Securing
our Future: Advancing Economic Security for Diverse
Elders (July 2012)
In the US, 1 in 5 seniors are Latino or non-White. By
2030 the number of LGBT older adults will double to 4
million persons. The report describes a number of
policy reforms that could benefit the older population
regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, and
sexual orientation.
Articles
D is for Dazed
(July 13, 2012)
Jane Gross, the founder of The New Old Age Blog in The
New York Times recalls her three-day struggle to
determine which Medicare Part D coverage plan would best
satisfy her prescription drug needs. After several phone
calls to the State Health Insurance Assistance Program,
her local pharmacist and an insurance carrier, Gross
found the best deal. She criticizes the amount of time
and money the process requires and says that it "could
use some streamlining." Additionally, Gross admits that
many older people cannot or would not be able to manage
such an important and demanding research task.
FDA
Approves First Drug for Reducing the Risk of Sexually
Acquired HIV Infection (July 16, 2012)
The FDA approves Truvada! Truvada is the first drug
approved to reduce the risk of HIV infection in
uninfected individuals who are at high risk of HIV,
allowing them to engage in sexual activity with HIV
infected partners. Truvada’s approval is an important
step in our fight against HIV. However, Truvada is only
to be used by individuals who are HIV negative and it
acts as a PrEP, Pre- Exposure Prophylaxis. By using
Truvada, the risk of getting infected with HIV is
reduced by 75% in heterosexuals!
What
the Health Care Ruling Means for Medicare (June 28,
2012)
In the long term, the new health care rulings will
preserve many initiatives strengthening efforts to
support older and disabled people in their homes, rather
than in nursing centers. The Act will improve health
services for seniors in many ways.
Diabetes
in the Elderly Remains Little Studied (June 10, 2012)
Although half of individuals with diabetes are older
than 65 years, clinical trials seldom include older
adults as participants. Three recent trials
included older participants, finding that these
participants showed detrimental responses or no
responses to measures assessing blood sugar
control. Because failure to control blood sugar
has developed a trend of shortening the life span of
nursing home residents, the American Diabetes
Association held its first session on elderly diabetes
this year.
Truvada:
FDA Delays Decision On First HIV Prevention Drug (June
8, 2012)
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) delayed the
decision to approve (or disapprove) the first HIV
prevention drug, Truvada. The FDA will need three
more months to review the drug, delaying its decision
until September 14, 2012. In May, 2012, a panel of
FDA experts recommended that Truvada be approved for the
prevention of HIV in healthy individuals who are at high
risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.
Senior
Lobby Promotes Effort Against Medicare Cuts (June 6,
2012)
AARP, the most powerful senior lobby in the United
States is drawing attention to its campaign against
Medicare cuts. According to the Congressional Budget
Office Report, government spending on healthcare will
double as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product by
2037. AARP spokesman, Jim Dau, believes the goal should
be to strengthen Medicare, not upend it.
To
Save Medicare, Think Like the Patients Who Use it (May
21, 2012)
Medicare is a lifeline for senior citizens. Before its
existence, many older Americans ended up destitute
without necessary medical care. Medicare changed this
scenario, creating a safety net. It is not without its
flaws. Still, there remains no catastrophic benefit in
the Medicare program. The copays and deductibles are
costly for seniors who have fixed-incomes of less than
$30K a year. Additionally, Medicare promotes quantity
over quality, by reimbursing providers for the number of
services they perform rather than the quality of care.
Now, more doctors are limiting Medicare patients they
will treat. Will Congress find a meaningful solution?
More
Care up Front for $54 a Month (May 21, 2012)
By paying $54 per employee per month to a primary care
provider called Qliance, employees get unlimited doctor
visits to doctors. This direct primary care is very
promising. It is derived from concierge practices that
cater primarily to the affluent. Members are often
charged thousands of dollars annually for unlimited
access to their doctors. This is quite lucrative for
doctors but limits access to those that cannot pay the
membership fee. The idea is to bring down the price
point for average Americans. However, these models do
not cover anything beyond primary care. Employers often
combine direct primary care with high deductible
insurance plan to be used for hospitalizations and
visits to specialists. A House bill would create pilot
programs to offer direct primary care to Medicare
patients. But the federal law must be changed first.
The US has announced
that by October 2012, Medicare reimbursements and
bonuses will be linked in part to scores on surveys
that independently collect data in various categories
of patient satisfaction. The surveys evaluate
behaviors that are important to high-quality care.
However, many experiences at hospitals are painful and
dehumanizing. This new policy can affect patient
responses and likely will not provide a fair and
valuable judgment of standards of care at the
hospital.
Medicare covers the Dean Ornish Program for
Reversing Heart Disease, which instills a
plant-based, meatless diet, meditation, regular
exercise and group support. Patients can receive up
to 72 one-hour sessions on lifestyle changes.
Additionally, hospitals can now bill Medicare for
their patient’s yoga sessions. Preventative medicine
costs are much less than operations and
medications.
Congress recently created a temporary fix to
calculate the fees paid to doctors by Medicare.
However, a real solution that would be fair to
doctors and make a serious effort to decrease
the rise of Medicare spending needs to be
devised. A bigger challenge will be to improve
the way medical care is provided in Medicare and
the entire health care system, which includes
costly and unnecessary services.
The continuing
state of uncertainty surrounding the payroll tax
holiday has left doctors disgruntled. The
increasing probability of pay loss has forced
many doctors into rejecting new Medicare
patients, thus creating an access problem.
Congress must develop better ways to pay
physicians and deliver care to patients.
The Labor
Department reported that health care and social
assistance jobs will be the fastest growing sectors.
An aging population will create 33.8 million new
positions between 2010 and 2020. There will be a 70
percent growth in personal care aides and
health-care support employment, the fastest-growing
occupations.
The Congressional
Budget Office projects the cost of government
healthcare programs will more than double by 2022.
However, CBO also projects a slow growth in Medicare
spending per beneficiary, partly because the Medicare
population will be younger, thus needing less
expensive care, even as it expands.
Teaching hospitals are
pressuring lawmakers to reject cuts to their Medicare
payments, a possibility that may become reality by
March 1. Such cuts would decrease teaching hospitals’
ability to provide outpatient care to vulnerable
populations, and make it more challenging to train
future doctors in such a specialized environment.
Report
Finds
Most
Errors
at
Hospitals
Go
Unreported
(January
6,
2012)
In a study conducted by the Department of Health and
Human Services, hospital employees do not report most
errors, accidents and other events that harm Medicare
patients when they are hospitalized. Furthermore, these
hospitals rarely change their practices to stop the
repetition of adverse events. The primary problem
resides in the fact that hospital employees do not
properly identify what constitutes patient harm.
Continued commitment from the Obama administration and
hospital industry leaders has not been translated into
strong practice.
Medicare is headed for big
changes despite the outcome of the 2012 Presidential
elections. By 2024, Medicare will collect payroll taxes to
pay 90 percent of benefits. Additionally, researchers
approximate that 20 to 30 percent of the more than $500
billion that Medicare spends annually is wasted on
unnecessary patient treatments. This in turn means that
policymakers will look for cuts in care rather than
payroll tax increases. Baby boomers better keep their eyes
open for changes in Medicare and direct their attention to
the high fees paid to doctors.
Aging
Boomers to Face Hard Time Finding Mental Health
Care; Report Urges Geriatric Training (July 10,
2012)
The crisis of mental illness and substance abuse
disorders in older adults in the United States is
largely hidden from the public and many of those who
develop policy and programs to care for older people.
Almost 8 million Americans over the age of 65 have a
mental health condition. There is a strong need to
confront this issue. Often times, getting older isn’t
the primary cause for these conditions.
Linda P. Fried, dean
of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia
University, has spent years creating measures of
frailty that allow for more focused health care and
prevention. She wants to change the way society views
aging. Dr. Fried also argues against the notion that
increased life spans necessarily mean a financial and
social burden.
In
Documents on Pain Drug, Signs of Doubt and Deception
(June 24, 2012)
Researchers have found that Celebrex, a drug, is no
better at protecting the stomach from side effects
than other drugs. However, Pfizer and its partner,
Pharmacia, put forth results from only the first six
months of a yearlong study. The primary selling point
was its effect on the stomach. Surprisingly, earlier
studies revealed it was no better at alleviating pain
than most common drugs such as ibuprofen. This
apparent falsification of data is of great concern to
older persons and their advocates. When will such
corporate corruption stop?
HIV
Crisis Facing Black Women in Metro Atlanta (May 9,
2012)
Nearly one in 30 African-American women is diagnosed
with HIV during her life time. This number is 15 times
higher than Caucasian women and four percent higher
than Hispanic women. While studies show that
race has nothing to do with the issue, the problem is
being traced back to countries in Africa.
As part of an effort
to continue catering to the medical needs of the
elderly, hospitals like Mount Sinai in New York have
been opening geriatric emergency departments. Because
persons 65 and older make up 15 to 20 percent of
emergency room units, and is expected to increase,
elder patient satisfaction is becoming a priority.
Within these units, there are several innovations
aimed at enhancing an elder patient’s experience, such
as iPads that allow for video conversations with
nurses, and even artificial skylights.
A
Drumbeat on Profit Takers (March 19, 2012)
Arnold Relman and Marcia Angell are two former editors
of The New England Journal of Medicine who, appalled
by the health situation in the US, decided decades ago
to change things. Their crusade? Fighting
against for-profit medicine and its practice. Their
target? The medical-industrial complex that puts
stockholder interests above those of patients. Their
goal is to bring ethics back to the center of the care
system, for example, by getting rid of the private
insurance industry. Their video interview is available
on the New York Times’ website.
A
Successful and Sustainable Health System - How to
Get There from Here (March 15, 2012)
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of
2010, even if it is fully implemented, will not
represent a complete solution to the main issue of
affordability and performance in health care. First,
life expectancy in the United States is trailing
behind other countries internationally. The only
category in which the US far exceeds all other
countries is health expenditures. Now, the joint
problem of relatively low performance and high costs
impede the way of a successful and sustainable health
system. The only morally and politically
acceptable way to curtail costs is to take measures to
preserve or enhance the performance of the health
system, thus getting more value for dollars spent. For
example, the burden of chronic disease could be
mitigated through widespread public health
preventative education.
Young
Doctors
Flock
Toward
New
Specialty
in
End-of-Life
Care
(February
6,
2012)
Medical boards started recognizing the treatment of
pain and end-of-life care as an official subspecialty
four years ago. New rules effectively bar older
physicians from getting certified; doctors in their
early to mid-30s are spearheading the palliative-care
departments across the nation. These younger doctors
however, will have to overcome barriers including
generational gaps, and open communication regarding
sensitive conditions.
Nowhere
to
Go,
Patients
Linger
in
Hospitals,
at
a
High
Cost
(January
2,
2012)
Under New York State law, public hospitals are not
allowed to discharge patients to shelters or to the
street. Coupled with the lack of housing and health
insurance, illegal immigrants are often trapped in
city hospitals deprived of services that could be
provided elsewhere at a lower cost, for example, in
nursing homes. This scenario is also common in
municipal hospitals in states with large
concentrations of illegal immigrants such as
California and Texas. This recent debates over
national health care legislation ignored the situation
of illegal immigrants.
Feds Want
Unneeded Antipsychotic Drugs for Elderly Cut by 15
Percent This Years (May 30, 2012)
By December 31st, federal regulators plan to reduce
unnecessary antipsychotic drug prescriptions for the
elderly by 15 percent. Studies have shown that the use of
such drugs increases the risk of developing mental and
physical health problems, and even increases risk of
death. Recent federal data reveals that 17 percent of
nursing home residents were given more than the daily dose
of recommended drugs. This article discusses several of
the federal program's highlights.
Generic
Drugs
Prove
Resistant
to Damage Suits (March 20, 2012)
Consumers of generic drugs do not have the same rights as
consumers of brand name drugs. If a patient is prescribed
a generic drug and becomes ill, he is unable to seek legal
and or financial recourse from the drug company, whereas a
patient who is administered a brand name drug has that
option. Such dismissals of generic drug consumers, and
consequently persons of lower income and the elderly,
occur due to the enactment of the Hatch-Waxman Act–a law
which authorized generic drug companies to skip the
approval process, and use, with impunity, the same warning
labels as their counterparts, under the condition that its
drugs were nearly identical to the brand name models.
Data:
Many
Medical
Marijuana
Cardholders
Are
Older
than 50 (March 19, 2012)
According to the Arizona Department of Health
Services, 35 percent of medical marijuana patients in
Arizona are between ages 51 and 81. The collected data
indicates that older (over age 40) individuals are
more likely than any other group to be consumers of
medical marijuana. This is likely because elders often
have a greater need for the drug, as they are
afflicted with more weakening medical conditions. In
contrast, detractors say that consumers are substance
abusers, not patients.
Analysis:
Goal for Alzheimer’s Drug by 2025 too Ambitious?
(January 20, 2012)
The U.S. government has set a deadline of 2025 for
finding an effective way to treat or prevent
Alzheimer’s disease. This effort was mandated by the
National Alzheimer’s Project Act and signed into law
by President Barack Obama. Some experts believe the
deadline to be unrealistic: The law provides no new
needed investment for this goal; no drug has been
found that can keep the disease from advancing;
recruitment and prevention trials would take 15 to 20
years.
More
Older People Treated for Depression (July 25,
2012)
Depression among older people is under diagnosed and
under treated because its symptoms are quite
various. There was less sadness and more physical
symptoms than researchers expected. Additionally,
mental disorders carry a social stigma. However, in
the past decade the recognition and treatment of
elder depression has increased. Why? The reason lies
with the fact that primary care education has been
strengthened in this period.
Doctor
Shortage Likely to Worsen With Health Law (July
28, 2012)
The Association of American Medical Colleges expects
a shortage of over 100,000 doctors by 2025. In parts
of California, especially Riverside and San
Bernardino, the situation has already become
startling. Only 40 primary care physicians and 75
specialist doctors serve every 100,000 people in
each county. For older persons who often require
more health attention, this reduction in physicians
is especially worrisome. While the Obama
administration has tried to ease the shortage, it’s
not enough. The US must train more health care
workers and build more walk-in clinics to serve its
citizens.
A Heart
Quandary (June 7, 2012)
Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators have been
shown to improve survival among those persons with
certain heart conditions by regulating arrhythmia.
These devices have generators that typically last
for 5 years. However, should patients undergo an
invasive procedure to have them replaced? Moreover,
is it worth it?
Many
Physicians Recommend Unnecessary Cancer Screening
for the Old and Sick (June 4, 2012)
A Journal of General Internal Medicine study
suggests that some physicians recommend colorectal
cancer screening for older patients with severe
illnesses who would essentially not benefit. The
study concludes that many physicians seem to change
their recommendations in response to the patient's
age or underlying illness. Others recommend
screening among patients with limited life
expectancy, for whom these tests pose no benefit and
could be harmful to the patient.
All Baby
Boomers Should Get Hepatitis C Test – CDC (May 18,
2012)
The Center for Disease Control is urging baby
boomers to get tested for the Hepatitis C virus. One
in 30 seniors born between 1945 and 1965 has
Hepatitis C but is unaware of it. Over 15,000
Americans, primarily baby boomers, die each year
from Hepatitis C-related illnesses. However, there
are treatments which can cure up to 75 percent of
infections.
For
Dementia Patients, Feeding Tubes May Increase Bed
Sores (May 14, 2012)
Recently, Brown University conducted a study in
which it was found, contrary to belief, that feeding
tubes increase the risk of bed sores developing in
bedridden dementia patients. In fact, 35.6 percent
of patients in the study who used feeding tubes
developed stage 2 bed sores -- open sores usually
located in the epidermis. Patients who did not use
feeding tubes and already had bed sores were also
more likely to heal.
Fitness
in Middle Age Lowers Medical Costs Later: Study
(May 10, 2012)
A collaborative study between the University of
Texas-Southwestern Medical Center and the Cooper
Institute found that men and women who led
fitness-related lifestyles significantly lowered
medical expenses as they aged compared to people who
did not exercise regularly. The study's findings
were so consistent that even when certain risk
factors are present in older individuals, exercise
still seemed to lower their medical costs.
After
Foreclosures, Hidden Addictions Emerge Among
Elders (April 23, 2012)
Physicians are now asking their older patients if
they have been taking illicit drugs. According to
the Centers for Disease Control, the number of
positive drug tests has increased during the
recession, especially among seniors who have
experienced home foreclosures.
For
Elders With Dementia, Musical Awakenings (April
18, 2012)
Social worker Dan Cohen creates customized iPod
playlists for older persons with dementia in hopes
of reviving old memories. Since 2008, he has put
iPods in four different eldercare facilities in New
York City where staff have given him positive
feedback about increased socialization among
patients who listen to the music. Cohen wants to
expand the project by reducing the costs and running
iPod donation drives.
Substance Abuse in Seniors Expected to Rise (April
16, 2012)
Older persons in the US will likely need substance
abuse treatment as they age. The increase is
expected to go from 2.8 million at present to 5.7
million by the year 2020. Because many doctors
lack training in how to spot signs of addiction in
patients, it is important for patients seeking
medication to ask for an evaluation to verify the
possibility of dependency. Currently, the most
problematic drug is Oxycontin, but anxiety and
anti-depressants are also heavily abused.
Endless
Screenings Don’t Bring Everlasting Health (April
16, 2012)
Nine major medical specialty groups published a list
of 45 tests and procedures that often have no
specific benefit for patients and instead can cause
harm. In a national survey, most US citizens believe
that cancer screening is almost always a good idea
and that finding cancer early saves lives most of
the time. However, finding cancer early isn’t
enough. To reduce cancer deaths, the treatment must
work, yet it doesn’t always. Second, these
treatments often work better when started earlier.
Last, some of the worst cancers aren’t detected by
screening. The benefits of screening depend on your
chances of dying without screening. Overdiagnosis
can turn people into patients and lead to
unnecessary surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
Talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of
any procedure.
Too
Many Pills for Aging Patients (April 16, 2012)
Overmedication of older persons is a growing
problem. More than 40 percent of people over age 65
take five or more medications, and each year about
one-third of them experience dangerous side
effects. The American Geriatrics Society
updated a series of guidelines and published in its
Journal of as a way to bring attention to the issue
and help practicing physicians teach their patients
about drug safety. Patients most know their
rights, ask questions and be prepared.
Longevity
Up
in
US,
but Education Creates Disparity, Study Says (April
3, 2012)
Americans are living longer, but the gains in life
span are disproportionate and in favor among the
better educated, according to a new report by
researchers at the University of Wisconsin. The
findings show that there is a stronger link between
college education and longevity.
101
Year-Old
Woman Sets Paragliding World Record (March 21,
2012) (Article in French)
To celebrate her 101st birthday, Mary Allen
Hardison, a resident of Ogden, Utah, decided on
September 1 to try paragliding for the first time.
For the occasion, she gathered four generations of
her family to cheer her on! She becomes the oldest
woman to paraglide, a world record approved by the
Guinness World Records Academy. For her, jumping was
a means of challenging her 75-year-old son, and a
way of showing that by staying active, older people
remain healthy.
Aging
and Anorexia Part II: Advice on Eating Disorders
in Midlife and Beyond (February 29, 2012)
In the second part of this interview, Dr. Bishop at
the Eating Recovery Center points out that while
older persons dealing with eating disorders have
greater awareness (and less denial), their bodies
are physically less resilient. Older women with
eating disorders are more often suffering from
relapses. Older women (versus those in midlife)
often develop food disorders from food phobia and
not from dieting.
Doctors See More STDs
in Older Patients (February 26, 2012)
Doctors are now treating more cases of STDs in older
people even though the numbers remain low. Older
people are less likely to be concerned with safe
sex, even as more elderly people are engaging in sex
with new partners, especially when pregnancy is not
possible. In Ohio, the number of people
between ages 45 and 64 newly diagnosed with HIV or
AIDS rose from 170 in 2000 to 261 in 2010.
Anorexia
and Aging: Is There a Silent Crisis of Eating
Disorders in Older Women? (February 25, 2012)
While there is a lot of information available on
eating disorders among teenage girls, little
attention is paid or information offered about
eating disorders in older women--an emerging issue.
Often, symptoms in older women are attributed to
“that's just the way she is." In a 2006 survey of a
randomly selected nonclinical sampling of 1,000
women ages 60-70, more than 80 percent controlled
their weight and more than 60 percent stated they
were dissatisfied with their bodies.
Musical
Experience Slows Aging in the Brain, Study Finds
(February 23, 2012)
Researchers at Northwestern University report that
musicians who have learned and played a musical
instrument since the age of nine experience less
neural aging. Older musicians have the same hearing
ability as younger musicians, while older
non-musicians are less sensitive to sound than
younger non-musicians.
Avoiding
Surgery
in
the
Elderly
(January 25, 2012)
It is becoming more evident that for the very old,
nursing home residents specifically, hospitals are
places to avoid and surgery can become a source of
great risk. Using national Medicare claims and
nursing home surveys, approximately 71,000 nursing
home residents who had surgery from 1999 through
2006 were identified. The information was then
compared with more than a million elders who
underwent the same procedures but did not reside in
a nursing home. The risk of dying increased sharply
for those living in nursing homes.
Grapes Are Great for Elderly Vision Health
(January 17, 2012) (Article in
Russian)
The Free Radical Journal published a study from New
York University researchers regarding the benefits
of grapes on eye retina tissue. They found that
grapes significantly slow down age-related macular
degeneration. Scientists believe that the
antioxidant properties of grapes help older adults
prevent macular degeneration and, by doing so,
prevent age-related blindness.
New
York City Has Longest Life Expectancy (January 13,
2012) (Article in
Russian)
New York City was awarded first place in the US in
terms of its residents’ life expectancy. The average
age of Big Apple residents is roughly 2.5 years
longer than the average age of the residents of
other US cities. The current average life expectancy
of New York women is 83, 78 for men. The only
disadvantage of the longevity is that many women
have to grow old alone.
Socially
Active Older People are Happier (January 9, 2012) (Article in
Spanish)
Dr. Florence Clark of the University of Southern
California conducted a study of the elderly whose
results indicated that loneliness can be deadly.
This research was carried out with 285 elderly
people divided into three groups: one received
occupational therapy; the second had activities and
the third had no activities. This study showed that
sharing time at dinner and playing card games are
simple things that can encourage seniors to achieve
a better quality of life, including better health.
