“Improper Medicaid payments exceed $57 billion for fiscal year, CMS says,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living   “Improper Medicaid payments for fiscal year 2019 are estimated at $57.36 billion, a 14.9% rate, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Monday. The amount is an increase from $36.2 billion in fiscal year 2018 (a 9.79% rate), but CMS said data for the two years are not comparable due to changes in the way the agency calculates the measurements. Improper payments now are calculated using the Payment Error Rate Measurement, or PERM, program, which was ‘paused’ from FY 2014
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“Memory care approach cuts antipsychotic med use in more than 50% of residents: study,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living “A person-centered approach to memory care led to the reduced or discontinued use of off-label antipsychotic medications in more than half of the residents of 53 long-term care communities, including assisted living communities, who participated in a study, the results of which were announced last week. The study was conducted in the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. … Forty percent of assisted living residents in the United States are living with dementia, according to the
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“Dementia care planning benefit largely untapped: testimony,” by Alicia Lasek, McKnight’s LTC News “Dementia care planning can reduce emergency room visits and hospitalizations while improving medication management. But relatively few clinicians are aware of Medicare’s care planning benefit, said Robert Egge, chief public policy officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, during recent testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee. In 2017, the first year the benefit was available, fewer than 1% of those living with cognitive impairment received care planning, according to a recent study.”   LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): The more Medicare
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“Welcome to ‘Unretirement’: Most Older Americans Say They’ll Keep Working,” by Bernice Napach, ThinkAdvisor   Quote: “A new Harris Poll conducted on behalf of TD Ameritrade finds that a solid majority of Americans age 40 and older plan to continue working after retiring. And of those who intend to keep working, most plan to work their entire lives.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): How ironic! We used to have to work until we dropped unless we took personal responsibility to save, invest or insure for a secure old age. Then the government insisted
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