What's in this bill for people with mental illness and addictive disorders? The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law prepared a detailed summary of how this could :……BuzzNet Tags: health reform,mental health
MIWatch - Mental health in health reform
The Alzheimer’s Association released the first practice recommendations for professionals providing home care to people with Alzheimer’s.
The recommendations were distributed in early November to coincide with National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month.
Dementia Care Practice Recommendations for Professionals Working in a Home Setting (pdf) is the fourth in the association’s series of evidence-based publications aimed at helping providers and caregivers to administer person-centered, culturally sensitive care for people with dementia.
Recommendations Issued on Caring for People with Dementia at Home | PHInational.org
Senate Special Committee on Aging Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have sent a letter to U. S. Attorney General Eric Holder seeking improved access to needed pain and other medications for long-term care and hospice patients. Their October 19, 2009 letter states current federal Controlled Substance Act (“CSA”) requirements lead to delays in patients receiving needed medication.
Internet use reduces depression in the elderly by 20%. Whew. I've got to read those news alerts more carefully -- looks like I missed quite a bit of press about the October 15 announcement of a Phoenix Center Policy Paper of data analysis and conclusion by George Ford and Sherry Ford. The news articles about the study are quite confusing -- mixing up terminology (elderly? seniors?) so let's look more closely at the process that produced the conclusion…….
Internet use cuts depression in 55+ elderly -- what's it mean? | Aging In Place Technology Watch
The National Senior Citizens Law Center, Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), are working together to raise awareness of the issues facing older adults who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ("LGBT") and live in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other long-term care facilities. We hope to identify areas where policy changes will improve care, and to find other older adults, advocates and providers interested in these issues.
The survey is only 16 questions.
Nnew rules governing hybrid long-term-care products go into effect on Jan. 1 and may spawn a new generation of hybrids. Avisors need to think about when and why to consider them for clients.
Sales of long-term-care insurance (LTCI) have struggled, often because clients perceive them as risky. You pay a lot in premiums, which reward you handsomely if you later need extensive care, but which disappear if you die before needing them or never qualify for them.
To address these concerns, product providers developed annuities and life insurance policies with long-term-care riders as less-expensive alternatives. For example, insurers tested the waters with single-premium life policies that had provisions for LTC, usually a multiple of the death benefit paid out over several years. Once the death benefit was exhausted, any remaining claims would be applied against "excess benefits" up to a maximum. If the client didn't have LTC costs, the death benefit would ultimately pay out when the client passed away.
BuzzNet Tags: ltc insurance,hybridsHowever hybrid LTC policies turned out to have serious tax problems.
The government addressed the tax issues in the pension protection act of 2006 to encourage the development of more hybrid products. Congress provided that the new rules take effect in January 2010 to allow companies to comply.
Abstract: Over the past two decades, there has been a substantial growth in the body of literature on frailty in older persons. However, there is no consensus on its definition or the criteria used to identify frailty. In response to this lack of consensus, the Canadian Initiative on Frailty and Aging carried out a set of systematic reviews of the literature in ten areas of frailty research: biological basis; social basis; prevalence; risk factors; impact; identification; prevention and management; environment and technology; health services; health and social policy. This paper describes the methodology that was developed for the systematic reviews.
Despite the economy and subsequent fall in market prices, the cost of long-term care has gone up, according to the 2009 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home, Assisted Living, Adult Day Services and Home Care Costs.
Findings of the study include:
- For nursing homes, the highest cost for a private room was reported in Alaska ($584/day) while the lowest was in Louisiana ($132/day).
- Assisted living costs were highest in Wilmington, Del. ($5,219/month) and lowest in North Dakota ($2,041/month).
- The highest home healthcare aide rate was $30 per hour in the Rochester, Minn. area, while the lowest was reported in the Shreveport, La. area at $13 per hour.
- Adult day services were highest in Vermont at $150 per day and lowest in Montgomery, Ala. at $27 per day.
Long-term care costs rise 3.3 percent in 2009 | Healthcare Finance News
…."Frail and vulnerable residents of nursing homes throughout Illinois are being dosed with powerful psychotropic drugs, leading to tremors, dangerous lethargy and a higher risk of harmful falls or even death, a Tribune investigation has found. Thousands of elderly and disabled people have been affected, many of them drugged without their consent or without a legitimate psychiatric diagnosis that would justify treatment, state and federal inspection reports show."…..
Newspaper Investigates Dangerous Mix Of Nursing Homes And Psychotropic Drugs
GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- They are our most fragile and most vulnerable -- and they are not being treated right.
They are being tied down with sheets, being left unsupervised as their caretaker takes a nap, and occasionally being verbally and physically abused, state records show.
In the last two years, Genesee County’s 285 adult foster care facilities have racked up 323 reported violations of state rules, according to a Flint Journal investigation of Michigan Department of Human Services records…..
BuzzNet Tags: LTC,AFC violations
Genesee County nursing homes rack up hundreds of care violations | Flint News - - MLive.com
