An appeals court recently ruled that some Medicare beneficiaries may now appeal decisions regarding their patient status. The Underlying Issue When Medicare patients go to a hospital, they often enter through the emergency department. The physician who attends to them…
There is nothing you can do about aging, and it affects everyone in your family. It can be challenging for adult children to imagine their parents as seniors and to understand and respond to the reality that each parent will…
According to sources, long-term care facilities are underfunded by government agencies. They lack the resources to do proper inspections of residential health facilities. You may have seen the rating system provided by the Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).…
Nursing homes face a variety of public health challenges from infectious diseases like the flu and COVID-19. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS, outlines specific policies and protocols for residential health facilities. These measures outline policies related to…
The sandwich generation includes anyone who struggles to care for both their children and their aging parents. Although generation is part of the phrase, it does not refer to people born at a specific time. Typically, these “sandwich” family caregivers…
Americans who live in nursing homes are among the most vulnerable. When the novel coronavirus did hit, these nursing homes became its ground zero as many residents and workers did not receive testing, and staff found obtaining personal protective equipment…
A person with dementia is diagnosed every three seconds somewhere in the world. Dementia is a catchall phrase that refers to many types of neurodegenerative diseases. Neurodegenerative diseases bring about the onset of dementia including but not limited to: Alzheimer’s…
Almost seventy percent of retirees in the United States will need some kind of long-term care (LTC), according to figures released by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). According to research by Genworth, the median annual cost…
Choosing which of my two children will be my legal representative when I need help paying my bills and talking to doctors is a difficult decision for me. Can’t I just name them both? You can, but please don’t. You…
Planning for long-term care is important because nearly everyone will require it at some point in their lives. While we cannot predict the timing or level of care, we can take steps to prepare for an unexpected medical and financial…