Luka Bear Caregiver Portal

1. What This Portal Is For

The Luka Bear Caregiver Portal is the central operating system for reimbursement evidence, outreach preparation, and document packaging. It supports families, facility teams, and partners who need a clean, de-identified workflow that can be reused across payers, waivers, grants, and direct-purchase routes.

What it tracks	Caregiver burden, respite hours, safety events, utilization, Luka engagement, and quality-of-life measures over time
Who uses it	Families, facility partners, case managers, service coordinators, and payer-facing partner teams
What it is not	Not a medical chart. Not an EHR. Not an emergency response system.
Privacy standard	All case data is de-identified. No names, dates of birth, room numbers, or addresses should appear in portal notes.
Portal outputs	51-pathway reference, 24 Easy-Pass routes, outreach briefs, documentation templates, and de-identified evidence exports

2. Portal Workflow

One evidence workflow supports every pathway. The submission package changes by route, not the core case record.

1

Create Account

Register at `portal.lukabear.org` and choose your role: caregiver or partner/facility user.

2

Complete Consent

Consent confirms that submissions are voluntary, de-identified, and intended for reimbursement support.

3

Add Case

Create one case per person supported. The portal generates the case code automatically.

4

Choose Route + Submit Data

Open the right pathway, brief, or template package, then keep weekly check-ins and milestone assessments current.

3. Reimbursement Pathways

Current Taxonomy

Total pathways	51
No-metrics pathways	27
Easy-Pass pathways	24
Low-metrics pathways	15
Medium-metrics pathways	3
Grant / research pathways	6

What to Open Next

Use Pathways for the full 51-pathway reference.
Use Easy-Pass for the 24 fastest documentation-driven routes.
Use Briefs for pathway-specific outreach strategy and contact language.
Use Documentation for the final submission templates and pricing logic.

Open 51 Pathways Open Easy-Pass Open Briefs

Strategic Access Summary

Route Type	Best Examples	Why It Matters
Direct consumer / benefit spend	HSA/FSA, DCFSA, VA PCAFC stipend, Aid & Attendance	Fastest entry and least operational friction
Self-direction / participant budgets	DC Services My Way, PA CHC Participant Direction, NY CDPAP, and related self-direction/FMS routes	Best fit for Own It or flexible monthly budget logic
Structured Medicaid / waiver approval	Maryland CFC, Virginia CCC Plus AT, PA HCBS	Slower, but highly repeatable and scalable
Institutional / insurer / system routes	LTC Insurance APC, MCO ILOS, facility procurement, state AT programs	Best for scaling through partners, payers, and system channels

4. Jurisdiction Guide — MD, VA, DC, PA & NY

Maryland

Best route: Community First Choice (1915k) and related self-direction / FMS logic

Structured POS-based pathway
Strong institutional and repeatable systems route
Often strongest with Own It and quote-based procurement logic

Virginia

Best route: CCC Plus Waiver - Assistive Technology category

Enrollment confirmed with coverage inquiry active through DMAS
Prior authorization runs through the member's MCO care manager
Use the Virginia outreach brief before initiating with Aetna, Anthem, Humana, Sentara, or UHC

Washington, DC

Best route: Services My Way under the EPD Waiver

Most flexible goods-and-services pathway in the region
Multiple entry points can be run in parallel
Strong fit for documentation-driven approvals

Pennsylvania

Best route: CHC Participant Direction with CHC MCO scale behind it

Largest population opportunity in the region
Hybrid of consumer-directed and payer-scaled routes
Includes CHC, HCBS, TechOWL, OPTIONS, OADL, and aging supports

New York

Best route: CDPAP + NYSOFA and aging-system precedent

Important national precedent through state-supported AI companion deployment
Useful for both consumer-directed and aging-system conversations
Should be treated as a formal portal geography, not an add-on

Virginia = fastest direct-purchase | DC = most flexible entry | Pennsylvania = largest market | Maryland = institutional scale | New York = strongest precedent signal

5. What To Prepare Before You Start

For All Cases

Insurance type and plan name
Veteran status if applicable
Primary pathway or brief selected
Care setting: home, facility, or partner-managed deployment
Physician information if a letter of medical necessity is required

For Budget / Waiver Routes

Confirm Medicaid or waiver enrollment
Identify FMS, service coordinator, care manager, or case worker
Prepare quote or invoice support
Be ready to explain how Luka reduces supervision burden and supports daily function

6. How Often to Submit

Task	How Often	Why It Matters
Case onboarding	Once per case	Establishes reimbursement context and baseline case structure.
Weekly check-in	Every week	Builds continuity around caregiver burden, respite, incidents, and utilization.
Milestone assessment	Baseline, Day 30, 60, 90, then monthly	Adds validated or structured measures that strengthen higher-burden pathways.
Pathway-specific export	As needed	Packages the same evidence differently depending on the payer or program.

7. Weekly Check-in & Reimbursement Assessment

Weekly Check-in

Document caregiver stress, respite, safety events, utilization, and Luka engagement
Use counts when possible rather than vague wording
Use Luka dashboard metrics when exact totals are visible

Milestone Assessment

Captures burden, loneliness, caregiver health, and placement outlook where relevant
Baseline before or at startup is important
Consistency matters more than trying to “show improvement” in a single entry

8. Privacy Rules — De-identification Required

De-identification is required on all portal submissions. This protects families, residents, and facility partners while keeping the evidence record reusable across pathways.

CORRECT	DO NOT WRITE
“Care recipient was calmer during evening hours and had fewer repeated exit attempts.”	“John in room 4 slept better after Tuesday night.”

Never enter names, dates of birth, room numbers, addresses, phone numbers, or any other direct identifier in portal notes.

9. Why the Same Forms Work Across All 51 Pathways

The portal uses one shared evidence workflow across all cases and pathways. Different payers care about different parts of the same dataset. You submit once and repackage the same record differently by route.

Channel	What They Focus On
LTC Insurance	Placement outlook, burden, time freed, and cost comparison vs. human care
VA / veteran routes	Caregiver burden, respite value, and supervision support
Self-direction / FMS	Functional need, substitution for supervision hours, and quote/invoice support
MCO / payer conversations	Burden signals, utilization patterns, and cost-substitution logic
State AT / aging routes	Functional limitation, independence, and caregiver support
Facility procurement	Engagement value, operational usefulness, quote/invoice support, and vendor documents

10. If You Miss a Submission

Complete the next weekly or milestone entry as soon as possible. Do not backfill several weeks into one entry unless specifically instructed. A consistent submission record is more valuable than a perfect one, and gaps can be explained with a note.

11. Quick Start Checklist

1	Create your portal account at portal.lukabear.org
2	Complete consent before entering case data
3	Identify whether you should start with Pathways, Easy-Pass, or Briefs
4	Gather onboarding information: insurance type, veteran status, physician info, care setting
5	For budget routes, identify the service coordinator, FMS, or payer contact
6	Add the case with alias and insurance details only
7	Set one recurring weekly check-in day
8	Complete the baseline assessment before or at device startup
9	Use Luka dashboard stats whenever exact engagement totals are visible
10	Keep all notes de-identified — case code + alias only

12. Portal Access

Create Portal Account

Go to portal.lukabear.org
Click “Create Portal Account”
Register with your email and password
Select your role: caregiver or partner/facility user

Portal Login

Go to portal.lukabear.org
Click “Portal Login”
Enter your email and password
Access your cases and submission forms

13. Documentation Library

All templates are pre-formatted for submission. Each maps directly to the pathway strategy above.

Section	Template or Resource	Use Case
13.1	LTC Insurance package	Alternate Plan of Care and insurer submissions
13.2	Medicaid self-direction letters	Virginia CCC Plus AT, DC Services My Way, PA CHC, Maryland CFC, and New York consumer-direction routes
13.3	HSA / FSA / DCFSA letter set	Employer benefit and consumer reimbursement
13.4	Cost comparison reference sheets	LTC and insurer cost-effectiveness framing
13.5	VA pathway references	PCAFC, Aid & Attendance, VDC, and VA-connected benefit spend
13.6	New York pathway references	CDPAP, NYSOFA, TBI, NHTD, and aging-system outreach
Briefs	9 outreach briefs	Pathway-specific talking points, pricing, contacts, and pilot evidence

Standalone: The full LTC Documentation Package stays separate for direct family use because it includes family-fill fields and a more submission-ready structure.

Open Documentation Library Open Outreach Briefs Open LTC Package

Luka Bear Caregiver Portal User Guide