About us
Overview
Summit ElderCare® (SE) a Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) that serves residents of Worcester County, Hudson and Marlborough, Massachusetts, helps give elderly adults and their caregivers an innovative choice in health care. It is also a welcome alternative to nursing home care. Participants in Summit ElderCare have access to most medical services at a Summit ElderCare site while they keep the independence of living in their own homes, their own communities. Summit ElderCare provides individualized quality care by a team of geriatric care professionals who work together with participants and caregivers to address each individual's specific needs. This team of professionals is an essential component of the Summit ElderCare PACE program. The team uses a collaborative approach to care planning and is called the Interdisciplinary Team (IDT).
Our mission
Summit ElderCare is the only program of its kind in central Massachusetts. Summit ElderCare started as part of a PACE demonstration project, and is one of six PACE programs in the State. There are over 70 PACE programs nationwide. To find a PACE program in another geographic area, click here. And, although Fallon Community Health Plan sponsors SE, a participant does not have to be an FCHP member to enroll.
Summit ElderCare is committed to maximizing the dignity and respect of older adults and to enable elders to remain in their homes and in their communities as long as medically and socially feasible. SE enhances their quality of life and their autonomy. SE preserves and supports the elderly adult's family as an integral part of this mission.
Our history
Established in 1995 as an alternative to nursing home placement, Summit ElderCare is focused on caring for older adults in an environment that helps enhance their quality of life and autonomy by helping them to stay in their homes and communities.
Recognizing a community need for more comprehensive services, care and support for frail elders who want to remain independent, and their caregivers, FCHP founded the Elder Service Plan, now known as Summit ElderCare. It started as part of a statewide project in Massachusetts under the leadership of the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center's PACE program. The program began with just eight participants. Since then, hundreds of participants and their caregivers have received services from the program.
Today, Summit ElderCare is one of six PACE programs in Massachusetts and more than 70 programs nationwide. This Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) first became available to residents of Worcester County, the city of Marlborough and the town of Hudson in 1995. The program was provided permanent provider status by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in September 2002.
Summit ElderCare values the trust and confidence that participants and their caregivers place in us. We take quiet pride in sharing the care. Summit ElderCare participants are neighbors and friends. We look forward to continuing our mission of helping older adults maintain optimum levels of functioning, well being and independence in the comfort of their own homes and communities.
Highlights of Summit ElderCare
- Primary care physicians and staff with expertise in geriatrics (the care of older adults)
- Specialty care
- Full prescription drug coverage
- 100% hospitalization coverage
- Assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs)
- Adult day health program
- Medical transportation
- Family caregiver support
- Specialized dementia and geriatric care
About Fallon Community Health Plan
Fallon Community Health Plan, Summit ElderCare's sponsor, is a recognized leader in providing health care solutions to Medicare-eligible individuals. Founded in 1977, Fallon Community Health Plan provides health care services designed to meet the unique and changing needs of all they serve. FCHP is the only health plan in Massachusetts that is both an insurer and provider of care.
Although Fallon Community Health Plan sponsors Summit ElderCare, a participant does not have to be an FCHP member to enroll.
About PACE
PACE is a national model of care that is both supported and regulated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and State Administering Agencies (SAA). The SAA in Massachusetts is the Office of Medicaid.
The PACE model started in the 1970s in San Francisco. Members of the Chinatown-Northbeach community were seeking home-based alternatives to nursing home care for their elders. Unable to find a solution, the community formed a nonprofit service organization known as On Lok Senior Health Services to provide care for these elderly adults through a community-based system. It created what would become the flexible and comprehensive PACE model as a demonstration project.
Massachusetts was an early PACE programs pioneer, and with the leadership of the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, six PACE programs were established in Massachusetts—including Summit ElderCare.
Today there are over 70 PACE programs throughout the country.
To learn more about the PACE model of care, visit the National PACE Association Web site. Summit ElderCare is a proud member of the National PACE Association.
