“Falls associated with higher rate of adverse events than previously thought”

“Falls associated with higher rate of adverse events than previously thought,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living “Newly published research offers a reason for more urgency for the prevention of falls in senior living residents and other older adults. The investigators found that 50.3% of adults aged 65 or more years who visited an emergency department because they were injured in a fall experienced adverse events — including additional falls, hospitalization or death — within six months after the visit. Their findings were published online Wednesday in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President,
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Categories: Industry News and Long-Term Care.

“Can poor sleep lead to Alzheimer’s?”

“Can poor sleep lead to Alzheimer’s?,” by Sandee LaMotte, CNN “One in three Americans doesn’t get enough sleep, and 45% of the world’s population doesn’t, either. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls that a ‘public health problem,’ because disrupted sleep is associated with a higher risk of conditions including diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease. . . . A few studies in cognitively normal people and one in mice have shown a connection between chronic sleep disruption and the development of amyloid plaques. The research in mice was particularly interesting because it showed that mice who slept well
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Categories: Industry News and Long-Term Care.

“Poor Patient Care at Many Nursing Homes Despite Stricter Oversight”

“Poor Patient Care at Many Nursing Homes Despite Stricter Oversight,” by Jordan Rau, New York Times “While special focus status is one of the federal government’s strictest forms of oversight, nursing homes that were forced to undergo such scrutiny often slide back into providing dangerous care, according to an analysis of federal health inspection data. Of 528 nursing homes that graduated from special focus status before 2014 and are still operating, slightly more than half — 52 percent — have since harmed patients or put patients in serious jeopardy within the past three years. . . . Yet, despite recurrences
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Categories: Industry News and Long-Term Care.

“Older adults increasingly using mobile devices to access information”

“Older adults increasingly using mobile devices to access information,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living “Don’t exclude mobile from your efforts to market to older adults who are prospective residents or family members or to communicate with them once a move-in has taken place, suggests newly released information from the Pew Research Center. Sixty-seven percent of Americans aged 65 or more years now access news on mobile devices, according to center interviews with more than 4,100 adults between March 13 and 27. That’s a 24-percentage-point increase over the past year and approximately three times the share of four years
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Categories: Industry News and Long-Term Care.

“Guess What? There Are No Cuts in Medicaid”

“Guess What? There Are No Cuts in Medicaid,” by Daniel J. Mitchell, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE.org) “Senate Republicans have produced their Obamacare repeal legislation, though as I noted at the end of this interview, it’s really more a bill about Medicaid reform than Obamacare repeal. While it’s disappointing that big parts of Obamacare are left in place, it’s definitely true that Medicaid desperately needs reform, ideally by shifting the program to the states, thus replicating the success of welfare reform. But critics are savaging this idea, implying that ‘deep cuts’ will hurt the quality of care. Indeed, some of
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Categories: Industry News and Long-Term Care.

“New technology aims to provide peace and positive stimulation to dementia patients”

“New technology aims to provide peace and positive stimulation to dementia patients,” Science Daily “Many people living with dementia reside in long-term care facilities, where the lack of stimulation can result in behaviors such as hitting, screaming, and wandering. Common measures to avoid such “responsive” behaviors, such as antipsychotic medications and personalized recreational and music therapy programs, can cause adverse health effects in the former case and be difficult for staff to find time to carry out in the latter case. A team of human factors/ergonomics researchers helped to evaluate and refine Ambient Activity (or AA; Ambient Activity Technologies Inc.),
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Categories: Industry News and Long-Term Care.

“Medicaid and the Undeserving Rich”

“Medicaid and the Undeserving Rich,” by Gerry Sherman, Villages-News.com “Medicaid was established in 1965 basically to assure health care for the poor, including nursing home care for indigent elderly. Today Medicaid insures more Americans than any other form of health insurance, including Medicare. And 41 percent of all Medicaid funds go to nursing home care; that was $236 billion in 2016! Certainly there are plenty of poor elderly in nursing homes who could not afford LTC insurance and do not have significant savings, but a large number of seniors receiving LTC through Medicaid are neither poor nor unable to obtain
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Categories: Industry News and Long-Term Care.

GoldenCare Newsletter | June 30, 2017

In this GoldenCare Newsletter Edition From GoldenCare: Celebrating Our Country’s Independence! Happy 4th of July! The GoldenCare Office will be closed Monday, July 3rd and Tuesday, July 4th for Independence Day. Join us for brand new webinar topics including upcoming special events featuring guest speakers. See our full list of hot topics. PROMO TIME!!   Get your Careshield, Mutual of Omaha Custom Solutions and GTL Critical Cash apps in for our Amazon.com Gift Card Blowout!  See the Newsletter for details on this exciting promotion. The “Industry Best” illustration software for Custom & Secure Solution was recently updated to: Version 3.48.0.0  Please see
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Categories: GoldenCare News, Guarantee Trust Life, Industry News, Long-Term Care, and Mutual of Omaha (& Affiliates).

Transamerica TransCare® III Updates

June 27, 2017 Transamerica remains committed to you and to the long term care insurance market. As such, it’s important that we modify our premium rates for new TransCare® III business to remain competitive within the marketplace. These rate changes will also maintain consistency in our pricing across our product portfolio. Revised rates for new sales of TransCare III will become effective July 3, 2017. To receive old rates, applications must be received in good order by close of business June 30, 2017. Previously saved quotes on TransQuote® will no longer be available starting July 3, 2017. This change applies
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Categories: Industry News and Long-Term Care.

Happy July Fourth

CELEBRATE Our Country’s Birthday ★   ★    ★ There are several more days until July 4th. It’s a perfect time to paint the day red, white and blue. We hope you choose to celebrate the day with good friends and family — eating barbecue, enjoying fireworks, and more importantly, honoring our great country. In observance of the day, our Pennsylvania and Maryland offices will be closed on the following dates: Monday, July 3, 2017 Tuesday, July 4, 2017 Our best wishes for a safe and happy Independence Day!   #goldencareagent #usa #unitedsecurity
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Categories: Industry News and Long-Term Care.