Aging News Alert

Rhode Island

 

Seniors Nutrition Programs Receive Funding Attention

Senior nutrition efforts in Massachusetts and Rhode Island recognized.

read complete story

(GRANTS) Tufts Offers Lifestyle Grants in Massachusetts, Rhode Island

The Tufts Health Plan Foundation, funds Massachusetts and Rhode Island programs: (1) elevating the physical, mental and emotional well-being of older adults (age 60 and older); (2) enabling them to contribute their experiences and knowledge to their communities; and (3) ultimately helping older adults live longer, healthier lives.

read complete story

(GRANTS) Tufts Health Plan Foundation Helps Aging Programs in MA, RI

The Tufts Health Plan Foundation promotes healthy lifestyles, delivery of quality healthcare, and programs that provide opportunities for an aging society in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The Foundation offers grants in four areas: (1) Vibrant Lifestyles; (2) Intergenerational Collaboration; (3) Fall Prevention; and (4) Caregiver Support.

read complete story

(GRANTS) Tufts Funds Senior Health & Wellness in Mass., R.I.

The Tufts Health Plan Foundation takes seriously its mission to promote healthy lifestyles and the delivery of quality healthcare in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with a focus on improving the lives of people age 60 and older.

read complete story

Tufts Health Plan Foundation Announces Grantmaking Focus on Healthy Aging

(Deadline: Feb. 26, 2009 for Letter of Inquiry) The mission of the Tufts Health Plan Foundation is to promote healthy lifestyles and the delivery of quality health care in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Beginning in 2009, the foundation will start funding programs that focus on improving the lives of people age 60 and older.

read complete story

Weight Loss in Overweight and Obese Women Reduces Urinary Incontinence

Reducing urinary incontinence can now be added to the extensive list of health benefits of weight loss, according to a clinical trial funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), both part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

read complete story

Boomers Ready To Serve, AARP Research Shows

In an effort to better understand the civic behaviors and attitudes of Americans and to help ground the research in the stories and perspectives of the boomer and silent generations, AARP commissioned a series of focus groups and a nationally representative survey of Americans ages 44-79 ("Experienced Americans").

read complete story

RI Nonprofits Merge To Counter Budget Woes

Many Rhode Island nonprofits are merging to cut costs and attract contributions in the current weak economy. The number of nonprofits in Rhode Island skyrocketed to more than 1,700 during the strong economy earlier in the decade, but many are having trouble surviving the current situation.

read complete story

Treasury, IRS Issue Ruling Preventing Certain Pension Transfers

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have issued Revenue Ruling 2008-45, which states that a transfer of a tax-qualified pension plan from an employer to an unrelated taxpayer when the transfer is not connected with a transfer of significant business assets, operations, or employees, is not permissible under current law.

read complete story

n4a To Launch Nationwide Senior Housing Resource

For more than 50 million family caregivers across the country, the Internet is becoming a first-line resource for needed support. This week during its annual meeting, the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) will unveil an online navigational tool designed to simplify the search for senior housing for seniors and caregivers, no matter where they live. Powered by SNAPforSeniors, the n4a Senior Housing Locator makes objective, nationwide information available 24-hours a day, seven days a week through the convenience of the Internet.

read complete story

Hearing Focuses On Sudden Rise In 401(k) Loans, Policies To Reduce Savings Loss

The Senate Special Committee on Aging, chaired by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), heard testimony Wednesday (July 16) on reducing 401(k) leakage caused by loans and withdrawals, which can result in a substantial loss in retirement savings.

read complete story

Durbin: Do More To Protect Identities Of Medicare Card Holders

Sen. Dick Durbin wants the Department of Health & Human Services to detail its response to a report criticizing the policy of listing Social Security numbers on Medicare identification cards. In a letter to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, Durbin highlighted the risk that listing Social Security numbers poses to Medicare beneficiaries and asked for an explanation of steps that are being taken to eliminate the numbers from Medicare cards.

read complete story

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.

read complete story

Payment Policies Under Physician Fee Schedule & Other Revisions To Part B

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services propose rule changes to the Medicare Part B payment policy to "ensure that our payment systems are updated to reflect changes in medical practice and the relative value of services," CMS says in its notice.

read complete story

Expiration of Therapy Cap Exceptions Explained

The exceptions to outpatient therapy caps expired on June 30, says the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid. Outpatient therapy service providers should not submit claims with the KX modifier for services furnished on or after July 1.

read complete story

Senators Call For Release Of $120 Million In LIHEAP Funding

Forty-five senators, including Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jack Reed (D-RI), co-chairs of the Senate Northeast-Midwest Coalition, have fired off a letter to the White House urging President Bush to release $120 million in remaining contingency funds from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The money is being sought to help alleviate the burden high energy prices have placed on working families and seniors throughout the country.

read complete story

White Paper: 'Why Data Matters: Generating Value From Retirement Plan Data'

A new white paper from MassMutual's Center for Behavioral Research is intended to help plan sponsors and retirement plan advisors gain the most value from recordkeeping data collected for retirement plans. Titled "Why Data Matters: Generating Value from Retirement Plan Data," the white paper outlines the process through which retirement plan data can be used to enhance plan value, performance and participant engagement; streamline or reduce administration; and help plan fiduciaries meet their obligations.

read complete story

Michael J. Fox Foundation Launches Research Funding Initiative

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research is launching a funding initiative to promote development and testing of technologies to image alpha-synuclein and/or Lewy body-related pathology associated with Parkinson's disease in living brain tissue.

read complete story

Alzheimer's Replaces Diabetes As 6th Leading Cause Of Death In U.S.

Alzheimer's disease is now the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. The CDC estimates that 72,914 Americans died of Alzheimer's disease in 2006.

read complete story

Sanchez Presses For More Funding For Hispanics With Alzheimer's

The legislative proposal comes in the wake of new data from the Alzheimer's Association showing that the number of Hispanics with the disease is expected to increase from 200,000 to 1.3 million by 2050. The increasing number of Hispanics in the U.S. population and longer life spans are likely causes for the increase.

read complete story

Baucus Measure Would Stall Cuts In Medicare Docs' Pay

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has introduced a bill (S 3101) that would, among other things, postpone for 18 months a 10.6% reduction in Medicare physician reimbursements scheduled to take effect on July 1 and increase payments by 1.1% -- and cost an estimated $20 billion.

read complete story

Analysis Finds 16% Cost Increase For Enrollees In Top Medicare Drug Plans

Average monthly premiums for enrollees in the 10 most popular Medicare prescription drug plans increased by 16% in 2008, finds an Avalere Health enrollment-weighted analysis of Part D data.

read complete story

Government Could Encourage More Employers To Offer IRAs, Says GAO

Several barriers may discourage employers from establishing employer-sponsored Individual Retirement Accounts and offering payroll-deduction IRAs to their employees, finds the Government Accountability Office in a new report.

read complete story

Insurance Regulators Move To Protect Seniors From Abusive Sales, Marketing

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has adopted a model bulletin and "Consumer Alert" to help protect seniors from unscrupulous, abusive sales practices and fraud.

read complete story

Five States Cut Aid To Elderly, Disabled; Will More Follow?

At least five states are cutting or proposing to cut medical, rehabilitative, home care, or other services needed by low-income people who are elderly or have disabilities, or significantly increasing the amounts that such people must pay for the services, says the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

read complete story

Agencies' Reports Show Improvement; Pilot Format Threatens Transparency

The percentage of federal spending covered by government agencies with satisfactory performance reports rose to its highest level since the reports were mandated nine years ago. However, this is only 35% of $2.587 trillion in spending, finds an analysis by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Northern Virginia.

read complete story

New Index Shows What It Takes To Age With Dignity

Wider Opportunities for Women, a Washington, DC-based organization working to build pathways to economic independence for America's families, women and girls, is poised to launch the Elder Economic Security Index, a geographically based measure of the income older Americans need to age with dignity.

read complete story

Medicare Cost-Sharing For Dual Eligibles: Who Pays?

Guidance released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sheds new light on an issue that has created hardships for beneficiaries and challenges for advocates trying to help them.

read complete story

Debunking Myths About Switching To Digital TV Next Year

Quite a few people -- many of them elderly and on fixed incomes -- are under the impression that unless they go out and buy an expensive new HDTV, they won't be able to watch their favorite TV shows after Feb. 17, 2009, which is the day the national transition to digital television takes place. That simply isn't so.

read complete story

Report: Chronically Ill Patients Get More Care, Less Quality

Medicare pays many hospitals and their doctors more than the most efficient and effective healthcare institutions to treat chronically ill people, yet gets worse results, according to a new report from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice.

read complete story

Baucus Looking For Longer Lasting Fix On Doctors' Pay

Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) is pushing Medicare-related legislation that would delay for 18 months a 10% Medicare physician payment cut scheduled become effective July 1.

read complete story

VA Rewriting Regs for VA Benefits Claims

The Department of Veterans Affairs proposes to reorganize and rewrite in plain language its regulations involving VA benefits claims.

read complete story

Bills Would Delay Hospice Repayments to Medicare

Legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate that would place a three-year moratorium on retroactive repayments from hospice providers to Medicare and mandate a top-to-bottom review of Medicare hospice benefits.

read complete story

AHCA Rails Against MedPAC's Recommendations on SNFs

The American Health Care Association expresses strong opposition to the MedPAC's recommendation to the House health subcommittee that skilled nursing facilities should receive no inflationary market basket update for FY 2009.

read complete story

Targeted Imaging May Lead to Earlier Diagnosis of Dementia, Alzheimer's

Researchers involved in a large, multi-institutional study using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging have been able to classify different types of dementia with very high rates of success.

read complete story

States Poised For Possible Pandemic Influenza Outbreak

States are rapidly improving their preparedness for a pandemic outbreak, say the authors of a new interim report by the Nat'l Governors Assn.'s Center for Best Practices.

read complete story

$40 Million in Energy Assistance to Low-Income Households

The Dept. of Health & Human Services is making available $40 million to help eligible low-income households meet home energy costs. The funds, from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program emergency contingency fund, will provide 11 states with heating assistance for the winter months.

read complete story

CBO Uses Medicare in Examining Regional Healthcare Cost

CBO purposely chose to concentrate on Medicare spending because there are more data available about the cost of providing healthcare to Medicare beneficiaries than there are for other populations. Also, as the largest federal healthcare program, Medicare is highly relevant to and directly influenced by federal policy.

read complete story

Developing the Framework for Healthy People 2020 Public Comment Meetings

HHS is convening five regional meetings to discuss development of the framework for Healthy People 2020, the national health goals for the next decade.

read complete story

FDA Not Conducting Mandated Inspections of Medical Device Makers

This issue may be problematic for the elderly, a significant number of whom use medical devices manufactured by companies purportedly not being inspected by the FDA in accordance with the law.

read complete story

Experts Press NIST to Study Online Identity-Proofing Practices

Validating a Web-savvy senior's identity online can be addressed through a mix of established and emerging techniques to help stimulate the growth of new electronic health services and personal health records

read complete story

GAO Finds Flaws in LSC's Grants Management

The Government Accountability Office has found weaknesses in the federally-backed Legal Service Corp.'s internal controls over grants management and oversight of grantees.

read complete story

Program to Provide Beneficiaries Lower Prices, Stronger Anti-Fraud Protection

CMS is tagging 70 new areas across the nation to become part of the second phase of a competitive bidding program aimed at helping reduce Medicare beneficiaries' out-of-pocket costs and improve their access to high-quality durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies.

read complete story