Medicare has a huge and growing problem caring for patients after they have been discharged from the hospital. After years of talk, Congress may be about to take a modest but important first step toward cleaning up the mess, and making sure that patients get care that gives them the best chance to live a healthy and active life after a [...]
A new study by AARP, the Commonwealth Fund, and the SCAN Foundation ranks the quality and affordability of nursing homes by state. It finds wide variation in both cost and quality among states but, at least according to some indicators, you get what you pay for: The states with the most affordable facilities are plagued by many poor performers. This [...]
The quality and accessibility of long-term supports and services depends in large part on where you live, according to a new report by AARP, The Commonwealth Fund, and the SCAN Foundation. Eight states—Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont, and Wisconsin—provide the best care by nearly all of AARP’s measures. Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Indiana provide the [...]
For decades, seniors and others with chronic illness have had to scale a seemingly insurmountable barrier built by the health care system, aided and abetted by Medicare and Medicaid. On one side of the wall was medical care, mostly controlled by doctors, hospitals, drug companies, and skilled nursing facilities. Medicare paid them to do as many medical procedures as possible, and [...]
You are caring for a parent or spouse who is in the hospital. At 9:00 AM, your loved is told she’s being discharged by Noon. You had no idea this was coming. Worse, she’s going to have complex care needs—maybe wound care after surgery, or lots of medications to take on a complicated schedule. You have no idea what to [...]
For an important clue into the future of senior care in the U.S., watch Kindred Healthcare, a $5 billion company that operates in 47 states. As recently as 2010, half of Kindred’s business was generated by its skilled nursing facilities. This year, only one-fifth of its revenues will come from its nursing and rehab centers. In a major strategic shift, [...]
Americans 40 or older know they’ll need some personal care as they age and worry about losing their independence or having to rely on others. Yet, they are more likely to plan for their funerals than for their care needs, have no idea what such care costs, and more than 4 in 10 mistakenly believe Medicare will pay for their [...]
In a nice blog post the other day, AARP’s Lynn Friss Feinberg reminded me of one of my great pet peeves: The way some so-called experts describe the help family and friends provide loved ones with care needs. Lynn called them out for using the phrase “informal caregiving,” as if this were merely some sort of casual relationship. You know, [...]
Nearly all of us want to age in place. We want to grow old in a safe, comfortable, secure, affordable, and interesting community. But what the heck does that mean? As the U.S. (and the rest of the world) ages, governments, non-profits, think tanks, advocacy groups, and universities are trying to figure it out. It turns out to be not [...]
For decades, it’s been easy to answer the question of where we will live as we age. The options were few--our home or our children’s, a nursing home, or some form of large retirement community. Not any more. Unsatisfied with the limited choices of the past, seniors are creating an extraordinary brew of options, inventing new forms of community as [...]