I am back to square one with shabby looking AFOs. I am going to contact my former orthotists for their input. But, I may have to go to a different orthotic company to get the braces I want. Read More »
The authors identified five conditions—pneumonia, congestive heart failure, urinary tract infection, dehydration and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma—that were responsible for more than three-quarters of the potentially avoidable hospitalizations. Read More »
The Senate Appropriations Committee today struck down several amendments aimed at putting a chokehold on funds allotted by the Affordable Care Act, including a prevention fund containing millions for eldercare initiatives. Read More »
A detailed economic forecast, released this week by Health Affairs, predicts national healthcare spending will experience “modest growth” during the next nine years, but will spike in 2014 when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage expansions activate. Read More »
America’s senior citizens continue to be the target of swindles and scams. According to e a recent online survey, nearly all respondents agree that older adults are vulnerable to financial exploitation. Read More »
I admit it. On Sunday nights I watch The Apprentice. Watching the team dynamics and project development is compelling entertainment for me. I recently heard about a CCRC in Spring, Texas, that has adopted the show’s format as a team-building project. Read More »
AANAC’s Judi Kulus provides a roadmap through the maze of recent MDS 3.0 updates and errata releases, while pointing out some potential pitfalls in handling resident interviews, assessments, file error correction and queries to CMS. Read More »
Owner/operator, management contractor or lessee, how you approach business risks depends upon what side of the coin you fall. Business risks (and strategies) differ depending on a facility’s business model. Read More »
A new report found that half of violent victimizations of persons age 65 or older involved serious violence, based on data from crimes known to Michigan law enforcement from 2005 to 2009. Perpetrators of elder abuse were often related to the victims. Read More »
LeadingAge’s CAST debuts a free, searchable online database designed to help LTPAC facilities choose an electronic health record system. The searchable vendor database and user-friendly filters comprise the first comprehensive suite for researching EHRs based specifically on LTPAC’s needed functionality and features. Read More »
Leading LTPAC (long-term post-acute care) providers, HIT (health information technology) leaders, policy makers and vendors will convene June 18-19 in Baltimore at the LTPAC Health IT Summit to advance the issues, initiatives and policies facing LTPAC HIT. Read More »
Another bitter battle is brewing on Capitol Hill over how to prevent student loan interest rates from increasing from the current 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1, and believe it or not, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities may be asked to help pay the tab. Read More »
Although funding was approved in last year’s Ohio budget, Gov. John Kasich slashed bonuses to high-performing nursing homes by a line-item veto for the state’s midterm budget review. Read More »
Are grannies the new Internet marketing demographic? For the first time in history, more than half of Americans age 65 or older are surfing the information superhighway. Read More »
It is important that you understand where the healthcare market is going and commit whether or not to stay with “this is the way we always did it” philosophy. You might decide to stay with what you are doing, but be sure to do a thorough analysis of everything. When you make an upgrade in your HIT you will have to make changes and you have to know the starting point. Read More »
I cannot remember when my AFOs (ankle-foot orthoses) were made. But I know they are more than five years old. I want a dependable orthotist who will repair my AFOs or explain if he cannot. Read More »
In Texas, an innovative approach by academia and the long-term care industry to improve the culture of long-term care offers CNAs education to improve their skill levels and professionalism. With this background in critical thinking, they can begin to take their first steps on the career ladder. Read More »
Most seniors are choosing cellular phones over landlines, disproving the theory that the elderly are “stuck in the past,” a Georgetown University study says. Read More »
Nursing facilities with higher CNA staff levels can offset the lack of confidence that newly admitted residents exhibit in trying to safely navigate unfamiliar surroundings. The availablity of CNAs to assist residents has helped to lower the rate of falls, study says. Read More »
Nursing homes that foster an environment in which workers feel they are valued contributors to a team of caregivers provide better care to their residents, according to a new study. Read More »
AARP and Microsoft Corp. have teamed up to offer a free online health record to AARP’s 40+ million members. The tool gives residents and their family members a single online repository for vital health information, and it will assist those who are designated caregivers of loved ones. Read More »
The Federal Communications Commission met with mobile technology leaders, healthcare agencies, medical device companies and others to hammer out an implementation strategy to push the mHealth industry forward. Read More »
Problems in the VA Aid and Attendance program have created a cottage industry of predators that target vulnerable seniors to convince them that they are entitled to a pension. The senior is then marketed financial products that he or she does not need and might not benefit from. Read More »
Can religion add quality to life in advanced age? Can it do so when dementia sets in? Ethnographic evidence, abundantly found in long-term care, speaks of the salutary contribution religion makes in advanced age. Read More »
In 2012, it's hard to believe that people still go hungry in the United States. When a senior doesn't have enough food or good nutrition, that is a recipe for health complications. Read More »
When a book that addresses architecture and design for an aging population landed on my desk last week, I was eager to review it. However, the ideals it promotes are tempered by current harsh economic realities in the LTC industry. Read More »
The American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) tell Congress to stop eyeing Medicaid tax rates as rescue funds for student loans. Read More »
