Worth Reading
Basking in Reflected Glory
June 19, 2012
This article from the John A. Hartford's Health AGEnda blog highlights some of the projects under the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation's new grant program, "Innovation Challenge". Several of the programs focus on improving primary care for complex, chronically ill Medicare beneficiaries, others on reducing hospital readmissions, and two on the special needs of older people with Alzheimer’s disease. The article discusses and describes a few of these programs specifically related to aging issues.
read more >>>Poll: Doctors Fall Short In Helping Many Seniors
April 24, 2012
"Large numbers of seniors aren’t receiving recommended interventions that could help forestall medical problems and improve their health, according to a new survey from the John A. Hartford Foundation.
Notably, one-third of older adults said doctors didn’t review all their medications, even though problems with prescription and over-the-counter drugs arecommon among the elderly, leading to over 177,000 emergency room visits every year."
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read more >>>Feeling Old? 6 Simple Ways to Stay Healthy
April 24, 2012
"How does it feel to be old? In large measure, the answer depends on the quality of one’s healthcare, and according to a Hartford Foundation survey unveiled today, elder care often is woefully lacking. This experience leads to higher incidences of health issues like depression, injury from falls, and basic disability.
Just 7% of adults past the age of 65 receive simple low-tech services in each of six recommended areas of elder care, the survey found. About half receive none or just one of the key services and 76% receive three or fewer."
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read more >>>Obamacare's Medicare Wellness Benefit 'Nobody Knows' About
April 24, 2012
This article from Forbes discusses the "wellness benefit" implemented by the Affordable Care Act, in which Medicare provides free annual doctor's visits for seniors in order to ascertain wellness and prevent future health crises. The article utilizes data from the John A. Hartford Foundation's recent survey of older Americans, which found that 68 percent of seniors are unaware of the wellness benefit.
read more >>>For the Elderly, Emergency Rooms of Their Own
April 9, 2012
This New York Times article discusses the relatively new phenomenon of geriatric emergency rooms: emergency rooms designed specifically to tailor to the needs of elderly patients.
read more >>>The Parent Trap: Adult Children Care For Elderly Parents
March 1, 2012
This article from Kaiser Health News discusses some of the challenges and shares stories of the "sandwich generation": family caregivers who raise their children and care for their parents simultaneously.
read more >>>Report: Overcoming primary care shortages essential to the future of health care
February 17, 2012
This article profiles a recent report written that highlights and discusses some of the main obstacles in overcoming shortages within the primary care workforce, and how the health care reform bill addresses some of the issues.
read more >>>Accidental Tourists: How 2 Gerontologists Found Their Field
February 10, 2012
In this article in The Atlantic, two gerontologists discuss what led them into the field of gerontology, the issues related to recruiting students into gerontology and geriatrics, and some ideas on how to expand the field.
read more >>>Caring for aging parents can overwhelm (Portland Press Herald)
June 15, 2011
The Portland Press Herald looks at why it is critical to have a team to care for aging parents and the impact it has on the lives of caregivers.
read more >>>Affordable Care Act Implementation: How Is it Affecting the Health Care Workforce? – Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
April 7, 2011
As the first components of the new health care reform law begin to take shape, a new and very different world appears on the horizon for health care workers in many parts of the system.
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