Too many people make the dangerous roundtrip from hospital to nursing facility and back again. These transfers may increase risks of delirium, medication errors, falls, and infection. There is no doubt that some patients die as a result of these transfers. And, they cost payers—Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance—hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The real tragedy: By some [...]
While many seniors and their families may not be aware of it, consumer groups, hospitals, and nursing homes are fighting a major battle with Medicare over how the federal program pays for patients who are cared for in a hospital, but not admitted to the hospital. Seniors caught in this regulatory purgatory may have to pay thousands of dollars for [...]
It isn't news that needing long-term care services can be brutal on your finances but a new study shows just how it can destroy your assets. Median household wealth for those who spend fewer than 30 days in a nursing home is about $108,000. But after 6 months, many nursing home residents are effectively broke, with median assets of barely $5,000. In other words, after [...]
A Pennsylvania state appeals court has ruled that the adult son of a nursing home resident is responsible for her unpaid $93,000 bill. And the decision has some elder care lawyers wondering if this is just the beginning of a trend. Pennsylvania is one of 30 states that have filial responsibility statutes—laws that impose a duty on adult children to [...]
Why would House Republicans slash programs that make it possible for the frail elderly and adults with disabilities to live at home? Especially since the alternative would often be more costly nursing home care. GOP lawmakers say they support Medicaid's Home and Community Based programs that provide long-term services and supports in the community rather than in nursing homes. Many GOP [...]
I recently had the opportunity to participate in a panel on end-of-life care jointly sponsored the Charles E. Smith Life Communities in Rockville MD, Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD,, and Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C. The session was part of a day-long program on care transitions and highlighted the special importance of caring for the dying. My fellow panelists and I brought a wide [...]
The overuse of antipsychotic drugs “is one of the most common and longstanding, but preventable practices causing serious harm to nursing home residents today,” Toby Edelman of the Center for Medicare Advocacy told the Senate Aging Committee last week. She said these drugs are often used off-label (that is: for purposes other than the ones for which the FDA approved [...]
The Metlife Mature Market Institute has released its annual survey of the cost of long-term care services, including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day programs, and home care. And the news is not good. On average, provider costs rose far faster than the rate of inflation. The only exceptions were home care services, where costs were unchanged from 2010 [...]
Skilled nursing facilities whose patients are too frequently admitted to the hospital would face stiff new penalties according to the deficit reduction plan proposed by President Obama on Sept. 20. These admissions are often caused by falls, infections, or poor medication management. Overall, as part of a broad deficit reduction plan, Obama would cut more than $300 billion from projected [...]
In a move that shocked many in the elder care community, California has ended funding for its adult day care program. The question now is what will happen to the nearly 5,000 others that operate throughout the country. California's $169 million program serves about 35,000 low-income seniors and other adults with disabilities. The program will end in January when state Medi-Cal funding (the state's [...]