Over
the next two weeks, the Democratic and Republican parties will be
forming their platforms. It’s essential that long-term care financing
reform is included in their platforms. That’s why we need your help.
AAHSA recently developed platform statements to share with both parties on the Long-term Care Solution. Please share you own versions of the following platform statements by July 25.
Whatever your political affiliation, please consider submitting information to both parties.
Thanks to Barbara La Valleur, who directs a local block nurse program in St. Paul: . She wrote this letter to the editor in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune about
how her organization’s work is keeping people at home longer, at a much
lower cost than institutional care . . . and outlines the opportunity
we have to radically change how we fund local solutions to helping
people live the way they desire . . .
Your July 9 editorial about reaching out to help seniors
live at home and the challenges of Meals on Wheels programs is a drop
in the tidal wave bucket before the inevitable Aging Tsunami crashing
our way.
Latest figures show that more and more seniors are living longer and
most have the same goal: to remain in their homes for as long as
possible. Meals on Wheels is a valuable service that supports their
goal. That’s also what the Living at Home/Block Nurse Programs
(LAH/BNPs) do for Minnesota seniors.
Objective. To analyze
corporate governance arrangements and quality and financial performance
outcomes among large multi-facility nursing home corporations (chains)
that pursue stakeholder value (profit maximization) strategies.
Study Design. To
establish a foundation of knowledge about the focal phenomenon and
processes, we conducted an historical (1993–2005) case study of one of
the largest chains (Sun Helathcare Inc.) that triangulated qualitative
and quantitative data sources.
Data Sources. Two main
sets of information were compared: (1) corporate sources including
Sun's Security Exchange Commission (SEC) Form 10-K annual reports,
industry financial reports, and the business press; and (2) external
sources including, legal documents, press reports, and publicly
available California facility cost reports and quality data.
Principal Findings. Shareholder
value was pursued at Sun through three inter-linked strategies: (1)
rapid growth through debt-financed mergers; (2) labor cost constraint
through low nurse staffing levels; and (3) a model of corporate
governance that views sanctions for fraud and poor quality as a cost of
business.
Conclusions. Study
findings and evidence from other large nursing home chains underscore
calls from the Institute of Medicine and other bodies for extended
oversight of the corporate governance and performance of large nursing
home chains.
CENTERVILLE, Ohio -- The St. Leonard retirement
village here has a whole new way of thinking about recreation: Bingo
has made way for cane fighting.
"Down on top of the head and up between the groin!"
urges instructor Debra Stewart, of nearby Chung's Academy of Martial
Arts, commanding a dozen gray-haired students swinging canes at
imaginary attackers. "Stomp him! Dig it in there. Do it hard!"
Jim Ghory, an 82-year-old retired toolmaker,
volunteers to take a few demonstration shots at Ms. Stewart, who has a
black belt in tae kwon do, a Korean martial-arts discipline. "You want
[it in] the collarbone or the ribs?" he asks.
Senior centers and retirement communities are looking
for new ways to promote exercise in order to stave off physical
decline. Older people interested in honing their self-defense skills,
meanwhile, are delighted to find that something they already own can be
used as a weapon.
"Oh my gosh, it's a huge hit," says Lena Mast, manager
at Lodges at Naylor Mill, an independent-living complex for seniors in
Salisbury, Md. Ms. Mast began offering cane classes for residents in
April and says "it's now the top thing they look forward to."
Dear
Colleague:
Thought you'd be interested in a report released today by AARP's Public
Policy Institute that finds older Americans have limited access to home and
community-based services under Medicaid.
New AARP Report Finds Older Americans Have Limited Access to
Home and Community-Based Services under Medicaid
WASHINGTON—A new report
by AARP’s Public Policy Institute finds promising signs and mixed results
among state government efforts to balance long-term care (LTC) options under
Medicaid. Unfortunately, according to the report, only four states spent more
than 50 percent of their Medicaid LTC dollars for older people providing home
and community based services (HCBS). The remainder of the states continues to
spend the majority of their Medicaid LTC dollars for older people on
institutional care, such as nursing homes.
The report, A
Balancing Act: State Long-Term Care Reform, is the first to examine
Medicaid spending on long-term care for older people and adults with physical
disabilities, separate from other LTC users such as people with mental
retardation/developmental disabilities (MR/DD).
Nationally, 75 percent
of Medicaid LTC spending for older people and adults with physical
disabilities pays for institutional care in nursing homes. In contrast,
states have done a much better job balancing Medicaid LTC for people with
MR/DD, spending just 39 percent on institutional care. The majority of funds
now supports people in home and community-based settings.
