Health and Disability

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/

A study released today by the Washington D.C.-based National Association for Home Care and Hospice shows that the nurses, therapists, home care aides and others who serve elderly and disabled patients in their homes drive, on average, more miles annually than many driving professionals including UPS drivers.

"Caring for over seven million patients annually with 428 million visits, these dedicated providers of home care and hospice are feeling the same pain at the pump as other consumers, but they carry the added burden of the Administration's deep cuts into Medicare and Medicaid benefits, says Val J. Halamadaris, President of the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC*). "These draconian cuts ignored the cost of living increases, chief among these is the rising price of gasoline -- a commodity most essential for these traveling 'road warriors' of mercy. Home care patients are homebound - they are so sick, so chronically ill, they cannot leave their homes without assistance. If nurses do not get in their cars to visit them, there is no way to reach them. What will be precipitated is a full-scale national emergency," added Halamadaris.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 home decisions issued by the Department of Health and Human Services' Departmental Appeals Board (DAB) in 2007 highlight serious failures in care that cause residents to suffer unnecessary pain, injury, trauma, and death. "Despite the serious deficiencies reflected by these cases, the federal enforcement response is usually modest, at best," said Toby S. Edelman, Senior Policy Attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy and author of the just-released report,, an analysis of nursing home enforcement decisions issued by the DAB. "The federal government imposes only minor fines for these deficiencies," she continued, citing a case where a trivial $4050 fine was imposed when a resident strangled to death on her bedrail, after having fallen out of bed numerous times and been found caught by the bedrail in the same way a week before.

The Center for Medicare Advocacy's study of the 85 decisions is the first study ever made of the administrative appeals filed by nursing homes when federal remedies are actually imposed against them for poor care. "The study shows not only that the problems in care are serious and that penalties are modest, but also that facilities choose to appeal these enforcement actions through the administrative appeals process. Almost always, the facilities lose their cases," Edelman said. The government won 66 of the 71 cases that reached the merits of the appeals - a 93% success rate.

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/

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The leaders of the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care will conduct a media conference call to release and comment on a new study from The Lewin Group outlining the negative impact to the U.S. economy resulting from the Bush Administration's recently-announced cut of $770 million to Medicare-financed nursing home care for FY 2009, on

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

11 am EDT

Dial in (800) 762-6067

The new analysis will also quantify how the Medicare cuts, announced last week by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will harm the U.S. jobs base and the ability of federal and state governments to generate revenue for key state and national priorities. Speakers will include:

Also to be released is new state by state data from AHCA indicating the 10 hardest-hit states by Medicare cuts to in nursing home care resulting from the $770 million FY 2009 funding reduction.

To reserve a place on the call, please contact Amy Weiss (Amy@pointblankpa.com) 202-203-0448 or Rebecca Reid 410-267-1128 (Reidconsulting@comcast.net).

-- Alan Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care -- Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of the AHCA -- Al Dobson, Consultant, The Lewin Group, and -- Tony Marshall, Reimbursement Director for the Florida Health Care Association

SOURCE The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care

Source :PR Newswire

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/

t some point after they were admitted, compared to only a quarter of the home-cared elders.

Jodi Shapuras and Lindsay Egan, undergraduate students in the social work program at ISU, conducted the research at their internships as part of a senior-level field practicum class.

“We are both interested in working with the elderly population in our careers, so we conducted this research to get a better feel for the prevalence of depression in those who need some level of outside care,” said Shapuras of Mitchell, Ind. “As social workers, it is important to understand the mental health issues, such as depression, within the different care settings.”

Shapuras and Egan said they weren’t surprised by their findings.

“We actually hypothesized that the long-term care patients would utilize antidepressants more and would self-report depression more,” said Egan of Terre Haute, Ind. “When an individual moves to a long-term care facility, they undergo a tremendous amount of changes. They are no longer able to live independently and are relying on others for care, and this greatly affects how they feel about themselves and the world around them.”

Shapuras added that in the home-care setting, elders are still residing within a familiar environment.

New and updated data, Statehealthfacts.org: Statehealthfacts.org has added new and updated data on Medicare and Medicaid. New data from the CMS Office of the Actuary on Medicare on Medicare spending estimates by state of residence for 1995 through 2004 are available for all states. These estimates are based on where individuals reside and include total Medicare spending; spending on hospital care, physician services, dental services, home health care, drugs and nursing home care; total per enrollee spending; per enrollee spending by service type; and the average annual percent growth in Medicare spending from 1995 to 2004. New data on total Medicaid spending estimates by state of residence for 1995 through 2004 also are available for all states (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 5/1).

The Michigan Department of Community Health plans to announce today a $1.7 million investment into Detroit nursing homes to improve the quality and skills of the staff serving a population of low-income, minority residents with chronic and mental health issues.

The state funding will be disbursed over two years to the Detroit Area Agency on Aging, which has identified numerous problems with the city's nursing homes, such as substandard care, financial difficulties and likelihood of closures.

Of the $1.7 million, $350,000 will be used for enhanced training of certified nursing assistants to care for patients with complex needs through a partnership with SEIU Healthcare Michigan, said James McCurtis Jr., a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health.

Dementia currently affects 700,000 people in the UK - and it is estimated that 150,000 of these live alone. Many people with dementia live in their own home but rely on support from an older carer, who may have their own health concerns. Consequently, as the effects of dementia progress, there has been little alternative to residential care.

However, innovative models of support are being developed which promote independence - allowing people to stay in their homes for as long as possible. Telecare plays a key role in facilitating the shift from traditional models of residential care, to supporting people with dementia at home.

A range of sensors can be installed in the home, to support existing social care services, by managing environmental risks. These sensors include a natural gas detector, carbon monoxide detector, flood detector, temperature extremes sensor, bed occupancy sensor and property exit sensor. Should a sensor be activated, an alert is sent either to a monitoring centre or a nominated carer. Telecare supports both safety in the home and security outside the home - where 60% of people with dementia experience the risk of 'wandering' dangers.

Dementia is often very distressing for carers, as it places them under immense pressure to provide round the clock support. Telecare can help relieve some of this pressure - enabling carers to take a well-earned break, secure in the knowledge that they will be contacted immediately if needed.

Good intentions only get baby boomers so far in trying to care for their aging parents. No matter how hard one tries to get the best care possible for a loved one, it's still easy to get overwhelmed, frustrated, angry and disappointed in the process.
One Minnesota baby boomer seemed to have an ideal combination of resources to care for her aging mother — 10 siblings as caretakers; a doctor, a lawyer and a geriatric social worker in the family; and multiple housing options from which to choose.

Even with these resources and a carefully considered plan, this was not enough. Her mother experienced three broken hips (including two in one week), staffing issues that added to medical problems, continual shifts in housing to address changing care needs, medication complications, and sudden memory problems. The greatest frustrations and struggles though, have resulted from the bureaucracy of the elder care system, which culminated in a letter sent from the government telling the family members their mother was dead (she wasn't).

Julie Groshens wondered how families get through the maze of elder care options without a social-worker sibling to guide them. Nearly every day, she heard similar stories from colleagues, friends and family. So Groshens decided to form Elder Care Expos, LLC, a Minnesota-based company that produces elder-care resource events for the public.