Leaves are changing, temperatures are dropping, autumn is definitely here. Fall, on the other hand, is something we want to avoid entirely.
Statistics and data on falls are stunning, especially when discussing senior populations. According to the CDC, death rates among older populations from falls rose 30% from 2007 to 2016. The agency extrapolated that data and has found that if current trends continue, we could see seven deaths from falls every hour ...
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In most cases, the care we take in finding a nursing home for our elderly loved ones is unrivaled. It is one of the most important decisions we’ll make, should the need ever arise, as we hand off the care of those who once cared for us.
The truth of the matter, however, is that nursing home standards vary widely. The standard of care present at ...
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Medicare is cracking down on over 700 U.S. hospitals for having high rates of potentially avoidable infections and injuries, known collectively as “hospital-acquired conditions,” Kaiser Health News reports. These hospitals will all lose one percent of every Medicare payment made for a year. In determining penalties, Medicare looked at the incidence of three types of hospital-acquired conditions: central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), ...
A preliminary study, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Boston, found that a Medicare subsidy program has made it easier for breast cancer patients to continue with the treatment they need. This improvement was found to be constant throughout all demographics and promotes continuation of hormone therapy after surgery. The study, detailed in a Medline Plus article, focused on over 23,000 early stage breast cancer patients.
The group included in ...
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In a recent press release, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced two major new initiatives that seek to improve the quality of care for Medicare patients. Recently, there has been criticism regarding the rating system in place for nursing homes, which allows sub-par institutions to receive five-star ratings based largely on self-reported data. A CMS press release from early October reports that one of the two main initiatives is to improve the ...
For the past five years, Medicare has assigned ratings to nursing homes that reflect hotel style ratings. The star-based rating gives only one-fifth of the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes five stars. A recent examination by The New York Times revealed that in many cases these ratings are based on incomplete information and may be misleading or simply false.
The Medicare ratings are heavily relied upon by the public but were found to ...
