Long-Term Care Planning in Forest Hills

Begin with care preferences and decision authority

Separate the care you would prefer from the authority another person may need to act. Write down your preferences about care and the people you would want involved. Then identify whether your existing documents address healthcare decisions, financial matters, or both.

A Tennessee Advance Directive for Health Care addresses an agent or alternate and healthcare preferences. A financial power of attorney is a different tool: it authorizes another person to act on someone’s behalf, and its scope, duration and limits matter. Do not assume that one document gives an agent every kind of authority.

• Who would you want consulted, and who would you want to act if you could not communicate?
• Are your preferences about care recorded, and do the people you named know where to find them?
• Does your current financial power of attorney match the tasks you expect someone may need to handle?

Compare care choices with resources you can verify

Make a side-by-side working comparison of care preferences, possible decision-makers, insurance information and other resources. Use what you know, mark what is uncertain, and avoid treating an estimate or a possible benefit as a confirmed source of payment.

TennCare’s CHOICES program provides long-term services and supports. Both medical and financial requirements apply, so whether it may be relevant to a particular person is a question to evaluate—not a promise of eligibility, coverage or funding.

• Care preferences and practical questions about the kinds of support being considered
• Names and contact information for people you may ask to help, with their possible roles identified
• Current insurance documents, benefit correspondence, and a list of income, assets and recurring care-related expenses to review
• Questions about which amounts, benefits or care arrangements need confirmation

Prepare a coordination sheet

Before a planning conversation, create a one-page coordination sheet. Record your preferred decision-makers and alternates, where relevant documents are kept, which insurance or benefit information remains unverified, and the questions you want answered. Keep healthcare authority, financial authority and any trustee or court-appointed role in separate lines rather than treating them as interchangeable.

For each item, note whether it is current, needs review or is still unknown. This makes the next discussion more focused without presuming that a particular document or program will resolve every care or payment question.

• What care preferences should guide planning, and what questions remain open?
• Which existing documents address healthcare choices and which address financial actions?
• What should be reviewed before considering whether CHOICES may be relevant?
• Who should receive copies or know how to locate the documents?

Plan for changes, not just one decision

Revisit the coordination sheet when preferences, circumstances, decision-makers or available information change. If another person is already acting, first identify the role and document involved: an agent under a power of attorney, a trustee, and a court-appointed guardian or conservator do not represent interchangeable authorities.

Dale Law Group, PLLC can discuss long-term care planning in the context of your broader planning needs. The firm’s office is in Murfreesboro; Forest Hills is a Tennessee community served by the firm, not a separate firm office.