4/20/09 - Implementing Change in Long-Term Care: A Practical Guide to Transformation
Implementing Change in Long-Term Care: A Practical Guide to Transformation is a manual for nursing home staff that offers evidence-based recommendations on preparing a nursing home to take the first steps toward clinical and cultural changes, as well as methods to implement and sustain those changes.
Certain long-term care reforms could save the government $35 billion over the next 10 years, while providing for more effective reimbursement and post-acute care systems, according to a report released today by Avalere Health.
The report analyzes a long-term care reform proposal put forth by the American Health Care Association, the National Center for Assisted Living and the National Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care. Highlights of the proposal include:
— The creation of a new, site-neutral Medicare payment system for post-acute care based on patients' conditions and medical needs. Decisions would be based on more evidence using a standardized patient assessment tool.
— The creation of a fully federalized, voluntary, catastrophic long-term care (LTC) benefit. Medicaid no longer would pay for LTC for seniors.
— An increased amount of private funds used for long-term care services. Individuals would share the cost burden of the new LTC benefit in the form of a personal responsibility allowance, scaled to income…..
Lawmakers in Washington returned to work this week after the spring recess, and they are wasting no time in resuming the debate over healthcare reform. The Senate Finance Committee is meeting today to discuss the issue with more than a dozen representatives from the healthcare industry, including long-term care.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) and ranking member Charles Grassley (R-IA) will hold a roundtable discussion this afternoon with experts in a variety of different fields of the healthcare world. Representing the interests of long-term care groups in this meeting will be Paul J. Diaz, president and CEO of Kindred Healthcare Inc. In a letter sent Monday to President Obama, Baucus and fellow Senate healthcare reform activist Ted Kennedy (D-MA) reaffirmed their commitment to healthcare reform, saying they would have legislation ready to mark up by June of this year….
Maggie Jessen was once the death of her mother — a teenage wild child who smoked and ignored schoolwork and left home at age 16 after an argument with her father.
Now, she is the lifeline keeping her 91-year-old mother, Maurine Martin, out of a nursing home….
Most older persons with long-term care needs—65%—rely exclusively on family and friends to provide assistance.1 Another 30% will supplement family care with assistance from paid providers.2 Care provided by family and friends can determine whether older persons can remain at home. In fact, 50% of the elderly who have a long-term care need but no family available to care for them are in nursing homes, while only 7% who have a family caregiver are in institutional settings.3
FCA: Women and Caregiving: Facts and Figures
On Friday, April 10, CMS issued its new interpretive guidelines for state surveyors.
These guidelines provide surveyors with detailed information on how to assess nursing home compliance with OBRA 1987 regulations, which cover issues related to physical environment, resident rights, and resident health and safety.
The changes, which go into effect on June 17, 2009, are intended to support efforts underway to transform nursing homes into “homey” environments through both environmental changes and resident-centered caregiving.
CMS Guidelines Call for Homelike Environments in Nursing Homes at PHInational.org
When an older person is injured in a fall, the cost is significant, both in quality of life and medical expense.
Wireless body sensor networks that monitor gait, being developed by University of Virginia researchers, could offer a solution on both fronts.
A new consortium of researchers from U.Va.'s School of Engineering, School of Medicine and Department of Psychology, in partnership with the U.Va. Institute on Aging's Translational Research Consortium and AFrame Digital, Inc., a health monitoring and medical alert products company, will soon be providing the wearable sensors to residents of some area long-term care facilities….
Wireless body sensors to help prevent falls in seniors
After combing through 60 pages of regulations with special emphasis on the last four, a look at the final rule reveals the need to help Uncle Sam tighten the screws on identity theft….
Not a bad cause. This amendment to the FACT (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions) Act is often referred to as the Red Flags Rules. Created in response to a crippling rise in identity theft and medical fraud, the heart of this legislation lies in detecting identity theft long before the customer ever realizes it has happened. It also deals with developing strategies to prevent the loss of secured information as well as procedures for mitigation once identified….
The Red Flags Rules address any facility that provides a service and then bills for the service (deemed a creditor). The law requires a program, not just a document…..
OMG!!
I grew up near neighbors who hid their mentally disabled child in the basement whenever company paid a visit.
Had a bit of a flashback last month, when the Senate Special Committee on Aging decided to hold a hearing on future directions for long-term care. This time, the nursing home industry was quickly walked down the stairs.
WTH?
Family members grappling with the decision to allow a feeding tube for a relative with advanced dementia will find little comfort from a new review of evidence….
Do feeding tubes actually help people with degenerative dementia? In a new Cochrane review from London, doctors searched for evidence that this intervention was beneficial.
"We found that there is no research evidence that tube feeding prolongs survival or improves the quality of life for people with advanced dementia," said lead author Elizabeth Sampson, M.D. "In fact, some studies suggest that tube feeding may have an effect opposite…….
Review: Do Feeding Tubes Help Or Harm In Advanced Dementia?
