Aging News Alert

Washington

 

Redesigning Healthcare Delivery for Seniors in South King County, WA

The Des Moines, WA-based senior living community is among five sub-acute rehabilitation care providers selected to join the group’s newly-formed accountable care organization (ACO) in South King County to offer high-quality coordinated care to area seniors.

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DOJ Alleges Bias Against People with Disabilities

The landlords waived a mandatory $1,000 pet deposit for service animals with specialized training, but refused a waiver for other assistance animals, including emotional support animals.

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Grandparents Raising Grandchild Support Group Serving Northern Michigan

The group, established in 2008 in response to requests from a number of custodial grandparents and the social service agencies serving them, aims to address legal, financial and parenting issues specific to this parenting situation, provide information and education and offer a place where grandparents can communicate their successes and concerns with others who are in the same "second time around" parenting situation.

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WA Senior Center Hosts Discussion About The Aging Brain

As staff members were planning the upcoming quarter's schedule, it was suggested to tie the Aging Brain presentation with the Alzheimer's Foundation of America National Memory Screening Event, and plan for a date in November.

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Cancer Survivor's Experience Helps Improve Quality of Life for WA Seniors

This professional shared her story with participants at the local senior center and found there was a need for special exercises for people who had undergone surgery.

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Intergenerational Project Brings Emergency Kits to Those In Need

Marc Anvi, director of the East County Senior Center and creator of the project, says that in addition to the obvious mission of helping better prepare citizens for emergencies, the goal of the project is to foster an increased appreciation of what different generations can offer each other.

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(SENIOR HOUSING) Web-based Tools Help Pinpoint Adult Family Homes

A new website developed by a Vancouver, WA gerontologist and her husband offers consumers the opportunity to shop comprehensively for an adult family home for a loved-one in need of 24-hour care without having to leave their home or business. It is an innovative Web-based service capable of being replicated in other areas.

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(SENIOR LIVING) Terraces at Skyline Names New Health Services Director

Skyline at First Hill, downtown Seattle's only life care retirement community, has named Carmen Steiner as its new health services director at The Terraces at Skyline.

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Aegis of Issaquah Provides Hospice Residence for End of Life Care

Áegis Living, a major provider of retirement, assisted living and memory care communities, is now offering a unique assisted living residence designed for those that need hospice care. The newly remodeled Dogwood Cottage at Aegis of Issaquah is the only assisted living community in the region created specifically to accommodate hospice patients requiring end of life care.

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Retirement: It's Not Just for Old Folks Anymore!

The word "retirement" conjures images of rocking chairs, sunsets and shuffleboard -- and the big night out every week is a bus ride to the bingo hall. For young people and even those who are approaching the top of that hill, these ideas are about as attractive as a long, slow root canal without Novocain. But Mary Lloyd, author of Super-Charged Retirement, is out to change all of that.

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Senators Predict Drug Importation Bill Will Finally Pass Congress

Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) say that with a new president who supports the legislation, they expect the new Congress to pass their bipartisan bill that will allow American consumers to safely import lower-priced, Food & Drug Administration-approved drugs from other countries.

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National Assisted Living Provider Refinances Mortgage Debt

Emeritus Corporation, a national provider of assisted living and Alzheimer’s and related dementia care services to seniors, has completed the refinancing of seven communities with Freddie Mac for $36.3 million at a fixed rate of 6.05% and a term of 10 years.

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Demand For Retirement Income Planning Growing Dramatically

According to the 2008 FPA Financial Planner Attitudes and Perceptions about Retirement Income Planning study, demand for retirement income planning, retirement income products and services, is increasing, driven by a greater understanding on the part of Americans of the important differences between the two broad phases of retirement -- the accumulation or preparation phase and the distribution or income phase.

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Part D Premiums to Rise 12% in 2009

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announce a 12% increase to $28 a month in Part D premiums for 2009 but the agency press release leads with the fact it is 37% lower than the $44.12 that was forecasted when the Medicare Modernization Act was passed in 2003.     &n...

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Alternative Vaccine Strategy Shows Promise In Prostate Cancer Patients

New research indicates that giving patients a continuous low dose of an immune system booster, a method known as metronomic dosing, as part of a therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine strategy is safe and produces similar immune responses and fewer side effects than the more common dosing method, which is not well tolerated by many patients.

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Hearst Foundations Offer Health Grants

  The William Randolph Hearts Foundations award grants to support programs that seek to improve and assure access to quality healthcare for underserved populations, including the elderly. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.           ...

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Gray & Green Together: Older Adults Can Help Create Healthier Environment

Volunteering for environmental protection activities can be physically and mentally sustaining for older people, according to a report appearing in the latest issue of Public Policy & Aging Report (PPAR), a publication of the National Academy on an Aging Society, the policy arm of The Gerontological Society of America. In fact, this demographic group is in a unique position to have a noticeable impact on its surroundings, the PPAR report says.

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Spending Growth, Shift To Docs' Offices Indicate CMS Should Alter Practices

From 2000 through 2006, Medicare spending for imaging services paid for under the physician fee schedule more than doubled -- increasing to about $14 billion, a Government Accountability Office investigation has found. Spending on advanced imaging, such as CT scans, MRIs, and nuclear medicine, rose substantially faster than other imaging services such as ultrasound, X-ray, and other standard imaging, the GAO says in a just-released report.

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Wyden, McCrery Are Optimistic LTC Crisis Can Be Solved

The long-term care for the elderly crisis is soluble and the political stars may be aligned to accomplish it in the next Congress in the context of comprehensive healthcare reform. That was the consensus view at a July 11 Brookings Institution forum in Washington.

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Prostate Cancer Vaccines Found More Effective With Hormone Therapy

Among patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, the addition of hormone therapy following vaccine treatment improved overall survival compared with either treatment alone or when the vaccine followed hormone treatment, according to recent data. Dr. Philip Arlen, director of the Clinical Research Group for the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology, at the National Cancer Institute, says the findings have important implications for guiding treatment decisions for prostate cancer patients.

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Changes Proposed For Hospital Outpatient, Ambulatory Surgical Center Services

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued a proposed rule that will update calendar year 2009 payment rates for hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers. CMS says the proposed rule is aimed at building on efforts across Medicare to transform the program into a prudent purchaser of healthcare services, paying based on quality of care, not just quantity of services.

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CMS Proposes Payment, Policy Changes For Docs' Services In 2009

CMS says it is trying to encourage greater efficiency in the delivery of care, while reducing treatment errors through the use of electronic health records. Additionally, the agency is exploring new payment models to see if there are ways to promote greater coordination of care among providers, producing better outcomes for the healthcare dollar.

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Scientists Isolate Toxic Key To Alzheimer's Disease

Scientists have long questioned whether the abundant amounts of amyloid plaques found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's actually caused the neurological disease or were a by-product of its progress. Now, using new research techniques, scientists have shown that a two-molecule aggregate (or dimer) of beta-amyloid protein fragments may play a role in initiating the disease.

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Survey Asks American Workers, Ages 44-70, About Longer Working Lives

A survey released Wednesday at a press conference in Washington, DC provides clues to a question with major implications for the American economy and the lives of millions: What will 78 million baby boomers do as they continue to work into traditional retirement age?

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Southern California Woman Charged With Bilking Medicare Out Of $12 Million

Special agents with the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation have arrested the operator of Wescove Home Health Services at her home in Covina, CA, on healthcare fraud and money laundering charges stemming from her participation in a scheme that defrauded Medicare out of more than $12 million.

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Deadline For Banfield Charitable Trust Grant Application Approaches

The Banfield Charitable Trust is accepting grant applications for the second cycle of 2008 grants until June 30. Organizations focused on strengthening the pet-human bond, by creating healthier lives for pets and families through education and community outreach, are encouraged to apply.

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Warning: Don't 'Swipe' Out Retirement Savings With 401(k) Debit Cards

The introduction of the 401(k) debit card has made borrowing from a retirement savings account as easy as swiping and spending -- a tempting convenience that can have significant repercussions on the card user's future retirement security.

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Secrets to Positive Aging Featured in YouTube Video

If you've heard that social activities prolong life, a new YouTube video confirms it. Created by the National Council on Aging and the American Society of Aging, the video features people in their 60s, 70s and 80s talking about their activities at senior centers, with clips of them dancing, exercising and just relaxing with a cup of coffee.

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Weak Enforcement Of Serious Errors Highlights Need For Stricter Oversight

Nursing home decisions issued by the Department of Health & Human Services' Departmental Appeals Board in 2007 highlight serious failures in care that cause residents to suffer unnecessary pain, injury, trauma, and death, finds the author of an important new report.

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Family Leave/Sick Leave Bills Gaining Momentum In States

With the anticipated enactment of state legislation guaranteeing paid family in New Jersey, the Garden State will become the third state in the country to guarantee its residents paid family leave. Elsewhere, Massachusetts is one of about a dozen states where either guaranteed paid sick leave or paid family leave legislation is under consideration.

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CMS Revises Reporting Of Additional Data To Describe Service On Hospice Claims

CMS issues a revised CR 5567 which requires hospice providers to report data on their claims for Medicare payment, describing the visits provided in the course of delivering each hospice level of care billed.

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Ben B. Cheney Foundation Serves Northwest Region Seniors

The Foundation prefers to fund projects that develop new and innovative approaches to community problems, facilitate the improvement of services or programs, and invest in equipment or facilities that make long-lasting impacts on community needs.

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Hearing Focuses On Government's Hiring, Retention Of Older Workers

Over the next five years, more than half a million permanent full-time federal employees-or about one-third of the full-time federal workforce-will be eligible to retire. In 10 years, more than 60% of the federal workforce will be retirement-eligible. Such were the core issues discussed Wednesday (April 30) during a Senate Special Committee on Aging.

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Grants Improve Access To Primary Care, Avoid Unnecessary ER Visits

CMS) unveils grants of $50 million to 20 states to help improve access to primary medical care so that Medicaid beneficiaries could avoid improper use of costly hospital emergency rooms.

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FDA Makes Recommendations On Devices That Treat Blocked Heart Arteries

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has issued draft guidelines to aid the development, testing and manufacture of coronary drug-eluting stents, devices used to treat blocked heart arteries.

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Alliance for Caregiving, MetLife Foundation Seek Applications for Caregiving Awards

The National Alliance for Caregiving and the MetLife Foundation tell us that applications will soon be accepted for the 2008 National Family Caregiving Awards Program.

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Boxer Introduces Health & Long-Term Care Workforce Bill

The proposed "Caring for an Aging America Act" would address the emerging gap between the increasing number of older Americans and the serious lack of providers trained in caring for their medical, health and social support needs.

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MedPAC Eyes Draft Recommendations On Nursing Homes, Drug Benefit, Primary Care

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is reviewing draft recommendations to Congress regarding skilled nursing facilities, prescription drug plans and primary care.

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More Consumers Buying Medicines Via Mail

Of Americans who buy prescription drugs, the proportion that purchase them from mail order pharmacies rose from just under 9% in 2000 to just over 13% in 2005, according to the new data from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality.

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Revisions Planned for Nursing Home Compliance Program Guidance

The Dept. of Health & Human Services' Office of Inspector General is seeking comment from interested parties as OIG revises the compliance program guidance for nursing facilities, especially those serving Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal healthcare program beneficiaries.

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AARP's 'Divided We Fail' Initiative Shows Impressive Support

AARP's "Divided We Fail" initiative marks its first anniversary this week as it continues to press candidates and elected officials to make access to quality, affordable healthcare and long-term financial security top issues in the national political debate.

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Ringing in the New Year with New Laws

A host of new laws on topics ranging from allowing civil unions in New Hampshire to prohibiting text messaging while driving in Washington state become effective Jan. 1, 2008. The National Conference of State Legislatures found a host of state laws in 31 states ranging from controversial to clever that will become law on New Year's Day.

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Guide Helps Elders Find Health Information Online

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has developed a free training curriculum for those who teach and work with older adults.

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Seminar to Explore Aging Workforce Issues

A long-term care insurance brokerage will host a seminar for executives, human resource managers and business reporters Dec. 4 at 4 p.m. EST, focusing on an issue of growing urgency for organizations of all sizes: How to get the most from their most experienced people, their older employees.

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