Health and Disability

A year ago, I couldn’t turn around at startup events without bumping into someone launching a social-networking business.

They knew it was the next big thing and a great opportunity to connect with a young demographic sought by advertisers. Now it seems the market is maturing. Literally.

As in, everywhere I go lately, I meet someone starting a company targeting the older population.

This isn’t about more gadgets for grandma and grandpa.

The new thing is services, online and off, aimed at people entering the senior phase of life and seeking help, advice and tools to navigate the transition.

These entrepreneurs see opportunity to reduce friction and complexity in this market, just as others have done with online travel and retail, using tools and processes honed by tech companies.

The entire long term care profession is concerned with the way in which long term care will be legislated and regulated in the coming years and is eager to hear how the candidates will address the care needs of an Aging America. AHCA/NCAL encourages the candidates to discuss the long term care needs of our nation and to consider the following questions.

Questions for Presidential Candidates:

1. The Medicare and Medicaid systems have come under increasing pressure at a time when the population is aging. Do you believe the U.S. can afford to cut these safety net programs as a means of balancing state and federal budgets?
   
2. Most Americans do not understand that health insurance and Medicare do not cover the cost of long term care services. Presently, nearly two-thirds of the residents in America's nursing homes rely on Medicaid. Do you believe that we need to encourage personal responsibility with the purchase of long term care insurance to take the pressure off the Medicaid program? If yes, how do we achieve this?
   
3. We all know that there are 77 million aging baby boomers rapidly nearing retirement – they have changed every aspect of our culture during their lives, and it is clear that they will also have a significant impact on our long term care system. What should the nation's long term care system look like in order to meet this population's clinical health care needs and very specific preferences?
   
4. With the recent trend to move the frail and elderly out of nursing facilities and into home- and community-based care, what sort of oversight system should be in place to ensure that those vulnerable populations are receiving the care and services they require--and that those services are of a high quality? Do you believe that all individuals who are frail and elderly can receive the around-the-clock care that they may require in the home or community?
   
5. In cases where individuals who are frail and elderly outlive their savings and are too sick to manage on their own, what do you see as the most practical way to pay for their care? Where should they be housed?....

The causes of apathy and insubordination in long-term care facilities are numerous. The following article approaches some of these causes with the understanding that the medical care of the residents in these facilities is at stake, and apathy and insubordination undermines efforts to provide medical attention to these individuals. Many long-term care facilities in America today do not staff by acuity of resident needs, and this is one of the leading causes of such apathy and insubordination among staff members. Nurses and Nursing Assistants are left to work with large numbers of residents and a minimum of fellow medical staff, resulting in lack of patient/resident medical treatment.

Transforming Hospitals: Designing for Safety and Quality, a DVD from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), reviews the case for evidence-based hospital design and how it increases patient and staff satisfaction and safety, quality of care, and employee retention, and results in a positive return on investment.

This summary discusses evidence-based design, patient safety and satisfaction, quality outcomes, staff satisfaction and retention, and cost effectiveness.

Select to order the DVD.

Select for print version (PDF File, 419 KB). PDF Help.

The out-of-pocket cost of caring for an aging parent, spouse or loved one averages about $5,500 a year, according to the nation’s first in-depth study of such expenses, a sum that is more than double previous estimates and more than the average American household spends annually on health care and entertainment combined.

Family members responsible for ailing loved ones provide not only “hands-on” care but often reach into their own pockets to pay for many other expenses of care recipients, including groceries, household goods, drugs, medical co-payments and transportation. That nudges the average cost of providing long-distance care to $8,728 a year.

More than eight out of 10 people want long term care included in the agenda of presidential candidates, according to a poll by Public Opinion Strategies and the Mellman Group.

It also showed that nearly 70 percent of respondents have not prepared for the long-term care of their family or themselves. However, half of the polltakers indicated that they have known someone who has needed such care.

The poll results also suggested that Americans are willing to aid in long-term care programs at the state and national levels. More than half of the respondents agreed that payroll deductions for such programs would be allowable.