senior
(16:51):
care communities that serve older adults.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
Yeah, so, you know, I guess i'd say we've we've
delivered our medical assistant program going on eight years and
it's it's absolutely the most highly enlulled and thought after
programming our catalog, and it's it's kind of a mix
or a blend of both administrative and of course you
know the clinical side to medical assisting. But at the
(17:16):
end of the day, it's really kind of a generalist
medical as system. You can get a job virtually anywhere
in a variety of different facilities, but adding a specialty
course like geriatrics means that the learner is being prepared
for more than just meeting the physical needs of a patient.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
We really focus on like how do you address building
connections with patients, how to effectively communicate with them, and importantly,
how to best maintain the dignity of patients as their
mental and physical help might be deteriorating. So in the
geriatrics course, we focus more on age related physical, cognitive,
(17:55):
and sensory challenges and then you know the unique challenges
that you know kind of the line with the geriatric
population in general. So we're really big on THOFT skills training.
You'll find thoft skills or durable skills training throughout all
of our programs, but particularly within geriatrics, there's a huge
(18:16):
prevalence of us injecting that soft skills training.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Well, and I don't mean to throw anyone under the bus.
But I've seen a lot of poor care giving out there, frankly,
and I don't think it's the person. I think it's
the training. And if you if your entire staff could
be trained on the soft skills, and like you said,
you know how to communicate with someone who is older,
and how to improve dignity and improve the communication which
(18:44):
which just helps everything. Why wouldn't you do that? This
is an amazing program. And Dana, what does the learning
experience look like for someone going through a medicarts program?
Speaker 5 (18:58):
Yeah, this is what was my favorite questions And actually
I love talking about this. You know, as Craig mentioned,
you know, we we have a high intentional focus on quality.
And you know quality you know by definition changes between
you know, individuals.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
And whoever you talk to.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
But for me, we focus on retaining students, just like
Guild nursing facilities for example, are focused on retaining their
their clinical staff. And what that means to me is
we have to we have to engage our learners. We
have to in large part entertain them. We have to
immerse them in certain environments that they're going to find
(19:34):
when they get on the job. So how do we
do that, Well, we have what we refer to as
the MEDSIRTS twelve Alments will be Learning, which is a
toolkit proprietary to MEDSIRTS. That toolkit is what drives all
of our courses and all of our programs. And really
what that means is, you know, we have instructor led
video that serves as kind of the basis of instruction,
(19:54):
but then we surround that instruction with three D animations
virtual scenario.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
And speaking of the virtual scenarios, that's how we approach
soft skills training. And what that is, what that translates
into is you have a student a learner that's sitting
at their desktop and they're looking at an AI powered avatar.
They're having a conversation with that patient or that colleague,
(20:21):
and they have to act through a scenario where they
have to make the right choices in the right discussion
points within that scenario to solve a specific challenge.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
And Dana, that sounds absolutely fantastic. Let's pick this up
after the break. Don't go away, We'll be right back
with much more information from the gentleman from Medserts.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Stick around. We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Hello, this is Steve Keeker, President of Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so excited to announce that we are expanding nationwide
by awarding Senior care Consulting franchises. We help our clients
find the right senior care community, including assistant living, memory care,
long term care, and continuing care retirement communities. We are
(21:23):
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very different. We offer replacement service with integrity. Owning a
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(21:46):
owning a senior care consulting franchise, call eight three three
seven two two three seven two six eight three three
seven two two three seven two six, or visit Senior
Care Consulting dot com. Welcome back. You're listening to Senior
(22:12):
Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts
to the program, visit Seniorcare Live. Dot com or wherever
you get your podcasts. All right, today we're speaking with
Craig Sprinkle and Dana Jansen, both with Medserts. If this
is catching your attention, reach out online to partners dot
(22:35):
medserts dot com where you could call one eight hundred
seven three four one one seven five And Dana, we
had we had to close for a break, so we'd
love to hear more if you could share more about
the experience of what it looks like going through that
Medsarts training program. It sounds amazing.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Yeah, we're pretty proud of it.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
You know, we've really kind of made them iterate these
changes in our content and our approach to content and
how we delivered it over the last couple of years
and we're really at a point where we're pleased with
with outcome and you know, kind of speaking of outcomes,
you know, we have to as we approach creating content
or you know, courses we have to teach to obviously
a certification because at the end of the day, certification
(23:17):
is what gets the job. But through speaking with employers,
through analyzing the market and the needs of the market,
we really get some key insights into what employers and
what the market is looking for out of a training provider.
So you know, again, at the end of the day,
we're teaching in most cases to a certification, so our
training is very much aligned with that certification. But we
(23:38):
also take into account what those employers out in the
field are expecting us to bring to the table with
regard to candidates when they graduate. So to that end,
you know, like I mentioned earlier, we embed a lot
of durable skills and saw skills training. We also include
prerequisite training in the areas of anatom and physiology and
(23:58):
medical terminology to make sure that you know, individuals can
speak the right language and understand.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
You know, the the a and key kind of nature
of their job role.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
That is awesome. So again in our listening audience, if
if you are working in a job or a career,
maybe you're burned out, maybe you're thinking, you know what,
I want to do something different. I want to do
something that is it just gives me a lot of satisfaction.
I want to help people. I'm a natural born caregiver.
(24:28):
This sounds really interesting to me. We have the training
available for you right here. You can make that career change.
And also if you're one of the senior care communities
out there, and you're looking to enhance your training, You're
looking to up your retention and all of the other
benefits that come along with training programs, or maybe you
want to institute one of the training programs that would
(24:50):
help you recruit new candidates for some of your positions.
Go online at partners dot medserts dot com or one
eight hundred seven three four one one seven five in data.
If I'm an executive director or maybe HR leader in
the senior care space, in the senior care community, what's
(25:12):
the first step to exploring a partnership with MEDSIRTS.
Speaker 6 (25:15):
First st up, That's pretty simple, you know, reach out
and schedule conversation with our partnership team. We'll start by
understanding your specific workforce needs, whether you're considering, you know,
focusing on upscaling your current staff, feeling hard hard to
find or hard to hire roles like medical assistance to CNAs,
or launching a new training initiatition. From there, we'll tailor
(25:37):
a solution for you that aligns with your specific staffing goals,
timelines and budget.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
That sounds great and Craig last, but not least, the
best way for an organization to reach out to you.
Speaker 5 (25:49):
Either online at partners dot medsirts dot com or they
can call directly into us at eight hundred seven three
four one one seven five.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
All right, so the company get medserts ME d c
E r t S Partners dot medserts dot com or
one eight one hundred and seven three four one one
seven five And Craig and Data, thanks so much for
being here today. Really really interesting. You sound like like
you're doing a fantastic job. Keep up the great work.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Thank you. We appreciate it and really enjoyed the conversation. Yeah,
thanks for having us.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
All right.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I enjoyed it as well. Thank you so much. Thanks,
thanks all right, again thanks to Craig and Data from Medserts.
That is really really interesting. And and again if you're running,
if you're an executive director, administrator, an HR leader in
senior care and you're like, you know what that sounds,
(26:45):
that sounds like the ticket that might be just the
missing piece that we need to increase our retention or
start to train your own CNAs and then add value
by adding more certifications. And I guess what, your staff
they're going to love you. You will stick out like
a sore thumb, because frankly, there are so many senior
(27:08):
care communities that they just don't they don't do this
stuff again, so reach out to partners dot medserts, me E,
d c E RTS Partners dot medserts dot com or
one eight hundred seven three four one one seven five.
All right, so I'm going to shift gears and talk
(27:30):
about an issue that most of my clients face here
at Senior Care Consulting. So that is what happens if
you need care but you're running out of money to
pay for the care. And that's I mean, it's a
huge question, right. So first of all, what if you
(27:53):
are at home and maybe you're paying for care, you're
paying for a lot of other support types USS and
you're needing the care. What happens when you run out
of money? And this is just a this is a serious,
serious issue, And I guess the message here is and
you have to have to listen to me. I'm not
trying to be preachy here, but you have you need
(28:17):
to move before you run out of money. So let
me give you a couple of scenarios. Number one, you
take my advice and you say, you know what that
sounds like really good solid advice, and you move way
before you run out of money. Well, Steve, I want
to stay home, but at the same time, I need
(28:38):
maybe the you know, the assistant living level care, or
or I need long term care level of care. Move
before you need to and move to receive the care
in one of these communities while you still have some
money to pay for it. If you don't do that, okay,
so you can do that very easily. But if you
don't do that, the other the other scenario is you
wait till the last second, there's no money to pay
(29:01):
for anything, and all of a sudden, you are forced
to moving to a nursing home that is Medicaid certified,
a place that will take you with no private pay upfront.
They're going to accept you Medicaid pending, and you're going
to have to take any place that has a BET available.
Because you waited till the last second. That's not the
(29:21):
preferred option. Move before you run out of assets to
pay for your care.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Now.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
The more common situation that I see with senior care
consulting is you're going through your assets like wildfire. If
you're in assisted living, We're looking at six thousand to
eight thousand dollars a month on average, and you say,
you know what, we have enough money to pay for
(29:49):
about another twelve months, and then we can see that
we are going to outlive our assets.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
What do we do?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
And I had one of our listeners, well, I've had
a lot of our listeners do this, but recently had
one of our listeners reach out and said, Steve, we're
in that situation. We could see that mom's money is
going to run out, and so before she runs out,
we're going to take your advice and we would like
to explore our options in long term care, and those
(30:20):
options would be Medicaid certified because she's going to need
Medicaid coverage to help pay for the care once her
assets run out, and it's highly likely that their mother
is going to outlive her assets. So we got together
and we're moving forward and we're going to line up
our top options. They're going to make some decisions, get
(30:44):
their name on waiting list, and very comfortably manage that
waiting list, and then very comfortably transition their mom from
the assisted living level of care it to long term
care level of care while she still has funds to
pay for that. Now, why is that important? It's very
important because not all but way more often than not.
(31:10):
If you're looking to move to a long term care
community that will also work with the Medicaid program, here's
you're not going to see this on their website and
they're probably not going to tell you about this when
you go for a tour. Okay, this is going to
come up later. Not all of them, but many of
(31:32):
them have a private pay requirement. Well, Steve, what does
that mean. That means that before this community will agree
to work with Medicaid reimbursement, which sometimes can be a
little difficult on the back end between the billing office
and Medicaid, they would require the resident to be able
(31:53):
to pay privately out of pocket for the first three
months or six months, or maybe even twelve months. So
what they may not tell you immediately if they have
that requirement is, oh, by the way, you have to
be able to pay privately for twelve months. And you're like, well,
we can't do that. What do we do? Well, this
isn't the place for you, and you've wasted all your time,
(32:15):
you've wasted their time, and here you are. Now you're stuck.
So that is super super important. Let's not forget about
the Senior Care Live question of the week. All Medicare
certified long term care communities except Medicaid immediately and do
not have a private pay requirement. Does that statement true
or false? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (32:39):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network to contact Steve or a guest on his show,
this is Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
We'll have more coming up. So you've been living into
pen at home, but now it's not working out. It's
time to begin searching for a senior care community. But
with hundreds of independent living, assisted living, long term care
(33:10):
and memory care options, how are you supposed to determine
the best place for you? Hello? I'm Steve Keeker and
this is exactly why I created my firm, Senior Care Consulting.
I help my own grandparents through this difficult process, so
I know how overwhelming this can be. Our business model
ensures credibility and objectivity. We work directly for you and
(33:33):
we never receive reimbursement from any provider. We've helped hundreds
of family since two thousand and two, and we can
help you and your family as well. Call today for
a free consultation at nine one three nine four five
twenty eight hundred nine one three nine four five twenty
eight hundred a placement service with integrity at Seniorcareconsulting dot com.
(34:05):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit seniorcare live
dot com. All right, back to the Senior Care Live
Question of the week. All Medicaid certified long term care
communities accept Medicaid immediately and do not have a private
(34:27):
pay requirement? Does that statement true or false? And the
answer is false, The answer is false false false false.
There are a lot of Medicaid certified long term care
(34:48):
communities that will work with Medicaid immediately, but there are
many many of these places that do have a private
pay requirement. Could be three or six months, could be
twelve months. That's a pretty common one. Well, if you
can move in and pay with your own resources for
(35:11):
at least twelve months, then yeah, we'll work with you,
and then once you spend down those resources will help
you get qualified for Medicaid no worries at all. And
the reason for that is that in many cases, many examples,
(35:31):
the Medicaid reimbursement doesn't even cover their cost, or it
may just be at cost. And I've seen so many
cases where examples where it is below their costs, but
they're still going to take care of the resident. They're
still going to give them the same care as always,
but at least they've made some money on that first
(35:53):
twelve months. Okay, So that's the primary reason for that.
Plus sometimes you have to yeah to arm wrestle Medicaid
to get them to pay the bills, and they're changing
the rules on you in midstream, and it's sometimes it's
a little bit messy on the back end on the
billing side of things. So again, our firm, Senior Care Consulting,
(36:14):
we work with lots and lots of clients and families
who are concerned about what is the next step. So
if you or your loved one, if they're in the
assisted living level of care and you can see the
money going down, down, down, reach out to Senior Care Consulting.
We can help you with that next move. I would
(36:36):
do it proactively. I wouldn't wait till the last second.
And if you're like Steve, we're waiting till the last second,
because I have not heard this information before. Can you
still help us, Yes, we can't, but we're going to
have to move pretty quickly because here's what happens. I
had someone recently say, well, they can't just kick you out.
Yes they can, Yes they can. They can discharge you
(37:02):
for lack of payment or inability to pay period. It's
a fact. I have talked to so many people who
have had their loved ones in the assisted living level
of care, and they just made the assumption, oh, well,
when they run out, you know, they can just build
that medicare that Medicaid thing, whatever that thing is. Yeah,
(37:24):
we're good to go. And in most of the situations
that is not the case. There are very few assisted
living communities that I'm aware of that will work with
the Medicaid program. The vast, vast majority of assisted living
communities are private pay only, which means if you run
(37:47):
out of money, you will be discharged because you have
no way to pay them for their services, and they
have no one else to bill. They can't bill Medicaid,
they can't build anyone else, so you will be discharge.
Do not wait until the last second. My firm senior
care Consulting. We can help you with this reach out
to nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred
(38:11):
nine one three, nine four five twenty eight hundred visit
online Senior care consulting with an IMG Senior Care Consulting
dot com. And then another question that I get very frequently,
sticking with this medicaid theme, what if you're in a
(38:31):
long term care community and a lot of people still
refer to that as a nursing home. But what if
you're in long term care and you're already qualified for Medicaid,
but you don't want to live there anymore. Maybe there's
a turnover, maybe the new administrator just isn't doing as
(38:53):
good of a job, or maybe there's been a big
staff shake up, staffing turnover, and maybe you're not satisfied
with the care that you're receiving. It could be any reason, really,
So the question is that I get all the time, Well,
I mean can I move? I mean, I thought, you know,
once you're there, and if medicaid's paying for it, what
(39:15):
are we just kind of stuck? And the answer is no,
and absolutely no, you're not stuck. You're not stuck at all.
You can move anywhere you want any time you want.
There is no thirty day notice in long term care.
You're not locked into a lease. You can move tomorrow
(39:35):
if you want. It is your choice. Here's the caveat.
So say, for example, if you are qualified from medicaid
in your state, any state. I live in the state
of Kansas. I'm in the Kansas City area. Might live
in the state of Missouri, but it could be Texas,
or Florida, or Nevada, California, New York, Alaska, Georgia. We
(40:01):
just added three affiliates in Georgia in Florida, et cetera.
Whatever your state is, if you're qualified for Medicaid in
that state, then you'll need to move to another Medicaid
certified community within that state, and then that way, it's
(40:21):
a very simple, easy, transparent change. So Medicaid is going
to point the payment to this community today, and you
move over to Community B tomorrow, they will simply point
the payment to community be starting tomorrow. Very very simple process. Now,
(40:44):
if you want to move from one state to the next,
it's not quite as easy, but you can still do it.
So say, if you're living in Kansas, you want to
move to the Missouri side or vice versa. We straut
Kansas City straddles as state line. It kind of drives
me crazy. I wish we had some sort of a
reciprocity type of an exception within a metro area, but
(41:09):
that does not exist, at least here. It doesn't. I
don't think it exists anywhere. Medicaid is a federal program,
but it's administered state by state. So maybe that's the catch.
But if you're qualified from Medicaid, let's say on the
Kansas side, you want to move to Missouri, then you
would move into a Medicaid certified long term care community,
(41:31):
but a place that is willing to accept you on
a Medicaid pending status meeting you move from one state
to the next, you'd have to reapply for Medicaid, but
frankly that application is pushed through. It's kind of rubber stamped.
Oh they qualified over there, they'll qualify over here because
the qualifications are so similar. It's almost a rubber stamp.
But the point is you still have to re apply,
(41:54):
which is not that convenient. Right, So you're not stuck
in your nursing home even if you're on Medicaid, just
move to another place that may be just a better
fit within your same state, and it's easy peasy. If
you need help considering your options, exploring your options, reach
out to my firm, Senior Care Consulting. We can definitely
(42:16):
help you. Nine one three nine four five twenty eight
hundred nine three, nine four five twenty eight hundred. We're
online at seniorcare Consulting dot com. I'm Steve Keeker hen
I wish you grace in peace. May God bless you
and your family on this day and always join me
next week right here on Senior Care Live.
Speaker 7 (42:48):
Does your business serve the elderly and their caregivers in
our area? There are hundreds of thousands of people either
receiving or providing senior care and they need to know
about you. A unique and successful program called Senior Care
Live is the perfect opportunity to let your target audience
know about your amazing products and services. Senior Care Live
(43:09):
is currently adding a limited number of partner sponsors, and
if you're aligned with their mission, they want to talk
to you. They're interested in partnering with hospital organizations, physician groups,
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(43:33):
Care Live has a limited number of partner sponsor opportunities,
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Speaker 2 (43:48):
Quid pro quo a Latin phrase that means an exchange
of goods or services where one transfer is contingent upon
the other. Here's an example. I'll recommend your senior care
community if you'll pay me a huge kickback from my referral.
The free referral services have a vested interest in you
choosing one of their business partners. That's how they make
(44:10):
their money. Does this paid recommendation sound objective or credible,
of course not. I'm Steve Keeker with Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so proud to say we have never received a
single penny from any provider ever. We offer a placement
service with integrity for help finding the right senior care community,
without conflict of interest, and without the quid pro quo
(44:34):
called nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred nine, one, three,
nine four five twenty eight hundred replacement service with integrity
at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Are you
a senior searching for answers? Welcome to Senior Care Live,
a program dedicated to you, providing information, education and resources
for seniors and their caregivers. And now America's Senior care Consultant.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Steve Keecker, Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm
Steve Keeker, your senior care consultant, and I really appreciate
you tuning in today. We have a wonderful program on
tab and it's going to be very very interesting with
my special guests and they are not able to be
(00:42):
in the studio, but through the magic of technology, we're
going to talk to the two leaders of Medserts and
Medsertz is a leading online education company and they offer
over fifty career training programs in healthcare and it with
this strong emphasis on practical job ready skills. So this
(01:04):
is a heads up to anyone working in the space
of senior living at any level. You will be very
interested in this discussion. So with that, let's introduce Craig Sprinkle,
he's the CEO of a wonderful company called Medserts and
Dana Janssen, he's the Chief product Officer again with Medserts.
(01:25):
And with that, Craig and Dana, welcome to Senior Care Live.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Thanks so much, ste you great to be here and
thanks for having us you bet.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Yeah, thanks Steve, appreciate the.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Time absolutely, and Craig. For those of us who may
not be very familiar with the company, what is Medserts
and how does it help organizations in the healthcare and
senior care space.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah? Absolutely, I mean you hit on it a little bit.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
In sort of your intro comments, but a little bit.
At the core, Medschurtch is actually a career training school
that primarily focused on providing certification training and allied health
care and it we're playing a very critical role in
closing the vacancy, skills and retention gaps that plague nearly
every healthcare and senior care facility today. We actually accomplished
this by offering affordable, flexible training that fits an individual
(02:13):
learner's schedule. Our training is one hundred percent online, it's
self paced, and it prepares learners to obtain nationally recognized
credentials that employers consider critical for their success.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So that's really interesting and I think this is going
to be super super helpful. I mean, it's no if
anyone works in this space, it is no surprise we
appear to have a shrinking staffing pool, if you will,
and we have an increasing demand. So that's those things.
They don't go together very well. So you're addressing that.
(02:46):
I love the self paced, I love the online and
so for someone who may be working in a different
field that's interested in working in the area of senior care,
they can do this on their own time and then
make that transition pretty easily.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It sounds like, yeah, absolutely they can.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
And we actually see a lot of that activity happening
where individuals we're doing a certain job or in a
certain profession before and they're looking for transition and we
really help support that.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
That's awesome. That's awesome. So, Craig, we know staffing and
training are just major major issues in senior care. So
how is Medicarts helping facilities all these senior care communities
overcome the issues.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
Yeah, it is absolutely a major challenge out there, and
we partner with senior care facilities in a number of
different ways. All of them are focused on solving the
challenges that those facilities have. If it happens to be
related to filling open vacancies, we can source that new
candidates on the employer's behalf, We train and help them
get certified, and then the employer actually has a fully
skilled person ready to fill an open position. If their
(03:45):
challenge happens to be related to closing training or skills gaps,
we can actually upskill or reskill their existing employees at
scale and all on behalf of that employer. And then lastly,
if it's related to just simply improving retention or reducing turnover,
we have a number of customized solutions we can provide
employers to enable their trained staff to obtain new and
specialized skills that enables them to advance into more concentrated
(04:08):
or even specialized areas of care.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
See and I love that because the turnover is it's bad. Yeah,
it's pretty tough. So if you're one of these, say
if you're an assisted living community, maybe you are a
company that has you know, dozens or maybe even hundreds
of assistant living communities all around the country, you know
(04:31):
how valuable your staff is, and you also know the
tremendous expense and turnover and then having to recruit a
new staff person and then train them and then train
them into your system and then get them on the
floor actually providing the care. So if you can help
them become more valuable and add more certifications, that does
(04:52):
help with the retention. It translates to better continuity of care,
and there's so many benefits. It's just incredible. So I
that and data. How does offering training like CNA certification
or maybe memory care essentials improve this employee satisfaction and
retention for senior care providers?
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, you know, I'd say court about development is important
to most caregivers and providing opportunities for them to advance
through training help the employee feel like they're building a career,
not just working, you know, a job.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
In Recruiting and maintaining a trained staff boosts competence. It
also boosts competence when facing complex or sense in the situations,
especially if you're talking about dealing with dementia and memory care.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
It also helps.
Speaker 6 (05:40):
Provide an improvement in morale. It shows that the employer
is investing in their people, and by and large, when
workers feel supported and valued, they're more likely to stick around.
So I think you mentioned that retention is a huge
challenge across all allied health jobs right now. But it's
matchle to crist that when you look at the deficit
(06:02):
of nursing assistance right now, we're talking about a workforce
gap of over I think it's about seventy thousand nursing assistants.
That's the single largest gap among all healthcare support roles. So,
you know, I think lastly, i'd say when employees are
trained and they do their jobs well, residents tend to
receive better care and that typically leads to a higher
(06:23):
job satisfaction for that for that team member.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
And very critically so in my business senior care consulting,
I help families and individuals, you know, find the right
community and one part of that is looking into their
past and looking into the records of healthcare surveys, et cetera,
(06:48):
et cetera. So all of this is going to lead
to better care, better continuity of care, and fewer mistakes.
That would also lead to fewer deficiencies in the most
recent health survey, which all of it adds up. All
of it is super important. So I love what you're doing.
If this is catching your attention in the listening audience
(07:08):
and you're like, hey, we need to we need to
find out more about this. Here's some contact information you're
going to want to write it down. Go online to
partners dot medserts. I'm going to spell that out for
you M D C E R T S Partners dot
medserts dot com. You know, so I'll call one eight
hundred seven three four one one seven five. That's one
(07:31):
eight hundred seven three four one one seven five and
learn more about how you could benefit from all of
the all the training options and and upskilling available from
medserts and Craig. One of the concerns that many leaders
have is time, and so how can Medserts help facilities
(07:51):
in some of these senior care communities offer training without
taking staff away from their day to day work.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah, it's spot on.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Time is really really a big consideration. And I mentioned
earlier that our training is one hundred percent online.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
And felt faate.
Speaker 5 (08:07):
So what that means is that that gives staff a
tremendous amount of flexibility to complete their training on a
schedule and at times that work bets for them. There's
not preconceived class times, they don't have to go on
site somewhere. This can all be done at their leisure.
It could be done at home, it can be done
off hours, whatever happens to work best for their particular schedule.
(08:27):
Similar to this, we've actually seen several use cases where
employers are now dedicating a certain amount of time during
shifts for their employees to actually take their training in
between fulfilling their daily responsibilities on the floor and supporting patients.
This has actually proven to also help improve retention. Dana
was talking about that a minute ago, as that staff
sees this as yet another way their employers investing back
(08:49):
in them without requiring them to invest time outside of
work that otherwise is intended for them to be able
to focus on their families. So it just gives them
that much extra flexibility, you know, whether it's done off
hours or they're in a fortunate situation that the employers
need that as being incredibly important during the normal work
day and they actually carve.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Time out and still have coverage on the floor.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Well in it. I'll tell you what, that will differentiate
the employer big time, because, frankly, there are a lot
of places that kind of take this level at the CNA,
CMA and this is very very hands on and sometimes
you know, difficult caregiving responsibilities, but I think sometimes they
feel a little taken for granted. And so if the
(09:32):
employer says, look, you're important to us, and we don't
take you for granted, and we're going to offer you
this additional training and we're going to allow you to
do some of that while you're on the clock and
not have to take time away from your son, your daughter,
your husband, wife, your family, your leisure time. That's all important,
(09:52):
and we recognize you, we're going to invest in you,
and that will help retention, better health care, better qualitycare,
better continuum of care, and fewer deficiencies. Everyone wins. It's
just it's a win win win all the way across
the board as I see it.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, absolutely agree with that.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
So again today we're speaking with Craig Sprinkle, he's the
CEO of MEDSIRTS and Dana Jansen, chief Products Officer and MEDSIRTS.
If you want more information, go online to Partners dot
medserts dot com or call one eight hundred seven three
four one one seven five and we'll have more coming
(10:35):
up next.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
We'll have more with Steve coming up next. A recent
Internet search for nursing homes in Kansas City provided thirty
(11:06):
two million results. It's daunting to think that there are
over three hundred and fifty senior care communities to choose
from in the Kansas City metro and on average, you'll
spend fifty to one hundred hours trying to find a
place for your loved one. If this sounds overwhelming, that's
because it is. I invite you to reach out to
Senior Care Consulting. We've been serving family since two thousand
(11:28):
and two. With our premium service, we do most of
the work for you. You'll spend just a few hours of
your time finding the best place available, and you can
trust us to be objective because we don't receive reimbursement
from any provider. We work for you. To learn more,
call Senior Care Consulting at nine three nine four five
(11:49):
twenty eight hundred nine nine four five twenty eight hundred,
a placement service with integrity at Seniorcare Consulting dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, go to seniorcare
Live dot com. All right, back with my special guests
on the line here mister Craig Sprinkle, he's the CEO
of Medserts and Dana Jansen, chief product officer again of Medserts.
(12:28):
And if this is catching your attention, be sure to
write this information down and reach out to them online
partners dot Medserts, me E d C E r t
S dot com, Partners dot medserts dot com. That's your
online contact. We can give him a call at one
eight hundred seven three four one one seven five. And Craig,
(12:51):
why should senior care communities view Medserts as their go
to partner for staff training and upskilling.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
I'm going to admit that I'm a little biased on
this one.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
That's okay.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Now, I'm going to tell.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
You that I believe that the quality of our content
and the learning experience that we provide is far superior
to anything else you'll find in the market. And on
the surface, they may sound like, oh gosh, you know,
you've got nice graphics and things are nice and pretty
on screen.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
And all of that. That's not what it's about.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
It's really about our instructional model, which is highly diverse
and very engaging. We've received a number of awards recognizing
our work on this front. Further, because of the depth
and breadth of our programs, we can actually serve up
career paths solutions that most other training providers just can't do.
And then, lastly, we now offer training in areas of
(13:42):
specialization and soft and durable skills that further round out
the skill set of employees. More and more, we're hearing
from employers that having a fully certified person to fill
an open job that's just merely the anti to play.
We actually offer that. Plus we can demonstrate an employees
proficiency with critical soft skills that employers have also deemed
important along with training and care. Areas of specialization such
(14:05):
as geriatric care, confection and disease control, memory care, and
many more for that.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Matter, all of those are absolutely important in the area
of senior care, whether or not it's it's assistant living
or long term care. And I love the fact that
you're also going in depth in dementia, dementia care and
dementia training. That's super important. Data. Can you walk us through,
you know some of the programs that are especially beneficial
for staff working in senior care, maybe assisted living communities.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
I think mentioned earlier that you know, we have a
catalog of course offer program offering that's over fifty at
this point. But really over the last few years we've
expanded our offerings related to patient care to the point
where we have a variety of different options based on
what aspects of care getting an individual might like to target.
(14:57):
So first, we have medical assistant medical since tend to
straddle both the clinical and administrative side within these settings.
We also have, and this is relatively new offering for
us in the last six months, is you know, if
an individual wants to play more emphasis on actual directation care,
we have options to both certified and non certified nursing
assistance as well as home health AIDS and then sometimes
(15:19):
assisted living facilities are other facilities higher patient care technicians
where the role is virtually all clinical and a majority
clinical and the scope of practice tends to be more
expanded compared to nursing assistants. So we've really kind of
developed a pretty expansive suite of caregiving program opportunities, and
(15:42):
as Craig mentioned earlier, we also have a suite of
specialty course offerings that these learners can further upskill and
train into very focused areas.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
And so you know, within within settings, you know, each
of these allied health professionals would absolutely benefit from specialty training.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
We've been developed a series of courses, which, as Craig mentioned,
are geriatric infection prevention and control, mental health, memory care.
We have a theory that extends really over.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
The next eighteen months that we're going to be launching
that very well overlap and enhance each one of these
care getting programs. So ultimately, if a facility is looking
for quality, job ready candidates or looking for merely upskilling
their existing workforce, we have solutions for both.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Excellent excellent reach out to Medsertz here it is online
partners dot medserts dot com or one eight hundred seven
three four one one seven five and data. How is
the geriatric medical Assistant program different from the standard medical
assistant program and then why is that important for senior
(16:51):
care communities that serve older adults.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
Yeah, so, you know, I guess i'd say we've we've
delivered our medical assistant program going on eight years and
it's it's absolutely the most highly enlulled and thought after
programming our catalog, and it's it's kind of a mix
or a blend of both administrative and of course you
know the clinical side to medical assisting. But at the
(17:16):
end of the day, it's really kind of a generalist
medical as system. You can get a job virtually anywhere
in a variety of different facilities, but adding a specialty
course like geriatrics means that the learner is being prepared
for more than just meeting the physical needs of a patient.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
We really focus on like how do you address building
connections with patients, how to effectively communicate with them, and importantly,
how to best maintain the dignity of patients as their
mental and physical help might be deteriorating. So in the
geriatrics course, we focus more on age related physical, cognitive,
(17:55):
and sensory challenges and then you know the unique challenges
that you know kind of the line with the geriatric
population in general. So we're really big on THOFT skills training.
You'll find thoft skills or durable skills training throughout all
of our programs, but particularly within geriatrics, there's a huge
(18:16):
prevalence of us injecting that soft skills training.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Well, and I don't mean to throw anyone under the bus.
But I've seen a lot of poor care giving out there, frankly,
and I don't think it's the person. I think it's
the training. And if you if your entire staff could
be trained on the soft skills, and like you said,
you know how to communicate with someone who is older,
and how to improve dignity and improve the communication which
(18:44):
which just helps everything. Why wouldn't you do that? This
is an amazing program. And Dana, what does the learning
experience look like for someone going through a medicarts program?
Speaker 5 (18:58):
Yeah, this is what was my favorite questions And actually
I love talking about this. You know, as Craig mentioned,
you know, we we have a high intentional focus on quality.
And you know quality you know by definition changes between
you know, individuals.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
And whoever you talk to.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
But for me, we focus on retaining students, just like
Guild nursing facilities for example, are focused on retaining their
their clinical staff. And what that means to me is
we have to we have to engage our learners. We
have to in large part entertain them. We have to
immerse them in certain environments that they're going to find
(19:34):
when they get on the job. So how do we
do that, Well, we have what we refer to as
the MEDSIRTS twelve Alments will be Learning, which is a
toolkit proprietary to MEDSIRTS. That toolkit is what drives all
of our courses and all of our programs. And really
what that means is, you know, we have instructor led
video that serves as kind of the basis of instruction,
(19:54):
but then we surround that instruction with three D animations
virtual scenario.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
And speaking of the virtual scenarios, that's how we approach
soft skills training. And what that is, what that translates
into is you have a student a learner that's sitting
at their desktop and they're looking at an AI powered avatar.
They're having a conversation with that patient or that colleague,
(20:21):
and they have to act through a scenario where they
have to make the right choices in the right discussion
points within that scenario to solve a specific challenge.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
And Dana, that sounds absolutely fantastic. Let's pick this up
after the break. Don't go away, We'll be right back
with much more information from the gentleman from Medserts.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Stick around. We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Hello, this is Steve Keeker, President of Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so excited to announce that we are expanding nationwide
by awarding Senior care Consulting franchises. We help our clients
find the right senior care community, including assistant living, memory care,
long term care, and continuing care retirement communities. We are
(21:23):
not another run of the mill, free referral service. We're
very different. We offer replacement service with integrity. Owning a
senior care consulting franchise offers many benefits. Our market is
not affected by the economy. Operate from your home office
and enjoy work life balance. Pour your passion into a
business you can be proud of. For more information about
(21:46):
owning a senior care consulting franchise, call eight three three
seven two two three seven two six eight three three
seven two two three seven two six, or visit Senior
Care Consulting dot com. Welcome back. You're listening to Senior
(22:12):
Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts
to the program, visit Seniorcare Live. Dot com or wherever
you get your podcasts. All right, today we're speaking with
Craig Sprinkle and Dana Jansen, both with Medserts. If this
is catching your attention, reach out online to partners dot
(22:35):
medserts dot com where you could call one eight hundred
seven three four one one seven five And Dana, we
had we had to close for a break, so we'd
love to hear more if you could share more about
the experience of what it looks like going through that
Medsarts training program. It sounds amazing.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Yeah, we're pretty proud of it.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
You know, we've really kind of made them iterate these
changes in our content and our approach to content and
how we delivered it over the last couple of years
and we're really at a point where we're pleased with
with outcome and you know, kind of speaking of outcomes,
you know, we have to as we approach creating content
or you know, courses we have to teach to obviously
a certification because at the end of the day, certification
(23:17):
is what gets the job. But through speaking with employers,
through analyzing the market and the needs of the market,
we really get some key insights into what employers and
what the market is looking for out of a training provider.
So you know, again, at the end of the day,
we're teaching in most cases to a certification, so our
training is very much aligned with that certification. But we
(23:38):
also take into account what those employers out in the
field are expecting us to bring to the table with
regard to candidates when they graduate. So to that end,
you know, like I mentioned earlier, we embed a lot
of durable skills and saw skills training. We also include
prerequisite training in the areas of anatom and physiology and
(23:58):
medical terminology to make sure that you know, individuals can
speak the right language and understand.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
You know, the the a and key kind of nature
of their job role.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
That is awesome. So again in our listening audience, if
if you are working in a job or a career,
maybe you're burned out, maybe you're thinking, you know what,
I want to do something different. I want to do
something that is it just gives me a lot of satisfaction.
I want to help people. I'm a natural born caregiver.
(24:28):
This sounds really interesting to me. We have the training
available for you right here. You can make that career change.
And also if you're one of the senior care communities
out there, and you're looking to enhance your training, You're
looking to up your retention and all of the other
benefits that come along with training programs, or maybe you
want to institute one of the training programs that would
(24:50):
help you recruit new candidates for some of your positions.
Go online at partners dot medserts dot com or one
eight hundred seven three four one one seven five in data.
If I'm an executive director or maybe HR leader in
the senior care space, in the senior care community, what's
(25:12):
the first step to exploring a partnership with MEDSIRTS.
Speaker 6 (25:15):
First st up, That's pretty simple, you know, reach out
and schedule conversation with our partnership team. We'll start by
understanding your specific workforce needs, whether you're considering, you know,
focusing on upscaling your current staff, feeling hard hard to
find or hard to hire roles like medical assistance to CNAs,
or launching a new training initiatition. From there, we'll tailor
(25:37):
a solution for you that aligns with your specific staffing goals,
timelines and budget.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
That sounds great and Craig last, but not least, the
best way for an organization to reach out to you.
Speaker 5 (25:49):
Either online at partners dot medsirts dot com or they
can call directly into us at eight hundred seven three
four one one seven five.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
All right, so the company get medserts ME d c
E r t S Partners dot medserts dot com or
one eight one hundred and seven three four one one
seven five And Craig and Data, thanks so much for
being here today. Really really interesting. You sound like like
you're doing a fantastic job. Keep up the great work.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Thank you. We appreciate it and really enjoyed the conversation. Yeah,
thanks for having us.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
All right.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I enjoyed it as well. Thank you so much. Thanks,
thanks all right, again thanks to Craig and Data from Medserts.
That is really really interesting. And and again if you're running,
if you're an executive director, administrator, an HR leader in
senior care and you're like, you know what that sounds,
(26:45):
that sounds like the ticket that might be just the
missing piece that we need to increase our retention or
start to train your own CNAs and then add value
by adding more certifications. And I guess what, your staff
they're going to love you. You will stick out like
a sore thumb, because frankly, there are so many senior
(27:08):
care communities that they just don't they don't do this
stuff again, so reach out to partners dot medserts, me E,
d c E RTS Partners dot medserts dot com or
one eight hundred seven three four one one seven five.
All right, so I'm going to shift gears and talk
(27:30):
about an issue that most of my clients face here
at Senior Care Consulting. So that is what happens if
you need care but you're running out of money to
pay for the care. And that's I mean, it's a
huge question, right. So first of all, what if you
(27:53):
are at home and maybe you're paying for care, you're
paying for a lot of other support types USS and
you're needing the care. What happens when you run out
of money? And this is just a this is a serious,
serious issue, And I guess the message here is and
you have to have to listen to me. I'm not
trying to be preachy here, but you have you need
(28:17):
to move before you run out of money. So let
me give you a couple of scenarios. Number one, you
take my advice and you say, you know what that
sounds like really good solid advice, and you move way
before you run out of money. Well, Steve, I want
to stay home, but at the same time, I need
(28:38):
maybe the you know, the assistant living level care, or
or I need long term care level of care. Move
before you need to and move to receive the care
in one of these communities while you still have some
money to pay for it. If you don't do that, okay,
so you can do that very easily. But if you
don't do that, the other the other scenario is you
wait till the last second, there's no money to pay
(29:01):
for anything, and all of a sudden, you are forced
to moving to a nursing home that is Medicaid certified,
a place that will take you with no private pay upfront.
They're going to accept you Medicaid pending, and you're going
to have to take any place that has a BET available.
Because you waited till the last second. That's not the
(29:21):
preferred option. Move before you run out of assets to
pay for your care.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Now.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
The more common situation that I see with senior care
consulting is you're going through your assets like wildfire. If
you're in assisted living, We're looking at six thousand to
eight thousand dollars a month on average, and you say,
you know what, we have enough money to pay for
(29:49):
about another twelve months, and then we can see that
we are going to outlive our assets.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
What do we do?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
And I had one of our listeners, well, I've had
a lot of our listeners do this, but recently had
one of our listeners reach out and said, Steve, we're
in that situation. We could see that mom's money is
going to run out, and so before she runs out,
we're going to take your advice and we would like
to explore our options in long term care, and those
(30:20):
options would be Medicaid certified because she's going to need
Medicaid coverage to help pay for the care once her
assets run out, and it's highly likely that their mother
is going to outlive her assets. So we got together
and we're moving forward and we're going to line up
our top options. They're going to make some decisions, get
(30:44):
their name on waiting list, and very comfortably manage that
waiting list, and then very comfortably transition their mom from
the assisted living level of care it to long term
care level of care while she still has funds to
pay for that. Now, why is that important? It's very
important because not all but way more often than not.
(31:10):
If you're looking to move to a long term care
community that will also work with the Medicaid program, here's
you're not going to see this on their website and
they're probably not going to tell you about this when
you go for a tour. Okay, this is going to
come up later. Not all of them, but many of
(31:32):
them have a private pay requirement. Well, Steve, what does
that mean. That means that before this community will agree
to work with Medicaid reimbursement, which sometimes can be a
little difficult on the back end between the billing office
and Medicaid, they would require the resident to be able
(31:53):
to pay privately out of pocket for the first three
months or six months, or maybe even twelve months. So
what they may not tell you immediately if they have
that requirement is, oh, by the way, you have to
be able to pay privately for twelve months. And you're like, well,
we can't do that. What do we do? Well, this
isn't the place for you, and you've wasted all your time,
(32:15):
you've wasted their time, and here you are. Now you're stuck.
So that is super super important. Let's not forget about
the Senior Care Live question of the week. All Medicare
certified long term care communities except Medicaid immediately and do
not have a private pay requirement. Does that statement true
or false? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (32:39):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network to contact Steve or a guest on his show,
this is Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
We'll have more coming up. So you've been living into
pen at home, but now it's not working out. It's
time to begin searching for a senior care community. But
with hundreds of independent living, assisted living, long term care
(33:10):
and memory care options, how are you supposed to determine
the best place for you? Hello? I'm Steve Keeker and
this is exactly why I created my firm, Senior Care Consulting.
I help my own grandparents through this difficult process, so
I know how overwhelming this can be. Our business model
ensures credibility and objectivity. We work directly for you and
(33:33):
we never receive reimbursement from any provider. We've helped hundreds
of family since two thousand and two, and we can
help you and your family as well. Call today for
a free consultation at nine one three nine four five
twenty eight hundred nine one three nine four five twenty
eight hundred a placement service with integrity at Seniorcareconsulting dot com.
(34:05):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit seniorcare live
dot com. All right, back to the Senior Care Live
Question of the week. All Medicaid certified long term care
communities accept Medicaid immediately and do not have a private
(34:27):
pay requirement? Does that statement true or false? And the
answer is false, The answer is false false false false.
There are a lot of Medicaid certified long term care
(34:48):
communities that will work with Medicaid immediately, but there are
many many of these places that do have a private
pay requirement. Could be three or six months, could be
twelve months. That's a pretty common one. Well, if you
can move in and pay with your own resources for
(35:11):
at least twelve months, then yeah, we'll work with you,
and then once you spend down those resources will help
you get qualified for Medicaid no worries at all. And
the reason for that is that in many cases, many examples,
(35:31):
the Medicaid reimbursement doesn't even cover their cost, or it
may just be at cost. And I've seen so many
cases where examples where it is below their costs, but
they're still going to take care of the resident. They're
still going to give them the same care as always,
but at least they've made some money on that first
(35:53):
twelve months. Okay, So that's the primary reason for that.
Plus sometimes you have to yeah to arm wrestle Medicaid
to get them to pay the bills, and they're changing
the rules on you in midstream, and it's sometimes it's
a little bit messy on the back end on the
billing side of things. So again, our firm, Senior Care Consulting,
(36:14):
we work with lots and lots of clients and families
who are concerned about what is the next step. So
if you or your loved one, if they're in the
assisted living level of care and you can see the
money going down, down, down, reach out to Senior Care Consulting.
We can help you with that next move. I would
(36:36):
do it proactively. I wouldn't wait till the last second.
And if you're like Steve, we're waiting till the last second,
because I have not heard this information before. Can you
still help us, Yes, we can't, but we're going to
have to move pretty quickly because here's what happens. I
had someone recently say, well, they can't just kick you out.
Yes they can, Yes they can. They can discharge you
(37:02):
for lack of payment or inability to pay period. It's
a fact. I have talked to so many people who
have had their loved ones in the assisted living level
of care, and they just made the assumption, oh, well,
when they run out, you know, they can just build
that medicare that Medicaid thing, whatever that thing is. Yeah,
(37:24):
we're good to go. And in most of the situations
that is not the case. There are very few assisted
living communities that I'm aware of that will work with
the Medicaid program. The vast, vast majority of assisted living
communities are private pay only, which means if you run
(37:47):
out of money, you will be discharged because you have
no way to pay them for their services, and they
have no one else to bill. They can't bill Medicaid,
they can't build anyone else, so you will be discharge.
Do not wait until the last second. My firm senior
care Consulting. We can help you with this reach out
to nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred
(38:11):
nine one three, nine four five twenty eight hundred visit
online Senior care consulting with an IMG Senior Care Consulting
dot com. And then another question that I get very frequently,
sticking with this medicaid theme, what if you're in a
(38:31):
long term care community and a lot of people still
refer to that as a nursing home. But what if
you're in long term care and you're already qualified for Medicaid,
but you don't want to live there anymore. Maybe there's
a turnover, maybe the new administrator just isn't doing as
(38:53):
good of a job, or maybe there's been a big
staff shake up, staffing turnover, and maybe you're not satisfied
with the care that you're receiving. It could be any reason, really,
So the question is that I get all the time, Well,
I mean can I move? I mean, I thought, you know,
once you're there, and if medicaid's paying for it, what
(39:15):
are we just kind of stuck? And the answer is no,
and absolutely no, you're not stuck. You're not stuck at all.
You can move anywhere you want any time you want.
There is no thirty day notice in long term care.
You're not locked into a lease. You can move tomorrow
(39:35):
if you want. It is your choice. Here's the caveat.
So say, for example, if you are qualified from medicaid
in your state, any state. I live in the state
of Kansas. I'm in the Kansas City area. Might live
in the state of Missouri, but it could be Texas,
or Florida, or Nevada, California, New York, Alaska, Georgia. We
(40:01):
just added three affiliates in Georgia in Florida, et cetera.
Whatever your state is, if you're qualified for Medicaid in
that state, then you'll need to move to another Medicaid
certified community within that state, and then that way, it's
(40:21):
a very simple, easy, transparent change. So Medicaid is going
to point the payment to this community today, and you
move over to Community B tomorrow, they will simply point
the payment to community be starting tomorrow. Very very simple process. Now,
(40:44):
if you want to move from one state to the next,
it's not quite as easy, but you can still do it.
So say, if you're living in Kansas, you want to
move to the Missouri side or vice versa. We straut
Kansas City straddles as state line. It kind of drives
me crazy. I wish we had some sort of a
reciprocity type of an exception within a metro area, but
(41:09):
that does not exist, at least here. It doesn't. I
don't think it exists anywhere. Medicaid is a federal program,
but it's administered state by state. So maybe that's the catch.
But if you're qualified from Medicaid, let's say on the
Kansas side, you want to move to Missouri, then you
would move into a Medicaid certified long term care community,
(41:31):
but a place that is willing to accept you on
a Medicaid pending status meeting you move from one state
to the next, you'd have to reapply for Medicaid, but
frankly that application is pushed through. It's kind of rubber stamped.
Oh they qualified over there, they'll qualify over here because
the qualifications are so similar. It's almost a rubber stamp.
But the point is you still have to re apply,
(41:54):
which is not that convenient. Right, So you're not stuck
in your nursing home even if you're on Medicaid, just
move to another place that may be just a better
fit within your same state, and it's easy peasy. If
you need help considering your options, exploring your options, reach
out to my firm, Senior Care Consulting. We can definitely
(42:16):
help you. Nine one three nine four five twenty eight
hundred nine three, nine four five twenty eight hundred. We're
online at seniorcare Consulting dot com. I'm Steve Keeker hen
I wish you grace in peace. May God bless you
and your family on this day and always join me
next week right here on Senior Care Live.
Speaker 7 (42:48):
Does your business serve the elderly and their caregivers in
our area? There are hundreds of thousands of people either
receiving or providing senior care and they need to know
about you. A unique and successful program called Senior Care
Live is the perfect opportunity to let your target audience
know about your amazing products and services. Senior Care Live
(43:09):
is currently adding a limited number of partner sponsors, and
if you're aligned with their mission, they want to talk
to you. They're interested in partnering with hospital organizations, physician groups,
home care providers, a state planning and older law practices,
financial advisors, insurance companies, real estate brokers, home health agencies
and other providers serving the elderly and their caregivers. Senior
(43:33):
Care Live has a limited number of partner sponsor opportunities,
so call now at nine one three nine four five
twenty eight hundred nine one three nine four five twenty
eight hundred, or visit seniorcare Live dot com seniorcare live
dot com.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Quid pro quo a Latin phrase that means an exchange
of goods or services where one transfer is contingent upon
the other. Here's an example. I'll recommend your senior care
community if you'll pay me a huge kickback from my referral.
The free referral services have a vested interest in you
choosing one of their business partners. That's how they make
(44:10):
their money. Does this paid recommendation sound objective or credible,
of course not. I'm Steve Keeker with Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so proud to say we have never received a
single penny from any provider ever. We offer a placement
service with integrity for help finding the right senior care community,
without conflict of interest, and without the quid pro quo
(44:34):
called nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred nine, one, three,
nine four five twenty eight hundred replacement service with integrity
at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
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