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 [...]
Nearly 18 million older adults, or nearly half of everyone 65 and older, report that they need some assistance with routine daily activities. That’s significantly more than generally believed and suggests that the burden on families and the overall care system may be much greater than previously thought. According to a new study by Vicki Freedman of the University of [...]
When we think about the health of frail older adults, severe, high-profile illnesses such as dementia, heart disease, cancer, and debilitating arthritis come to mind. But for many seniors, small things can turn a manageable chronic condition into an acute medical crisis. One is malnutrition. Spend a little time in a hospital emergency department and you’ll be shocked at how [...]
What should you know before you move into an independent living senior community? To find out, I asked a long-time resident. But not just any resident. Len Bachman has been living in an upscale 313-unit independent senior community in Chevy Chase, Maryland for about a decade. In some ways, he’s very typical of his neighbors. Now an active 89, he moved in [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]