Institute of Medicine

Are Seniors Getting Too Much Medical Treatment?

Older adults are getting too much medical treatment. No, I am not suggesting we ration treatment for seniors or empower the mythical death panels. Rather, the health system should replace aggressive but ultimately useless medical interventions with more care. This means rethinking the way we care for older adults with chronic disease. We should organize care around the goal of improving their quality of life rather than on [...]

By |2015-11-02T10:04:54-05:00November 2nd, 2015|Health Care, long term care reform, Medicare|0 Comments

Caring for Our Parents: If Kathy Can’t Do It, How Can You?

Like millions of others, Kathy Kenyon is trying as best she can to care for her parents—both of whom have some dementia. The health care system won't let her. In a presentation to the prestigious Institute of Medicine a couple of weeks ago, Kathy described in painful detail what is it like to try to navigate the disorganized maze we call health care. Kathy [...]

By |2015-01-30T17:04:25-05:00January 30th, 2015|family caregivers|2 Comments

Reimagining End Of Life Care

Imagine being able to receive fully integrated medical, social, and spiritual care in your own home. Nursing care is available 24/7. Home health aides provide basic personal assistance. Care is person-centered and focused on the specific needs of each patient. And for people with incurable chronic conditions, it focuses on managing symptoms, including pain, thus vastly improving their quality of [...]

By |2014-09-17T15:39:21-04:00September 17th, 2014|End of life|1 Comment

Three Great New Palliative Care Resources

I am a huge fan of efforts to increase awareness of palliative care among physicians, health systems, patients and their families. And I wanted to pass on information about three major efforts to do that. The first is a landmark study by the prestigious Institute of Medicine on the importance of managing pain. The report, Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint [...]

By |2011-07-14T00:49:38-04:00July 14th, 2011|End of life, family caregivers|3 Comments