Literature Review

Older Americans living alone often rely on neighbors or others willing to help California Healthline; by Judith Graham; 11/12/24Donald Hammen, 80, and his longtime next-door neighbor in south Minneapolis, Julie McMahon, have an understanding. Every morning, she checks to see whether he’s raised the blinds in his dining room window. If not, she’ll call Hammen or let herself into his house to see what’s going on. Should McMahon find Hammen in a bad way, she plans to contact his sister-in-law, who lives in a suburb of Des Moines. That’s his closest relative. Hammen never married or had children, and his younger brother died in 2022. Although Hammen lives alone, a web of relationships binds him to his city and his community — neighbors, friends, former co-workers, fellow volunteers with an advocacy group for seniors, and fellow members of a group of solo agers. ... American society rests on an assumption that families take care of their own. But 15 million Americans 50 and older didn’t have any close family — spouses, partners, or children — in 2015, the latest year for which reliable estimates are available. Most lived alone. By 2060, that number is expected to swell to 21 million. ... [Click on the title's link to continue reading.]Editor's note: This important article includes "a noteworthy study published by researchers at Emory University

Homecare owner allegedly withholds $86k in wages HomeCare, Indianapolis, IN; 11/11/24 The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has alleged that home health care company owner Hahn March violated federal wage laws and withheld $86,000 in wages by using improper pay practices at her two Indianapolis, Indiana, companies: Signal Health Group Inc. and SHG Employee Leasing Company. In 2018, federal investigators cited March for not paying overtime wages to employees at her then-owned company, Aging and Disabled Home Healthcare. ... The complaint was filed following an investigation by the DOL Wage and Hour Division, which discovered March and Nancy Stanley, the chief financial officer of both companies, used an artificial regular rate pay scheme to lower hourly pay rates and, in turn, shortchanged employees $86,427 in overtime wages. ... The DOL is seeking $172,854—including $86,427 in back wages and an equal amount in liquated damages—for 43 current and former employees. ... “Employees who work in home health care—one of our nation’s lowest-paying professions—provide necessary daily and hospice care that allow individuals to remain in their homes and aid them in navigating their basic needs, providing dignity and comfort to clients and their families,” said Aaron Loomis, Wage and Hour Division district director.

“I’m 68 and totally alone”: 50 people share what it’s like being seniors AOL.com - Bored Panda; by Dominyka; 11/9/24 People are different in their upbringing, in their tastes, even in their looks. But all people do have one thing in common: we're all heading towards the same end. With the exception of Bryan Johnson, maybe. Still, we're all aging, whether we like it or not. And with aging comes social isolation; according to a 2024 Medicare report, 57% of adults aged 65 and older report feeling lonely. The users of Quora recently tackled this problem when one person wrote: "I'm 63 years old and so lonely. Does it matter to anyone?" Many older people rushed to the comments to share their stories, highlighting the sad realities they face today. Bored Panda sought the expertise of the anti-ageism activist Jacynth Bassett, Founder and CEO of Ageism Is Never In Style about how important social connections are to us as we age. We also spoke with her about the right terminology when referring to older people and how we can all spot ageist attitudes in ourselves. 

PACE elderly care center opens in Murrieta [California] Patch, Murrieta, CA; by Kat Schuster; 11/1/24 Neighborhood Healthcare opened the doors to a new 20,000-square-foot medical and care center for older adults in Murrieta on Friday. It is the second Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) to open in town. The new facility offers a medical team specializing in aging and chronic conditions. PACE touts itself as an alternative to nursing homes and a program for older adults to get social and medical services in their own homes and communities. Neighborhood Healthcare also offers a bilingual medical team that works with therapists, dieticians, social workers, and home care nurses "to create a customized care plan" for each patient. 

‘Stop Requested’: To Lakeview, Oregon’s ‘Mile High City’ OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting); by Lillian Karabaic; 10/27/24 Lakeview isn‘t close to much, but locals figure out how to get ’er done. ... OPB “Weekend Edition” host Lillian Karabaic and producer Prakruti Bhatt experience the joys and difficulties of rural transit and talk to many people along the way. ... To reach Lakeview, we turn to the Lake County Cloud, a transit service run by the Lakeview Senior Center. Lake County Cloud doesn‘t have any fixed route services. Its crew of eight part-time drivers mostly do by-reservation trips to medical appointments and a few shopping trips. This became even more important after Lakeview’s only specialty clinic and hospice closed in 2023. ... Because the nearest city is Klamath Falls, more than 90 miles away, Lake County Transit puts in a lot of miles. It also goes up to Medford, down to California, and even all the way to Portland for chemotherapy. “We do about 30,000 [or] 40,000 miles a month … it’s a lot for a little town and little crew," says Linda Mickle, transportation coordinator for Lake County Transit.

LeadingAge: Diverting patients from SNF to home health does more harm than good McKnights Home Care; by Adam Healy; 10/28/24 Mounting evidence suggests that Medicare Advantage plans are directing beneficiaries to home health when they should receive skilled nursing facility care, which is negatively affecting providers’ care quality, according to LeadingAge. The Senate Committee Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations recently reported that MA plans may be diverting patients in need of SNF care to home health as a means of saving money. In an Oct. 25 letter, LeadingAge said this practice damages care quality and patient health outcomes, and asked the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) to investigate the issue further. 

After extensive renovation, original Wright-Patt Fisher House expected to reopen soon Dayton Daily News, Dayton, OH; by Thomas Gnau; 10/28/24 Renovation ends in time to mark home’s 30th anniversary. The original Fisher-Nightingale house at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has been renovated, and an open house in December is expected to mark its reopening, the executive director of the Fisher-Nightingale Houses in the Dayton area said. The house itself is expected to reopen to serve families in a few weeks. ... The Fisher House Foundation is a national organization, building comfortable homes where active-duty military and veteran families can stay free of charge, while a loved one is in a hospital or in nearby hospice care.

Saint Francis Hospital’s Healthy Village creates national social-services healthcare model DelawareLive, Wilmington, DE; by Jarek Rutz; 10/23/24 Saint Francis Hospital hopes a new, unique initiative will be a national model for healthcare. As it celebrates 100 years of service, the hospital is expanding its community outreach to the Wilmington community by launching the Healthy Village at Saint Francis Hospital, which aims to deliver essential social services to those in need. Located in economically challenged neighborhoods, Healthy Villages are designed to enhance the traditional safety net hospital model. “The goal is to create the ultimate one-stop care setting that promotes synergy, diversity, and equity,” said Lillian Schonewolf, executive director of the Healthy Village at Saint Francis, in a YouTube video. Editor's note: See the article we posted yesterday about the importance of community, "Who gets access to a good death?"

Nonprofit repurposes wedding bouquets for seniors Spectrum News 1, Columbus, OH; by Taylor Bruck; 10/21/24 Todd Davis, a resident of Columbus, knows it’s the simple things in life that mean the most. That’s why every weekend, he and volunteers pick up leftover flowers from weddings and other events and repurpose them into beautiful bouquets. They then deliver them to senior citizens all over Columbus and people in hospice care. ... Every week, volunteers turn thousands of flowers into about 200 bouquets, equating to nearly 10,000 this year and endless smiles.

Home health agencies may soon claim telehealth services during patients’ hospital stays McKnights Home Care; by Adam Healy; 10/17/24 In a recent change, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that it would allow home health providers to submit claims for telehealth while their clients are receiving inpatient care. Currently, Medicare beneficiaries may not be inpatients in a hospital or skilled nursing facility and simultaneously receive home healthcare. CMS rejects any home health service claims that overlap with a patient’s hospital or SNF stay, and providers are responsible for submitting a new claim without any dates for service that coincide with an inpatient stay. In a recent change request, CMS announced that it would modify its rule to allow home health providers to submit telehealth claims even when their clients are in hospital or SNF care. The change specifically applies to telehealth services that fall under the G0320, G0321 or G0322 Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System codes. 

Atria to exit home care business to focus on senior living portfolioMcKnights Senior Living; by Kimberly Bonvissuto; 10/16/24 Atria Senior Living is shuttering its New York-based home care subsidiary in an effort to focus on its core business of senior living. In a  “warn unit” notice filed Oct. 10 with the New York Department of Labor, Atria Home Care cited economic reasons for the layoffs of 161 employees from its Garden City, NY-based home care business, which will be effective Jan. 8. “After careful consideration, we have made the decision to discontinue operations at Atria Home Care in an effort to focus on our core business of social model senior living communities,” a spokesperson for Atria told McKnight’s Senior Living. “We are working with all home care customers and employees on a transition to other home care providers and are committed to supporting our employees and clients through these changes over the next several weeks.”

MD Home Health expands services with in-clinic, virtual care, remote patient monitoring, house calls and hospice Longview News-Journal, Phoenix, AZ; by MD Home Health; 10/15/24 Leading Home Health Agency in Arizona launches comprehensive onmnichannel healthcare approach. MD Home Health, a privately-held leading Arizona-based home health agency, today announced the expansion of its healthcare services to include in-clinic care, virtual care, remote patient monitoring, house calls, and hospice, making it one of the first privately-held home health agencies in Arizona to offer a full and comprehensive omnichannel healthcare approach. This expansion allows the firm to broaden its healthcare offering to significantly increase access to comprehensive, quality and convenient healthcare for residents across the Phoenix metro area. "Our new and comprehensive services are designed to ensure that patients have convenient and flexible options to access quality healthcare how, when and where they need it," said David P. Tusa, President and Chief Executive Officer of MD Home Health.