Should the aides who provide home care for frail elders and younger people with disabilities receive a living wage and decent benefits? If they do, how can families, who often are unable to afford care today, be expected to pay those higher wages and benefits? Should the market be allowed to set these prices, or should government intervene through minimum [...]
President Obama’s 2016 budget would make important changes in the way personal care is delivered to older Americans and younger people with disabilities. The biggest: A plan that could be a major step towards ending Medicaid’s long-standing bias in favor of nursing homes. At the same time, the fiscal plan would modestly boost funding for some senior services programs. While [...]
Frail seniors getting supports and services at home are more likely to be hospitalized than those living in nursing homes, even though those in nursing facilities are often sicker than those in the community, according to a new study in the June issue of the journal Health Services Research (behind a paywall). The study finds that seniors receiving care at [...]
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 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, [...]
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 [...]
The other day, I wrote about a troubling report on the high likelihood of falls or medication errors in skilled nursing facilities. The problem is real and serious, but at least we can measure it-- which is a first step towards fixing it. In contrast, there is home care. More than eight of every 10 people who need long-term supports [...]
It sounds like a great idea: Move people out of long-stay nursing facilities and back into their communities, and give them flexibility to spend government dollars on the care they need. Such a change could make care more person-centered and reduce costs. But a federal/state demonstration aimed at achieving that goal has moved very few people. For six years, the federal government and state [...]