Yesterday morning, a veteran of the decades-long effort to improve the way we deliver and pay for long-term supports and services asked me a question. Why, he wondered, should he believe that recent attempts to reform long-term care could succeed when so many previous initiatives have failed. Last evening, I may have found an answer. My wife and I went to see [...]
You've probably seen the headlines from President Obama’s 2014 budget: He’d slow the growth of Social Security benefits by changing the way payments are increased for inflation, trim Medicare by cutting payments to providers and making high-income retirees pay more out of pocket for their health care, and he’d protect Medicaid from budget cuts. But you may not have seen [...]
The White House finally appointed the last three members of the congressional long-term care commission, making it possible for the panel to get down to work. The nominations, which were supposed to have been made by Feb 1, are Henry Claypool, Executive Vice President of the American Association of People with Disabilities and a top aide at the Department of Health and Human [...]
By now you know the story—or at least think you do: A nursing home nurse sees an 87-year-old resident in cardiac arrest and calls 9-11. Despite desperate pleas of the call center operator, the nurse refuses to do CPR and the resident dies. Except most of the story isn't true. Lorraine Bayless lived at a Bakersfield (CA) continuing care community called Glenwood [...]
Nearly two months ago, Congress created a commission to recommend reforms to the current long-term care system. So what has happened since? Not much. Leaders of Congress have appointed members to serve on the panel but President Obama—who has three of 15 picks-- has not yet made his choices. The commission can’t select a chairman, find a staff, or set an agenda [...]
Seniors continue to be readmitted to the hospital too frequently. But when it comes to explaining why, patients and providers are on Mars and Venus. The patients blame doctors and nurses. Doctors and nurses blame patients. And everybody blames the hospitals. The problem, everyone seems to agree, is that hospital discharges are a mess. Patients don’t understand what they need [...]
Pope Benedict delivered an important message today: There comes a time for most of us when our bodies and minds weaken and we must change the way we live our lives. As with the Pontiff, it may mean giving up a demanding job. But for others, it may mean much more: Getting help with those activities we once took for granted. [...]
More people over 65 are dying in hospice care and fewer are dying in hospitals. But this good news is tempered by a very different story. People are also being hospitalized more frequently in the last three months of their lives, are more likely to spend time in intensive care units, and are often receiving hospice care for just a [...]
Elder abuse is a serious and growing problem we know too little about and, worse, too often ignore. It comes in many forms—physical, financial, and emotional. Yet, even as society focuses on addressing child abuse, it has fallen far behind when it comes to responding to elder abuse. Here are a couple of examples of the right way, and the [...]
Broad-based, integrated, community-wide initiatives can help keep seniors out of the hospital, says an important new study from the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study, done by a team led by Dr. Joanne Lynn of the Altarum Institute’s Center on Elder Care and Advanced Illness is new evidence that by working together, hospitals, physicians, social workers, nursing homes, [...]