HHS Launches New Web Site Promoting Long-Term Care Planning Launched, USA

HHS' Assistant Secretary for Aging Josefina G. Carbonell announced a new Web site that will make it easier for consumers to get the information they need to plan for long-term care. The National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information Web site provides comprehensive information about long-term care planning, services and financing options, along with tools to help people begin the planning process.

Connecting Tags; long term care, choice, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

False Spring in Long-Term Care Winter

Savvy public policymakers know that funding long-term care (LTC) will be a long, cold slog.

Even if they weather the perfect storm of impending Medicare and Social Security insolvencies, Medicaid--especially its LTC component--threatens to sink the ship of state when Boomers need expensive care.

Everyone knows the scary demographics and Medicaid's frightening budget impact. No need to repeat that here.

So, given the foreboding future of an industry heavily dependent on government financing, why are long-term care providers and the capital markets that support them thriving again? After a turn-of-the-millennium slump that sent eight nursing home chains into bankruptcy, left the assisted living industry overbuilt and under-occupied, and nearly choked off capital for all sectors of seniors housing, long-term care providers and financiers are cheerful and optimistic again.

Connecting Tags; LTC, Medicaid, choice, community-based, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Tizard Report Advances Knowledge And Understanding Of The Abuse Of Vulnerable Adults

Researchers at the Tizard Centre, University of Kent, have conducted the most detailed analysis of adult protection referrals ever carried out in the UK. They used information from Kent and Medway Councils’ records, which are among the most detailed of any local authorities in England.

Connecting Tags; LTC, abuse, rights, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Bill aims to give people choices on long-term care

CHEYENNE -- Sixty-one-year-old Virginia Snow of Torrington is unable to walk because of childhood spinal tumors. She uses what she calls a "scooter" to get around her home, where she lives alone with her cats and a dog.

Because of her disability, she needs considerable help, which she gets from homemaking services through the local senior center as well as Meals on Wheels. The Independent Living Program pays mileage to anyone who drives her anywhere.

Connecting Tags; LTC, Medicaid, choice, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Panel wants to offer seniors more choices

CHEYENNE - A legislative committee is sponsoring a bill to give more Wyoming senior citizens alternatives to nursing homes.

The Joint Interim Committee on Labor, Health and Social Services is sponsoring a bill in the legislative session that begins next month that would commit about $2 million to expand existing programs for seniors through June 2008. It also would set up pilot projects for adult foster care and other new programs.

Connecting Tags; LTC, choice, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

CMS Publishes Final Patients' Rights Rule On Use Of Restrains And Seclusion - Better, More Extensive Training Of Staff Required, USA

Health care workers who employ physical restraints and seclusion when treating patients must undergo new, more rigorous training to assure the appropriateness of the treatment and to protect patient rights, according to a regulation published in the Federal Register today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Connecting Tags; LTC, Medicaid, Medicare, rights, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Grant Results Topic Summary:

Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care

Connecting Tags; LTC, quality, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Governor: State faces $1B budget shortfall

Gov. Jennifer Granholm will start her second term next month much as she started her first, wading into a sea of red ink that will force spending cuts and other measures to balance the budget.

The Democratic governor on Thursday warned during her traditional year-end news conference that the state needs to come up with at least $1 billion to balance this year's and next year's budget.

Connecting Tags; LTC, deficit, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

A flap over recouping costs of Medicaid

Ever since Judy Clifford's parents died, she had planned to move with her husband into their Nashville, Tenn., home, which she knew so well.

"I felt like they were still there," says Ms. Clifford, who is retired. "I could see my mother standing at the sink washing dishes and my daddy watching TV, and I wanted to stay in the house because of that."

Instead, the two-bedroom ranch-style home is for sale for $122,000, the subject of a bitter tug-of-war between the Cliffords and TennCare, Tennessee's healthcare program for the poor and uninsured.

Connecting Tags; LTC, Medicaid, housing, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Home Health-Care Workers Have Few Legal Protections, Law Professor Finds

As more and more Americans turn to in-home health care workers to take care of elderly family members, research from a University of Iowa law professor has found nobody is taking care of the caregivers.

Connecting Tags; community-based, LTC, waiver, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

After storm, a scramble to check nursing homes

The realization hit public-health officials the morning after the Dec. 14 windstorm, when they gathered in the county's emergency-response center. Someone mentioned that a nursing home didn't have power.

Seniors' Physical And Mental Functioning Enhanced By Exercise

For older Americans, reversal of the brain shrinkage that occurs as people age is just one benefit of greater physical activity, according to research published in the latest issue of The Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences (Vol. 61A, No. 11). In a special section devoted to exercising and aging, this edition of the journal features five separate reports on the topic.

Connecting Tags; fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Nursing Home Fiction vs. Facts

Nursing Home Fiction vs. Facts

Posted December 24 2006

---

Nursing Home Fiction vs. Facts

What you might hear and what are the facts, from 20 Common Nursing Home Problems - and How to Resolve Them:

"You need to sign these papers before we'll admit your mother."

Connecting Tags; LTC, choice, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

HHS Releases FY 2008 FMAP Figures

State	Federal Medical Assistance Percentage	Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance

Michigan

58.10

70.67

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released figures for the Federal Medical Assistance Percentages and Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 in the November 30, 2006 Federal Register. These percentages will be in effect from October 1, 2007 through to September 30, 2008. FMAPs are used in determining the amount of federal matching funds for state expenditures for assistance payments for certain social services, and state medical and medical insurance expenditures.

Connecting Tags; Medicaid, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

LONG-TERM CARE REFORM: LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS TO SHIFT CARE TO THE COMMUNITY

Legislators are key players in each state’s political system. They join with a state’s chief executive to develop the framework for public policy and for its implementation. In the course of a legislator’s career, he or she is faced with a myriad of critical issues from highway construction to educational issues to health and drug safety.

In recent years, one of the most significant of these issues – and one of the toughest challenges – for state legislators has been escalating Medicaid spending, which now outranks education as the largest slice of a state’s budget. Total Medicaid expenditures in FY 2005 were $304.5 billion, of which about 31 percent or $94.8 billion was allocated to long-term care.

Connecting Tags; Medicaid, long term care, community-based, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Electroconvulsive Therapy Causes Permanent Amnesia And Cognitive Deficits, Prominent Researcher Admits

In a stunning reversal, an article in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology in January 2007 by prominent researcher Harold Sackeim of Columbia University reveals that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) causes permanent amnesia and permanent deficits in cognitive abilities, which affect individuals' ability to function.

Connecting Tags; Medicare, choice, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

FamilyCare Offers Free Shingles Vaccine To Oregon Medicare Enrolled Members

The new vaccine for adult shingles is now available free of charge to Medicare members of FamilyCare. Known as Zostavax, the vaccine is used in adults age 60 and older and reduces the incidence of shingles by half and pain and discomfort by nearly two-thirds according to Merck research.

Connecting Tags; Medicare, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Health Costs For Minnesota Seniors At Least Double That Of Younger Residents, Study Finds

Minnesota seniors in their 60s and 70s have health costs double and sometimes triple the amount of spending for state residents in their 30s and 40s, according to a study released Friday by the Minnesota Council of Health Plans, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Connecting Tags; health, Medicare, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

More long-term care could become entitlement

John McMahon, director of Washburn County’s Department of Health and Human Services, has been leading a nine-county regional effort called the Northwest Wisconsin Long-Term Care Options (NW-LTCO) Collaborative to establish an array of long-term managed care services, called “Family Care,” an entitlement for the elderly and people with a physical or developmental disability.

Connecting Tags; LTC, Medicaid, community-based, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

U.S. Is Proposing to Cut Medicaid’s Drug Payments

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 — The Bush administration on Monday will propose sweeping reductions in payments to pharmacies as a way to save money for Medicaid, the health program for more than 50 million low-income people.

Connecting Tags; Medicaid, pharmacy, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

States struggle to cover retirees

State and local governments are starting to take aggressive steps to reduce the enormous cost of providing health care benefits to retired teachers, police officers, firefighters and other public workers.

As 43 state legislatures prepare to convene next month, governments are cutting benefits, setting aside money to cover future costs and shifting expenses to the federal Medicare program.

Connecting Tags; Medicare, pharmacy, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Washington State Nursing Homes With High Numbers Of Medicaid Beneficiaries Provide Lower Quality Care, Study Finds

Nursing homes in Washington state that rely primarily on Medicaid funds provide lower-quality care compared with privately funded nursing homes, according to a study released last week by the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, the Spokane Spokesman-Review reports.

Connecting Tags; LTC, Medicaid, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Medicaid annuities: Look before you buy

An annuity is a financial asset. It is a contract between the purchaser and the annuity company.

In exchange for the purchaser’s money, the annuity company agrees to pay the money back to the purchaser, with interest, over a period of time, sometimes for the purchaser’s life or the life of a named beneficiary.

Life insurance companies and annuity salespeople have begun aggressively marketing products they call Medicaid annuities or Medicaid-friendly annuities. Salespeople sometimes claim these annuities will shelter your assets from being used to pay for long-term care because they are not counted for Medicaid eligibility purposes.

Connecting Tags; Medicaid, LTC, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Nursing Home Or Hospital: State Policy Has Big Impact On Elderly

For the first time on a national scale, a team led by Brown University researchers has traced the connections between state nursing home policies and a critical decision in the care of nursing home residents - whether to send these frail elderly to the hospital.

Connecting Tags; LTC, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Senior Controlling Destiny

Two years ago, Ethel Funck caught a bad break.

Then 85, Funck was a healthy, vibrant woman living independently in a Palmyra apartment, where she had moved after her husband, Harold, died in 1990. But she broke her hip when she stumbled while carrying a chair, changing her life forever.

Connecting Tags;community-based, long term care, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Want Official LTC Info?

Try the web site of the

Office of Disability, Aging, and Long-Term Care Policy

Connecting Tags;long term care, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Man charged with kidnapping wife

CENTER LINE - An 85-year-old man has been charged with kidnapping his wife from a nursing home and taking her to Florida, where they lived for nearly a year before being found by authorities.

Joseph Perez of Warren faces a preliminary examination Wednesday in 37th District Court. He has been charged with kidnapping, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, for taking his wife from Father Murray Nursing Center in January.

"We're looking out for the best interests of the alleged victim," John Latella, an assistant Macomb County prosecutor, told The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens.

But defense lawyer Azhar Sheikh criticized the prosecutor's office, saying Perez was charged too harshly. "This is an extremely sad case," he said. "He was just trying to help his wife. He doesn't belong in jail. This man needs to get some help. He cares for his wife. He wanted to take care of her and did nothing to harm her."

The couple lived in Florida until about Nov. 1, when a Medicaid claim tipped off police.

Perez is being held in the Macomb County Jail, while his wife is living in their Warren home under full-time care.

Latella said Perez had been a guardian for his wife, who is about the same age, for several years but was stripped of that designation because of how he cared for her. She was later placed in the nursing home.

Connecting Tags;long term care, community-based, choice, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

State gives $800,000 to Elder Network

The Elder Network of the Capital Region recently received more than $800,000 in state funding to establish sustainable, aging-prepared communities, which will serve as models to augment the state's long-term care policy reform initiatives.

Connecting Tags;LTC, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Medicaid Developments In Texas, Virginia, Washington, D.C.

Texas: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) on Wednesday said that state and federal investigators have served 19 search warrants in Dallas and 11 other cities in a statewide investigation of fraudulent billing practices by ambulance companies, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Tags: Medicaid

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Medicaid Developments In Texas, Virginia, Washington, D.C.

Texas: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) on Wednesday said that state and federal investigators have served 19 search warrants in Dallas and 11 other cities in a statewide investigation of fraudulent billing practices by ambulance companies, the Dallas Morning News reports.

AARP Issues Reports to Help Americans Prepare for Cost of Long- Term Care

CHICAGO, Dec. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Most Americans are unaware of the costs associated with long-term care and overestimate the amount that government programs such as Medicare will pay, according to an AARP report released today at a Capitol Hill news briefing.

Tags: long term care

Congress Approves Bill To Address Medicare Physician Payments, Expand HSAs

The 109th Congress adjourned on Saturday after the passage of a bill (HR 6408) that includes a provision to reverse a 5.1% reduction in Medicare physician reimbursements scheduled to take effect in January 2007, the Washington Post reports (Weisman, Washington Post, 12/10).

Tags: Medicaid, Medicare

A Proposal To Cover The Uninsured In California

he lack of health coverage for millions of Californians is a major societal problem. In the absence of federal action, we propose a state-based approach that leverages existing systems to create near-universal coverage within two years. We describe several subsidized benefit options for low-income uninsured Californians, emphasizing preventive and primary care, and we propose catastrophic coverage, at a minimum, for higher-income uninsured Californians. Proposed financing mechanisms include a health care sales tax and an "in-lieu" payroll tax. [Health Affairs 26, no. 1 (2007): w80-w91 (published online 12 December 2006; 10.1377/hlthaff.26.1.w80)]

LTC in Mchigan

Long-Term Care in Michigan
subsumed under a new system known as MI Choice Access (not to be confused with MI ... future plans for long-term care reform in light of budget concerns is ...

Lawmakers Closer To Agreement On Medicare Physician Payments

House and Senate leaders have agreed to use a stabilization fund established under the 2003 Medicare law to help finance the reversal of a Medicare physician reimbursement reduction scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2007, but remain divided on other provisions, CongressDaily reports (Vaughan/Johnson, CongressDaily, 12/7).

Rural Aging in Place

Policy Brief Assisted Living: Is It An Option for Rural Areas?

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
and level of care and privacy that will be covered by Medicaid waiver programs. Finally, some states have used a. combination of federal and state housing ...
www.srph.tamhsc.edu/centers/SRHRC/PDF/PB_S04_AL_Option_for_Rural.pdf Rural Aging i

Aging in Place

Aging in Place in Assisted Living: Philosophy Versus Policy ...

Facilities had a choice of completing a survey by mail or telephone. Measurement ... Aging in Place Opportunities for Medicaid HCBS/FE Recipients ...
gerontologist.gerontologyjournals.org/cgi/content/full/41/1/43 -

Aging in Place

F R S F WORKGROUP: AGING IN PLACE STRATEGIC ISSUE:

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML WORKGROUP: AGING IN PLACE. STRATEGIC ISSUE:. 2. Evaluate the feasibility of expanding the MI Choice Medicaid Waiver into additional settings (including ... www.michigan.gov/documents/mshda_Compiled_Aging_in_Place_160939_7.pdf -

Aging in Place

Post-Polio Health International - Advocacy
Aging in place, livable communities, and accessibility are key elements in the effort ... disabilities and conducts federal and state policy ...
http://www.post-polio.org/advo.html [Ask.com]

A Blue Christmas: The Signs Of Elderly Holiday Depression

So you're heading home to see Mom and Dad this holiday season - or maybe Aunt Sue or Grandpa George. If you're like many Americans, it may have been weeks, months or even years since you've seen them last. And as they - and you - grow older, these holiday reunions grow more special each year.

Lawmakers Call On Bush Administration To Stop Proposed Changes To Medicaid That Would Limit States' Abilities To Tax Health Care Providers

The National Governors Association, nursing home industry officials and lawmakers from both parties are urging congressional action to stop the Bush administration from implementing proposed rules that would reduce Medicaid payments to hospitals and nursing homes by $12.2 billion over five years, CQ HealthBeat reports (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 12/5).

'Patient-Centered Care' Important In Efforts To Measure Health Care Quality, Forum Speakers Say

Speakers at a forum hosted by the Alliance for Health Reform and the Commonwealth Fund on Monday said that "patient-centered care" is important in efforts to measure health care quality, CQ HealthBeat reports.

Exercise Programs Enhance Physical Function In The Elderly

With a structured exercise program, inactive older people at high risk for becoming disabled can improve their physical functioning and reduce their likelihood of having difficulty walking, according to results from a pilot study by researchers at Yale School of Medicine and other institutions.

House, Senate Leaders Debate Proposals To Finance Reversal Of Medicare Physician Reimbursement Reduction

House and Senate leaders on Tuesday "struggled" to reach an agreement on a proposal to finance the reversal of a Medicare physician reimbursement reduction scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2007, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 12/5).

Brown Issues Report to National Commission for Long-Term Care

Brown University’s Vincent Mor and Edward Alan Miller have issued a report for the National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care outlining six key areas of concern as “the long-term care system in the United States is threatening to collapse under the massive weight of the aging Baby Boom generation.” The commission, co-chaired by former Sen. Bob Kerry and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, was established in 2004 to evaluate the country’s quality of long-term care and to make recommendations about national efforts for sustainable improvement.

Health Care for All?

How Do We Get Healthcare For All?12 Nov 2006 by Cherry Ames, Jr
John Conyers of Michigan first introduced HR 676, the United States National ...
the physicians of their choice, with no restrictions on what providers they could
visit. ... dental, mental health, prescription drugs, and long term care. ...

Independent Living

livingoldpeople31 Oct 2006 by mike
While nursing homes were the dominant long-term care option as recently as
... The elder Maker was a retired Michigan autoworker and school custodian ...
For years, the members of the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform ...

Transplanted Brain Cells Hold Promise For Parkinson's Disease

Transplanted neural stem cells hold promise for reducing the destruction of dopaminergic cells that occurs in Parkinson's disease and for replacing cells lost to the disease, scientists say.

Palliative Care Improvements Needed As Baby Boomers Age

A baby "boomer-driven movement" could prompt needed improvements in palliative care for U.S. residents and "reclaim death from high-tech machines in intensive care units," according to experts, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Remote Monitoring Companies For Seniors Growing In Popularity

Massachusetts-based Dovetail Health, which "aims to provide a safety net for senior citizens living on their own by tracking vital signs over a phone line," is the "newest entry in the small but growing area of health care called 'remote monitoring,'" the Boston Globe reports.

The Effect of Choice

For many in the disability community, rehabilitation counseling is increasingly tied to reimbursement systems through which persons with disabilities are able to optimize their value to society in collaborative and facilitative ways. Counseling can help the client consider many choices, not just those using a one size fits all approach. As an example, the recent growth of state run Medicaid Home and Community-Based Waivers offers persons with disabilities expanded availability to personal assistance services (PAS). Counselors can help clients review the best approach to facilitating pathways towards independence for waiver participants. Additionally, counselors can assist their clients in further enhancing their knowledge and employable skills once they have moved from institutions or skilled nursing homes to less restrictive settings.

Who'd Have Thought?

Baby Boomers Value Caring For Aging Parents More Than Earlier Generation. A new study from the University of Southern California's Leonard Davis School of Gerontology found that the generation born in the 1950's and 60's are more committed to caring for their aging parents than their own parents were.The findings, published in the current issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family run contrary to popular notion that the institution of the family is in decline. [click link for full article]

Impending Doom?

Bipartisanship Needed To Avoid Spending Crisis As Baby Boomers Enroll In Medicare, Social Security, Opinion Piece States. "The next election, in 2008, will be the first of 10 to take place against the backdrop of millions of [Baby] Boomers rolling onto the old-age benefit rolls" of Medicare and Social Security, Richard Fairbanks, a former White House official, and Paul Hewitt, chair and executive director of Americans for Generational Equity, write in a Washington Times opinion piece. [click link for full article]

Disability down

Chronic Disability Among U.S. Elderly Population Declines, Study Finds. "Change in Chronic Disability From 1982 to 2004/2005 as Measured by Long-Term Changes in Function and Health in the U.S. Elderly Population," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: For the study, Kenneth Manton of the Center for Demographic Studies at Duke University and colleagues examined the rate of chronic disability among elderly U.S. [click link for full article]

Deep Discussion of NH Quality plus other things

Chapter 3: State of Quality of Long-Term Care | Improving the ...
In another study based on the federal and state survey process, ... One is how to ensure that Medicaid participants are offered a choice between ...

Quality and Funding in Long Term Care

Generations - Regulation and Long-Term Care
The reluctance of state and federal policy-makers to implement any changes in long-term-care policy that may conceivably contribute to higher expenditures ...


Generations is a publication of the American Society on Aging, an organization for professionals.

Diversion and Relocation Strategies

ULP Workshop Brief: Expanding Long-term Care Choices for the ...
Community Choice. Brochure. Trenton (NJ): The Choice, Department of Health and Senior Services, Division of Consumer Support, Office of Long-Term Care ...

Native Americans and LTC

THE NICOA REPORT Health and Long-Term Care for Indian Elders
policy and relocation program organized and financed by the federal government and ... These researchers claim that “aging in place” is the most accu- ...

Housing and Long Term Care

Linking Housing and Long-Term Care Services for Older Adults
of Medicaid beneficiaries receiving LTC services in group res-. idential settings outside of nursing homes ... and choice in day-to-day policy and practice. ...

A Robert Woods Johnson Foundation Report

Rural LTC

LONG-TERM CARE IN RURAL AMERICA
State Medicaid and long-term care policy developments have significant ... Support systems of care for "aging in place," that is, aging with choice. ...

Screening Algorithm Used in Michigan

ULP Workshop Brief: Expanding Long-term Care Choices for the ...
From this has arisen Michigan's MI Choice Long-Term Care Initiative. One of the goals of the MI Choice screening algorithm is to find the best setting and ...

OAA Reauthorized

19. Older Americans Act Reauthorized

On October 17, President Bush signed the reauthorized Older Americans Act Amendments of 2006 (HR 6197), which had been passed without opposition by the House of Representatives and the Senate. The new legislation promotes the principles of President Bush's Choices for Independence plan, emphasizing consumer choice, access to reliable information, and health promotion. It includes provisions to launch Aging and Disabilities Resource Centers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico to create a single point of access to the range of services available to seniors, including the new Medicare prescription drug program. No changes were made to the long-term care ombudsman provisions, other than to set maintenance of effort minimum funding provisions at year 2006 levels, rather than the previous year 2000 levels.

Source: House Committee on Education and Workforce Press Release, October 17; conversation with Sue Wheaton, Administration on Aging.

Assisted Living Stats

Assisted Living

15. Report provides assisted living statistics

The recently released report, the �2006 Overview of Assisted Living,� provides a range of facts and figures about assisted living and is a comprehensive effort to detail key benchmarks in the field. Among the data in the report: 1) community type and unit mix: 32% of responding communities are freestanding assisted living facilities, while 8% are a combination of assisted living and nursing facility; 2) primary payment plans: 51% of responding communities offer tiered pricing for bundled services, and 22% offer one all-inclusive rate; 3) occupancy: median occupancy in freestanding assisted living is 95%; 4) resident demographics and activities of daily living (ADL) needs: the median age of female residents is 87, the median age of males is 85. Residents� median annual income is $15,668. Average ADLs: 2; 5) services: 97% of freestanding assisted living communities provide three meals per day in basic rates, and 40% provide assistance with ADLs in basic rates, while 60% provide assistance with extra charge; 6) staffing: the median number of full-time-equivalent employees at responding communities is 25. To order the report, go to the websites of any of the organizations responsible for the report: www.aahsa.org, www.alfa.org, www.seniorshousing.org, www.ncal.org, and www.nic.org. The cost is $125.

Source: http://www.alfa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3808

Average Nursing Home Costs Rise

12. Nursing home costs rise

The average daily cost of a private room in a nursing home in the United States is now $206 or $75,190 annually, according to the MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home & Home Care Costs. The cost represents an increase of 1.5% from last year�s $203. The highest rates were reported in Alaska where the cost is $578, while the lowest were in the Shreveport area of Louisiana at $111. Nationally, the semi-private room rate rose 3.9% to $183 per day from $176. The MetLife Market Survey was conducted by telephone in July and August of this year. To read the full survey, go to: www.maturemarketinstitute.com under �What�s New.�

Source: Orlando Business Journal, September 28, 2006

LTC Reform

News, Notes, Opinions on the progress of LTC Reform, with a Michigan perspective. Choice is the key.