There are several VA programs that can help veterans with dementia although they do not directly meet memory care needs. 

Home Improvements and Structural Alterations (HISA)

This grant can provide significant funding to cover home accessibility improvement costs for disabled veterans. With this grant, a veteran who struggles with mobility issues may be able to install a ramp, a roll-in shower, alter a driveway, lower kitchen or bathroom counters for accessibility, and more. Further eligibility details, videos, and forms related to HISA grants are available in the above link.

If the veteran you care for is in a wheelchair or otherwise has significant disabilities, she or he can be granted up to $6,800. The upper limit of $6,800 is only available to those with conditions that VA considers at least 50% service-connected. Those with disabilities that are not service-connected may still be able to receive up to $2,000 for some home accessibility alterations. 

Home-Based Primary Care 

In some cases, the veteran’s VA healthcare team decides that the veteran’s doctors, pharmacists, therapists, psychologists, and nurses should visit the veteran in his or her own home. Home-based primary care is usually used in cases where leaving the home simply results in more mental or physical risks and challenges than benefits. Eligibility is determined by caseworkers based on service-connected disability and financial factors, and copays for those eligible may apply. Home-based primary care is not a source of 24/7 aide or help with activities of daily living, but it can be used in coordination with other VA memory care programs to give a veteran the care they need. 

Skilled Home Health Care 

Skilled home health care is available to veterans who live far from VA centers and have a clinical need to receive case management, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, skilled nursing, wound care, or IV antibiotics at home. Skilled home health care is provided through local community companies that contract with the VA. It isn’t available in all locations, and the veteran can be charged a copay. Skilled home health care services are most likely to be provided by a nurse as opposed to a doctor.

Telehealth

Telehealth, also known as remote monitoring care, refers to a broad range of services that utilize technology to connect a patient at home to a healthcare team. With telehealth, the veteran regularly uses home medical equipment to measure blood pressure, blood sugar, pulse, weight, blood oxygen levels, and more. Using cell phones, cellular modems, and phone lines, the veteran securely sends that information to a VA hospital, and a care coordinator passes the information to a physician or nurse if anything seems unusual. 

Telehealth can help those receiving care at home to catch health risks early when they are most treatable. Telehealth can help caregivers provide the best care possible to veterans, enabling them to receive care at home as long as possible. This service is available to all enrolled VA healthcare members who have a clinical need for it, though services can vary by location. Most services provided through telehealth do not include copays. 

Palliative Care Teams and Hospice 

Palliative care is any care focused on comfort and relief of suffering and symptoms. Hospice care is palliative care that’s provided in the last six months of life. Neither of these is, strictly speaking, memory care services, but they are often used when dementia has progressed to such a degree that the patient is immobile. Palliative care and hospice include services aimed at meeting medical, social, spiritual, and psychological needs.

These services are already included in many programs provided to veterans both at home and in residential settings. For example, if a veteran is in a memory care unit of a VA state nursing home, a family member of the veteran may just need to meet with a social worker at the nursing home in order for the veteran to begin receiving hospice or palliative care. Each situation will be a little different, and when it’s time family can always contact the veteran’s social worker with questions about palliative care or hospice. Copays are never charged for hospice, but they may be charged for palliative care.

Respite Care

Because it’s not long-term care, we haven’t included respite care in our memory care table. However, respite care can be extremely helpful to families that are providing memory care at home for a veteran. Respite care is when a temporary caregiver steps in to give family members a break.

Through its respite care program, VA Healthcare can pay for the following services:

- Six hour time periods in which a person comes to the veterans home to temporarily care for the veteran

- Six hour time periods in which a veteran visits an adult daycare

- A nursing home respite care stay in which a veteran stays at a nursing home for up to 30 days per year while if family is out of town

- Respite care can be a regular part of a care plan, or it can be a rarely-used service that comes in handy during stressful times.

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