Very Elderly People Could Prevent Dementia By Treating High BloodPressure

Reduction of blood pressure could reduce the risk of dementia for patients aged 80 years or more, according to research released on July 8, 2008 in The Lancet Neurology.

The Hypertension in the Very Elderly Trial (HYVET) was established to observe the benefits and risks of hypertension in the very elderly, and includes several subdivisions in various areas of health and development. The dementia sub-study of HYVET, known as HYVET-COG, examines previous research in terms of cognitive functioning over the course of the study. When combined with the results from other placebo controlled trials, researchers found that a 13% reduction in dementia is associated with antihypertensive treatment. 

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

Guidelines For Care Of Elderly Patients Ignored

 Guidelines for the treatment of older patients with respiratory conditions are routinely ignored. Research published in the open access journal BMC Health Services Research shows that recommended treatments are given to only a small minority of eligible patients.

Benjamin Craig from the Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, USA, led a team who investigated the treatment of nearly 30,000 patients across the US. According to Craig, "Despite the proliferation of numerous guidelines for the management of adults with obstructive respiratory diseases, we found major disparities between the actual care given and that which is recommended".

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

Feminism and caregiving

Feminism saved me when I was young. I grew up with abuse from my mother and grandmother, and my reaction was not to want to be a woman. By the time I got to college, planning to major in astrophysics, my way of being was to be one of the guys. Feminism saved me from being totally male-identified--it gave me a way to accept being a woman without becoming my mother or grandmother.

As a teenager, I didn't expect that I would ever marry or have children. I married only in my early 30s, with the understanding that John and I would equally share household tasks and with a prenuptual agreement (which my lawyer now tells me will provide some protection for my assets if we need to get John onto Medicaid). So into order to find myself in this new challenge I want to think about whether there is a feminist approach to caregiving.

I did a little web searching on the topic. I may just have to track down a special issue of a journal on Fundamentals of Feminist Gerontology. The trouble is, the focus is likely to all be on daughters caring for mothers. I found one article that argues that too many studies focus on how women put their own health at risk while caregiving and asserts there should be more focus on the autonomy of older women rather than their role as caregivers. Not what I am looking for.


Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

AAHSA’s Long-term Care Solution is in the News… Again

Since my last post, there have been even more AAHSA members getting letters to the editor published about AAHSA’s Long-term Care Solution as a way to alleviate the high costs of providing long-term care. Check these out:
  • Today, the Boston Globe published this letter from Elissa Sherman, executive director of MassAging, about an article regarding rising caregiving costs.
  • Jim Leich with the Indiana Association of Homes and Services for the Aging had this letter published in the July 6 edition of the South Bend Tribune.
Have you seen a similar story in your paper? Let us know and we can help you draft a letter of your own.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

As Gas Prices Soar, Elderly Face Cuts in Aid

SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — Early last month, Jeanne Fair, 62, got her first hot meals delivered to her home in this lake town in the sparsely populated southwestern part of the state. Then after two deliveries the meals stopped because gas prices had made the delivery too expensive.
“They called and said I was outside of the delivery area,” said Mrs. Fair, who is homebound and has not been able to use her left arm since a stroke in 1997.
Faced with soaring gasoline prices, agencies around the country that provide services to the elderly say they are having to cut back on programs like Meals on Wheels, transportation assistance and home care, especially in rural areas that depend on volunteers who provide their own gas. In a recent survey by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, more than half said they had already cut back on programs because of gas costs, and 90 percent said they expected to make cuts in the 2009 fiscal year.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

AARP Solutions Forum Convenes Panel To Examine Medicaid Funding Of Long-Term Care

AARP will release a new report and convene a panel of experts to discuss Medicaid funding for long-term care (LTC) for older adults and adults with physical disabilities. The report analyzes the progress states are making shifting public funds and the people who rely on them from nursing homes to home and community based services.

Approximately 10 million older Americans need assistance with every day activities. Overwhelmingly, people (87 percent) prefer to receive this care in their homes or communities rather than in nursing homes. Few Americans have planned for the cost of LTC and by default Medicaid, which has an institutional bias towards nursing home care, is the primary payer.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

WA long-term care initiative turns in signatures

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- An initiative to increase training for long-term health care workers appears to be the final measure headed for the fall ballot.
Supporters of Initiative 1029 say they turned in more than 315,000 voter signatures on petitions delivered Thursday to Secretary of State Sam Reed. That should be enough to guarantee a spot on the ballot.
The initiative would require long-term care workers to pass a certification exam, complete more training and undergo background checks. The Service Employees International Union is a major supporter.


Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

President Bush Signs War Funding Bill That Delays Medicaid Rules

President Bush on Monday signed into law a supplemental war funding package that includes a domestic spending amendment to delay implementation of six Medicaid regulations, CongressDaily reports. The Senate approved the measure last week, and the House approved it earlier in June (Sanchez, CongressDaily, 6/30).

The six Medicaid rule changes -- issued by the Bush administration -- aim to delay services covered by some states' case management plans; limit Medicaid reimbursement to public hospitals; bar federal reimbursement for transportation to school and school-based care for Medicaid-eligible children; restrict the types of "rehabilitative" services covered by federal funding; reduce federal Medicaid reimbursement for students at teaching hospitals; and limit the taxes that some states charge health providers.


Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

10 Reasons Why Long-term Care Financing Needs to be Reformed in America

He may not be David Letterman, but Eric Schubert with Ecumen’s Changing Aging Blog can sure put together a top 10 list…and today’s topic is an important one: why our country must change the way we finance long-term care. Take a look:

1.  The Age Wave is Unprecendented:  About 10 million Americans need long-term care today.  (Note: Long-term care is an array of services, from home care to assisted living, not simply nursing home care.)  By 2020, 12 million older Americans will need long-term care.

2.  Americans Want More Choice:  People want more choices than ever in how they live and receive care.  The nursing home isn’t a place they want to choose. Guess what?  Many states rely on institutional nursing homes for long-term care.   To pay for choices that today’s consumer desires, we have to have new ways to pay for care.


Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

Nursing homes challenge regulators' authority to cut Medicare payments

 Leaders of the largest nursing home association in America are openly questioning the legality of federal regulators' proposal to reduce Medicare reimbursement levels by 3.3% in fiscal year 2009.

Officials with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are calling their proposed payment cut for fiscal year 2009 a "forecast error correction." They say the reduction will correct an error in forecasting budget neutrality for case-mix adjustments in refining the Resource Utilization Group system for fiscal 2006.

"We believe that the forecast error correction is unacceptable under the law and completely ignores the rise in the acuity of nursing home patients," said American Health Care Association President and CEO Bruce Yarwood in comments submitted to CMS. "We strongly recommend and ask that you remove this adjustment."

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/