compensation while caring for family member

[broke1]

I'm wondering if anyone has information on how you go about being compensated for providing nursing care for a family member. Although I'm not a home health care nurse, I do provide nursing care for my mother on a regular basis. The reason for the question is that my direct care is responsible for keeping her home, thus saving the insurance company much $$$. If she's hospitalized, she does get home care for a couple of weeks and then it stops, leaving me to pick up where they leave off. She's my mom and I'm doing it because I care about her, but shouldn't there be a mechanism to be compensated since the insurance company is saving money because of my license?

I did contact the Missouri BON who said they have heard of it but have no specific information about it.

Thanks,

[MeJane19]

I'm wondering if anyone has information on how you go about being compensated for providing nursing care for a family member. Although I'm not a home health care nurse, I do provide nursing care for my mother on a regular basis.

I know a nurse who did this and got into alot of trouble for insurance fraud because the mother's insurance (Medicare) did not allow a family member to be paid to care for the patient.

[november17, ASN, RN]

Sounds like a conflict of interest to me. Just my 2 cents.

[MeJane19]

The reason for the question is that my direct care is responsible for keeping her home, thus saving the insurance company much $$$.

Taking care of your Mom is something you do because you love her, you shouldn't expect the insurance company to pay you. It's your choice to do so, not theirs.

[Pipsqueak, ADN]

I work for a home health agency. Occasionally there is an instance that a nurse employed be this agency has a family member that is also a client of the agency. That nurse is not allowed under any circumstance to be their family members nurse. Another nurse is assigned to the care of that client. I'm not sure if it's like this everywhere.

I'm confused. You mention that you are saving the insurance company money by taking care of your mom. Does that mean the ins. company will cover home health and you're choosing not to use this service and provide her care yourself? If this is your concern I would suggest continuing with the home health services to help lighten your load and you can still participate in her care if that's what you and your mom want.

[SweetOldWorld, BSN, RN]

Contact a social worker to see what kind of programs are available. In California, we have a program called In Home Supportive Services where the state pays for someone to come to the home to do non-nursing tasks like bathing, meal preparation, housekeeping, etc., and family members are eligible to apply. It doesn't cover nursing care, and it pays only minimum wage. But it does help keep people in their homes longer than they would otherwise be able to do, saving the state a lot of money.