Wisconsin health officials say the state’s long-term care programs for the elderly and disabled will be expanded to all 72 counties by early 2018. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services announced the expansion of Family Care and Include, Respect I Self-Direct (IRIS) to seven more counties over the next 20 months. In June, the state ditched plans to shift coverage from nonprofit providers to for-profit insurance companies. In late July, the health department said Family Care and IRIS — programs that help frail, older people and disabled people stay in their own residences and out of nursing homes — would…
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley’s lottery proposal, as well as competing plans, were scheduled for consideration this past Tuesday in an Alabama Senate committee. The Tourism and Marketing Committee will consider the bills by Sen. Jim McClendon (R-Springville) and others. McClendon, as expected, introduced two lottery bills on Monday, the first day of a special session called by Bentley. McClendon is sponsoring Bentley’s bill for a lottery to support the state General Fund. McClendon’s second bill would allow a lottery, as well as electronic lottery games at the state’s four greyhound tracks. It would provide money for both the General Fund…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says nursing homes should have rules that forbid employees from taking photos and videos that are demeaning or humiliating to residents. Sharing such content through social media networks should also be prohibited and to do so should be considered a form of abuse. The agency, within the Department of Health and Human Services, spelled out those guidelines in a memo Friday to state health departments, which help enforce nursing home rules for the US government. This comes after a December 2015 report from ProPublica that documented 47 instances of employees who worked at…
Having a lower weight may increase older adults’ risk of the memory-robbing disorder Alzheimer’s disease, new research suggests. The study included 280 healthy people aged 62 to 90 with normal mental function. The participants underwent physical exams, genetic testing and brain scans. According to the researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, there was a link between lower body weight and more extensive deposits of Alzheimer’s-related beta-amyloid protein in the brain. This link was particularly strong in people with the APOE4 gene variant, which is known to increase the risk of Alzheimer’s, the study authors…
Older adults in assisted-living facilities experience limits to their rights to sexual freedom because of a lack of policies regarding the issue and the actions of staff and administrators at these facilities, according to research conducted by the Gerontology Institute at Georgia State University. Though assisted-living facilities emphasize independence and autonomy, this study found staff and administrators behave in ways that create an environment of surveillance. The findings, published in the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, indicate conflict between autonomy and the protection of residents in regard to sexual freedom in assisted-living facilities. Nearly one million Americans live in assisted-living…
Proponents of allowing terminally ill patients to request life-ending medication submitted more than 160,000 signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Colorado End of Life Options delivered the signatures to the secretary of state’s office last week. It takes 98,492 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. Proponents believe they have submitted enough signatures to provide a cushion to qualify. The effort would impact terminally ill adult patients with a prognosis of six months or less to live. Two physicians would need to confirm the prognosis, patients would need to be mentally capable, the medication would need to be self-administered,…
Limited access to pharmacies may be one reason hospital readmission is more common among older patients in rural, remote or smaller communities, a new study suggests. Hospital readmissions in the United States cost $17 billion a year and are a serious problem, according to researchers from Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Science University. They analyzed data from patients aged 65 and older in Oregon and focused on 507 pharmacies and 58 hospitals. The average rate of readmissions in rural areas was 15.3 percent, compared to 14.7 percent in cities, where pharmacies are more often open, the researchers found….
Redfin Chief Executive Glenn Kelman calls it “Landlord Nation”, a group of mom-and-pop investors who have seized on low mortgage rates and robust rent growth to plow savings into rental properties. Together, they’ve lifted the percentage of single-family houses used as rental properties to stratospheric heights, even as many would-be first-time home buyers struggle to reach ignition. The share of single-family homes used as rental properties, meanwhile, has surged to a 30-year high, according to a Zillow analysis of data from the U.S. census. Separate data provided by RealtyTrac show that only 65 percent of homes purchased in 2015 are…
People seeking to manage their federal Social Security benefits online can no longer do so unless they provide a cell phone number so they can receive an access code by text each time they log on. The change, which took effect July 30, is part of an effort to improve online security, according to the Social Security Administration. Users with online “mySocialSecurity” accounts already could choose to use texted codes as an extra layer of security, in addition to their user name and password. But now, the extra step is mandatory. Many businesses, including banks, offer such codes, but their…
Beginning August 6, 2016, the Notice of Observation Treatment and Implication for Care Eligibility Act (NOTICE Act)[1] requires hospitals to provide written and oral notice, within 36 hours, to patients who are in observation or other outpatient status for more than 24 hours. The notice must explain the reason that the patient is an outpatient (and not an admitted inpatient) and describe the implications of that status both for cost-sharing in the hospital and for subsequent “eligibility for coverage” in a skilled nursing facility (SNF). In final regulations for inpatient hospital reimbursement that were put on display at the Office…
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