ELF News Archives
June 2008
- Worker can't claim overtime with holiday -
Elder-care concerns: Nearly one in four U.S. workers are providing care for an older or disabled adult, according to a survey by Workplace Options, an employee-benefits company.
Among those workers providing care, 44 percent have missed time at work as a result.
Chicago Tribune 06/30
- Nursing homes concerned over funds -
The organisation representing nursing homes in Ireland has expressed concern that funding allocated to the Fair Deal scheme could be diverted as part of cost containment measures by the HSE.
The Fair Deal proposal was for nursing home fees to be paid from 80% of a resident’s weekly pension, boosted by a 15% levy on the value of their estate after their death.
Irish Health 06/30
- Nursing-Home Bills -
Before Medicaid will cover nursing-home care, consumers must pass income and asset tests. (Reread our May 18 guide to those rules.) But even after Medicaid coverage kicks in, nursing-home residents -- and sometimes their estates -- must contribute to the cost of care.
Although Medicaid will pick up as much as 100% of an indigent resident's nursing-home bill if necessary, those with income must effectively split the cost with the government. Nursing-home residents rarely work, but many have income from Social Security, pensions, annuities or other sources.
WSJ 06/30
- Deal to sell bankrupt nursing homes collapses -
A deal to sell the bankrupt Haven Healthcare nursing homes has collapsed two weeks after it was announced, forcing state officials to devise a new plan to operate the chain.
Newsday 06/30
- Rating nursing homes -
The recent investigative series by Matt Canham regarding the quality of care in nursing homes highlights some important issues. However, it misleads consumers to believe there is not adequate information available to determine nursing home placement.
SLT Trib 06/26
- Call for compensation for private nursing home charges -
The Government should be compensating families who are obliged to pay for private nursing home care for their relatives when public nursing home care is not available locally, according to a local senator.
Kilkenny Advertiser 06/26
- Physicians Adult Daycare: Meeting the Growing Need for Eldercare -
The need for social and educational activities for seniors and their caregivers is an ever-increasing problem that affects us all. As a society, we are experiencing a serious psychological and economic impact from elder healthcare as a result of our failure to develop programs and policies to stay abreast of the changing demographics and statistics in this segment of the population....In America, our healthcare programs are not prepared to meet the increasing demands for services by this age group. Life expectancy in the U.S. is now lower than that of many high-income countries, such as Canada, France, Sweden and Japan...In the early 1980s, U.S. women age 65 had one of the highest average life expectancies in the world, but over the last two decades, the life expectancies of older women in many countries has surpassed that of women in the United States: in 2003, women age 65 in Japan could expect to live 3.2 years more on average than women in the United States and the difference among Japanese and U.S. men is 1.2 years.
Business Wire 06/26
- Why can't mom have live-in assistant? -
Because this is such a serious decision, you may want to seek the advice of an experienced elder law attorney, who may know (or will find out) how courts in ...
Boston .Com 06/25
- Green Houses — a Nursing-Home Alternative — Get Green Backing -
The foundation is investing $15 million over five years on Green Houses, which aim to replace large nursing homes with small, homelike facilities for 10 to 12 residents. The foundation hopes Green Houses will soon be in all 50 states, up from the 41 Green Houses now in 10 states...“We want to transform a broken system of care,” ...
WSJ 06/24
- How to make sure nursing homes measure up -
Thank you, Chad Skelton, for an excellent article (June 20) exposing the fact that health authorities have nursing-home inspection reports and other data that should be available to the public.
Vancouver Sun 06/24
- Congress shouldn't add to nursing home industry's financial burden -
The nursing home industry has been struggling financially for at least a couple of decades. With Medicaid reimbursement rates lagging well behind the cost of providing long-term care, those facilities with high numbers of public-pay patients are increasingly hard-pressed to keep their doors open...Legislation now pending in Congress has a potential to worsen the industry’s financial squeeze. A bill introduced recently in the Senate by Florida Republican Mel Martinez would make voluntary binding arbitration agreements between patients’ families and care facilities unenforceable. This could greatly increase legal costs for care providers over the long haul, with little or no benefit to patients with legitimate injury claims.
TDN 06/24
- Stay in your home. Pay an annual fee. Get easy access to a network of help when you need it. -
Stay in your home. Pay an annual fee. Get easy access to a network of help when you need it...it's a private, virtual retirement community intended to bring the best of traditional facilities -- the ready network of caregivers and social activities -- to those who choose to do what most seniors ultimately want: stay in their own homes.
Star Tribune 06/23
- Feds to issue online rankings of nursing homes soon -
The federal government will soon rank nursing homes on a five-star scale, similar to the way critics review restaurants and hotels.
The new rankings, which are still in the works, will appear on Medicare's "Nursing Home Compare" Web site by the end of the year, with the goal of helping families identify the best facilities in their area.
SLTRIB 06/23
- Florida nursing homes ahead of the curve with five-star rating system -
The five-star rating system introduced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may be new for nursing homes on a national scale, but it's old hat in the Sunshine State.
McKnights 06/23
- Dealing With the Cost of Alzheimer's -
Legal issues, such as determining who will have power of attorney once the person is no longer able to make decisions, should be a top priority.
- Major Funding Begins at Elder LifeCare Foundation -
ELF a potential candidate for Funding from the PEW Foundation, Details will follow:
ELF 06/19
- U.S. star rating system set for nursing homes -
Nursing homes will get a "star rating" from the federal government to help consumers pick the best facilities, a sweeping initiative that a Maryland regulator predicted will create "peer pressure" among owners to improve care.
Sun 06/19
- Bredesen promotes more elder care options -
State Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga, said the Long-Term Care Community Choices Act of 2008, "enhanced opportunities to offer assisted living and in-home care for our citizens without putting an additional burden on taxpayers."
Cleveland Banner 06/19
- Japan's many elderly voters a risk to fiscal reform
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Fear of losing the votes of the elderly, many of whom are staunch backers of Japan's ruling party, is making it tougher to tackle bulging social security costs even as their growing ranks make doing it so urgent.
Reuters 06/19
- Report calls on Ont. to boost funding, increase care in nursing homes -
Health Minister George Smitherman resisted calls Tuesday for regulations that would require Ontario nursing homes to provide a minimum standard of care to its elderly residents, despite a new report calling on staff to spend more time with patients.
Canadian Press 06/19
- Officials defend care record at state vets home -
Officials from the state-run nursing home for veterans defended the beleaguered facility during a House committee hearing Wednesday, disputing findings of a recent health inspection and offering an accounting of how state money has been spent.
East Valley Tribune 06/18
- Nursing home dilemma -
There's no right or wrong time to start thinking about the future when you no longer can take care of yourself, or someone you love, without help.
Halife 06/17
- Find the Best Elder Care for Mom and Dad -
Some of the warning signs that an aging parent of spouse may need help can seem minor and others may be more alarming signals...
The Tuskegee News 06/17
- Asking questions, touring facilities key in finding a good nursing home -
The Disability Law Center, a non-profit group that monitors Utah's nursing homes, suggests approaching the nursing station. Some homes uses these desks as "barricades" between the staff and residents, when they are supposed to be places to get help.
SLTRIB 06/17
- Antipsychotics dangerous for elderly with dementia -
Elderly people with dementia who are given antipsychotics, even for a very short period of time, are more likely to end up in the hospital or even die, new research shows.
Tehran Times 06/16
- University trains social workers to meet challenges of elder care -
...physicians' specializing in geriatrics is critical to meet the explosive demands now and into the future; however, the institute redefined the work force to include everyone involved in the patient's care. This comprises the entire interdisciplinary health-care team (doctors, nurses, social workers, physical therapists, etc.), direct-care workers such as nurse's aides, informal caregivers such as family and friends, and the patients themselves. Furthermore, the report recommends that all involved would benefit from geriatric competencies, that is, specific skills in order to best meet the unique needs of the older adult.
Herald Tribune 06/12
- Elder-care star-rating system makes a tough decision easier -
The state's star-rating system for adult-care homes, which takes effect Jan. 1, may not be perfect but it should provide a valuable tool for families trying to decide how best to care for aging parents...Star ratings, which will be easily accessible online, will be based on reported facility violations and annual state inspection scores. When deficiencies are corrected, scores will be adjusted.
News Record 06/12
- Nursing home pay confusion angers elderly -
Under the minister's Fair Deal initiative, elderly people will be charged 80pc of their disposable income during their lifetime and up to 15pc of the value of their homes after their deaths to pay for their care while alive.
Herald 06/12
- Bush Plan to Cut Medicare-Financed Nursing Home Care Being Poorly Received -
As long term care leaders from around the nation continue to raise strong objections to the Bush Administration's proposed $770 million Medicare Part A national nursing home funding cuts, scheduled to go into effect in the coming weeks, recent bipartisan letters from key U.S. Senate and House members to Health and Human Services...
Earth Times 06/11
- Find the Best Elder Care for Mom and Dad -
Her home used to be spotless, but now Mom has trouble doing the most basic housekeeping tasks. Dad is increasingly absent minded, even forgetting to pay his utility bills. Is it time to find help caring for your aging parent or elderly spouse?
Dental Plans 06/11
- Elder abuse charity welcomes review of adult protection and social care laws -
Action on Elder Abuse, (AEA) the leading specialist charity focusing on the abuse of older people, has welcomed today’s announcement that the Law Commission is to review the law under which residential care, community care, adult protection and support for carers is provided, in order to establish a coherent legal structure, preferably in the form of a single statute, for these services.
24 Dash 06/11
- £5.5m nursing home to revolutionise care -
It almost sounds too good to be true, but the dwindling waiting lists are the assurance this investment is absolutely vital for the community...The clients have two-and-a-half times the space they legally require. All rooms are en suite and the planners have been considerate of staff needs too.
NWE Mail 06/10
- Life is more than just housing -
An affordable-housing success story...
IEH provides housing for more than 170 low-income seniors and disabled. It has built millions of dollars worth of affordable housing and continues year after year to subsidize rents for tenants - all without auctions, dinners, or fundraising publications. How is that possible? The buildings operated by IEH have all been built with federal and state grants and are supported by more than $600,000 per year in rent subsidies. IEH tenants pay approximately 30 percent of their annual income in rent, an average of $250 per month, including utilities.
MV Times 06/10
- Finding dignity for homeless elders -
"It takes an average of two weeks for a person to be totally demoralized and institutionalized into homelessness," ...Bissonnette, who spent nearly two decades as a nurse at Boston University Medical Center, was first exposed to what she sees as a common precursor to homelessness in the 1950s while working at the Little Company of Mary Hospital in East Cambridge, which cared for patients with chronic diseases, until it closed in 1959.
Boston 06/10
- Make senior citizens key community players -
The more the tax base shrinks, the greater the assault on the remaining citizens, since one thing Albany will never seriously undertake, it seems, is cutting the public-sector payroll, no matter how much the public itself shrinks. And it’s not just the state but the school districts. Shrinking enrollments don’t translate into shrinking budgets.
MPN Now 06/10
- Senior Cares: Are we prepared for the ‘Age Tsunami?’ -
At that time, for many, the workplace was more dangerous, and medical care, beginning with pre-natal guidance through childhood, mid-life and elder care, ...
Wicked Local 06/09
- Assisted-living home evicting 99-year-old -
An assisted living home in Sumner is trying to evict a 99-year-old resident who has exhausted her life savings and now depends on Medicaid.
TDN 06/05
- Laws target nursing home regulation -
Maryland legislation designed to beef up nursing home regulation was signed into law late last month, just as two nursing homes were added to a federal watch list...He also signed a measure that would expand the transparency of nursing home licensure. Advocates have cried out against corporations buying nursing homes.
Gazette 06/05
- Elder Care warning of scam targeting seniors -
Bartlesville’s Elder Care has received reports that a company claiming to be Elder Care is calling area seniors attempting fraud.
According to a news release issued Thursday by Elder Care Community Relations Director Maria Swindell Gus, scam artists claim to help seniors with a secondary insurance program covering the cost of their medical bills.
Examiner-Enterprise 06/05
- Forced to sell her home for care -
A LOCAL health board has been slammed for forcing an elderly woman to sell her home to pay care home fees which should have been funded by the NHS.
Eileen Puc, 75, is currently paying more than £1,800-a-month for 24-hour nursing care at Nazareth House Care Home, in Cardiff, where her 86-year-old husband Ivan is also a resident.
She has paid more than £60,000 towards her care in the three years she has lived at the home.
IC Wales 06/04
- Caregivers receive care from local program -
“I’m the primary caregiver of both my mom and dad, and sometimes it’s a fight – especially with insurances – trying to get them the care they need,” Rush said. “This is worse than having kids. You didn’t worry about them as much.”
Times Leader 06/03
- The ill of homeless elders -
'It takes an average of two weeks for a person to be totally demoralized and institutionalized into homelessness...the staff regularly encountered people who arrived with no hope to live and watched them convalesce. But when it came time to leave, ... the steep hospital fees had emptied their savings, leaving them unable to afford a home.
Boston .Com 06/03
- Aggression Between Nursing-Home Residents More Common Than Widely Believed -
When people hear about elder abuse in nursing homes, they usually think of staff members victimizing residents. However, research by Cornell University faculty members suggests that a more prevalent and serious problem may be aggression and violence that occurs between residents themselves.
Medical News Today 06/02
- Seeking better care -
In Maryland and across the nation, there's a struggle going on to improve the quality of nursing home care. It's a battle with many fronts, but the outcome is critically important as millions of baby boomers approach retirement age. More than 50 of Maryland's 233 nursing homes have been charged in recent years with significant violations of state and federal health and safety regulations.
Baltimore Sun 06/02
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