'Village' Movement And Community Health Clinics Offer Alternative Models Of Care
NPR: "The village movement dates to the 2001 founding of Beacon Hill Village in Boston. This year, the Village to Village Network launched to help other communities create their own senior support groups...

136 Members Of Congress Demand That Medicare Release Key Information About Controversial Bidding Program For Home Medical Equipment
A bipartisan group of 136 members of Congress recently requested that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) disclose the list of homecare providers whose bids were used to calculate home medical equipment reimbursement rates under the Medicare "competitive" bidding program. See letter here...

Abuse And Adversity In Childhood May Lead To A Shorter Life, Weakened Immune Response Among The Elderly
The emotional pains we suffer in childhood can lead to weakened immune systems later in life, according to a new study. Based on this new research, the amount of this immune impairment even enhances that caused by the stress of caregiving later in life...

Alzheimer's Foundation Of America And Second Wind Dreams Forge Strategic Partnership
The Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA), New York, NY, and Second Wind Dreams (SWD), Marietta, GA, announced that they have forged a strategic partnership that will utilize their combined expertise, program strengths and local membership bases to further raise the bar on care for the increasing number of individuals nationwide with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias...

America's Long-Term Care Future
The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act - a largely overlooked component of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - has the potential to transform long-term care financing in the United States from a welfare-based to an insurance-based system, according to the latest issue of Public Policy & Aging Report (PPAR)...

American Lung Association Supports Individuals Dealing With Lung Disease Through Online Caregiving Coordination Service
The American Lung Association is offering a free-of-charge, online caregiving coordination service called "My Fighting for Air Community" to support individuals affected by acute and chronic lung diseases...

Calif. Considers Reduction In Funding For Home Care Aides; Ill. Union Workers Strike Over Health Issues At Uranium Conversion Plant
ABC News: "California, facing a $19.1 billion budget gap, is considering a reduction in funding that pays for home care aides for the disabled. It already cut funds last year. ... Last month, the nation celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) ... Now, though, gains made under the ADA are running into recession-battered state budgets...

Carers Need Help Before Dementia Diagnosis
One of the most difficult times when caring for a friend or family member with dementia is the period before diagnosis, according to new research led by UCL and published online today in the British Medical Journal. As the population ages, a large and increasing number of people are caring for a relative or friend with a form of dementia...

Detecting Depression In Caretakers Of Mentally Ill Adults
A diagnostic test of eight short questions designed by Jaclene Zauszniewski from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University can be used to detect depressive thinking patterns that lead to clinical depression in women who care for an adult family member with a serious mental illness...

Empire BlueCross BlueShield Provides Six Tips For Caregivers
Empire BlueCross BlueShield According to the National Alliance for Caregiving, more than 65 million people in the United States serve as informal caregivers, typically for family members. This equates to more than one out of every four people serving as unpaid caregivers. A caregiver is someone who provides assistance to another person who is ill, disabled or needs help with daily activities...

Fla.'s Jackson Health System Struggles With Nursing Home And Hospital Losses; Advocates Push Marijuana Cultivation In Calif.
The Miami Herald: As the Jackson Health System's "governing board prepares to vote Monday on a proposed budget for 2011, its two money-losing nursing homes stand as a symbol for the challenges the system faces as it attempts to cut losses. Almost 100 of the 289 nursing home patients in the Jackson Health System are uninsured. Half of those are undocumented immigrants under age 50...

GE And Intel Create New Health IT Venture Focused On Home-Based Care
General Electric Co. and Intel Corp. announced Monday they will create a company to provide new medical technologies for the elderly and chronically ill. Bloomberg Businessweek: "Both companies are already involved in the health care market. GE Healthcare offers consulting and sells medical devices in areas that include cardiology and oncology...

Health Care Industry And Professionals Respond To Seniors' Growing Health Needs
USA Today: "The explosive growth of the USA's older population is fueling a grass-roots 'village' movement in neighborhoods across the country to help people age in their own homes. More than 50 villages in a neighbor-helping-neighbor system have sprouted in the past decade from California and Colorado to Nebraska and Massachusetts...

Home Health Care Industry Adversely Affected By On-The-Job Injuries
Training can alleviate some of the pain that occupational injuries bring to the long-term care industry, according to Penn State researchers. The study looked at injuries among home health aides. Home health aides typically visit patients' homes to assist with activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing and eating...

Homecare After Hip Surgery In Seniors Increases Survival Rate
Homecare after hip surgery in seniors increases survival rate Seniors who received home care after discharge from hospital for partial hip surgery (hemiarthroplasty) were 43% less likely to die in the three months following the procedure, found a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) However, less than 16% of elderly patients discharged home after...

Homewatch CareGivers Releases New "Guide To Living With Dementia" To Help Families Cope With The Numerous Issues Associated With Dementia
As part of its ongoing program to help caregivers and provide families with the information they need to make informed decisions, Homewatch CareGivers has released its latest resource, entitled "Guide to Living with Dementia. " This new guide is available for free download from the company's website...

Illinois Quickly Begins Implementing New Law To End Violence In Nursing Homes; N.J. Reverses Cuts In AIDS Drug Program
Chicago Tribune: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn Thursday signed a law establishing new nursing home safety measures "aimed at ending chronic violence in the facilities. Work already has begun on hiring dozens of additional nursing home inspectors, as well as writing rules that will increase licensing fees and nursing staff levels in the homes...

Long Term Care Profession Applauds FMAP Passage
Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), and Alan Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, issued the following statement today applauding House passage of an extension of the enhanced Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP): "The rare return of th...

NPR: Technology Can Help Seniors Stay In Homes
NPR continued its series on seniors aging at home. Part two examined a company called Adaptive Home, "one of a growing number of startups that use monitoring technology to revolutionize elder care. These companies are also betting on a big market as the baby boomers enter old age...

Senate Subcommittee Approves HHS Funding Bill, Other Health Care Bills Readied
CongressDaily: The Senate Labor-Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee approved a draft funding bill Tuesday for HHS, "moving a bill that would provide $170 billion in discretionary spending to related federal agencies, nearly $1 billion under the president's request...

Trauma, Abuse In Childhood Linked To Shorter Lifespan, Weaker Immune Response Later In Life
New research from the US suggests that trauma in childhood such as experiencing abuse or a serious stressful event like losing a parent is linked to a shorter lifespan and weaker immune system later in life, and that the immune impairment even adds to that caused by the stress of caring for a family member with dementia...

Virginia Attorney Gen. Approves Stricter Oversight On Abortion Clinics; Indiana Fails To Follow Up Inspection Reports On Nursing Homes
The Washington Post: "Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has concluded that the state can impose stricter oversight over clinics that perform abortions, a move immediately decried by abortion-rights organizations and others as an attempt to circumvent the General Assembly, which has repeatedly rejected similar measures...

States Continue Push For Extension Of Extra Medicaid Funds
News outlets report on state budget gaps and lobbying for extra Medicaid funds from the federal government. Bloomberg: "U.S. state governments project revenue will climb in the current fiscal year after they raised taxes and cut spending to close budget gaps of $84 billion, a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures found...

Visual Decision Pathways, Visualization Expertise Helps Researchers Map Life And Death Decisions
Sharron Docherty understands that medical care for a critically ill infant involves much more than treatments designed to bring about a cure. Treating and caring for an infant born with a life threatening condition involves parents, doctors, nurses and social workers caught up in a web of complex decision making, usually made in tight timeframes and under incredible stress...

Wis. Pushes To Expand Medicaid Funding For Contraceptives, Minnesota Encourages 'Medical Homes,' Md. Settles Nursing Home Payment Case
The Wall Street Journal: "Wisconsin is pushing to expand a controversial program that uses federal Medicaid funds to provide free birth-control pills, vasectomies and other forms of contraception to low-income people, an effort made possible by the federal health-care overhaul...