Older Americans Report articles from April 2006

Older Americans Report archives from April 2006

Retirement and aging com. hears OAA reauthorization proposals.(Older Americans Act)
April 7, 2006... The Senate Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging held a hearing on the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act. The meeting focused on Title V of the OAA. The subcommittee received several recommendations for reauthorization from both...

National adult day services assn. selects 2006 board of directors.
April 7, 2006... Sixteen leaders from the adult day services sector of the aging network were selected to serve on the board of directors at the National Adult Day Services Association. The directors' responsibility include governing the association,...

Long-term care group applauds elimination of cuts in house budget.
April 7, 2006... The American Health Care Association applauded the elimination of 5-year, $36 billion Medicare cuts and $13 billion Medicaid cuts in the House Budget Committee budget blueprint for FY07. Removing these cuts will help the long-term care industry...

CMS launches direct care service Workforce Resource Center.
April 7, 2006... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently launched the National Direct Service Workforce Resource Center to respond to the large and growing shortage of workers who provide direct care and personal assistance to people with...

Health project's Native American elder benefits resource kit.
April 7, 2006... A year ago the National Indian Council on Aging started a demonstration health project in Washington. The idea was to hire tribal members, train them on health and social services available to seniors, and prepare them to go back into...

Jefferson Parish renters can sue housing authority on utility allowances.
April 7, 2006... Low-income renters in Louisiana's Jefferson Parish who sued a local housing authority in 2004 for not increasing their utility allowances can do so without waiting for a Housing and Urban Development lawsuit, a federal court ruled March 6. ...

AAHSA makes case for public policy reform.(Housing Policy)
April 7, 2006... As federal, state and local policy leaders contemplate ways to maximize the services and ability of the aging network, members of Congress should consider pouring more money, time and legislation to facilitate adequate programs and services for...

Coalition presents ways to modernize delivery of healthcare services.(Technology in Aging)
April 7, 2006... A health care reform strategy to reduce the nation's healthcare costs and improve the quality of life and care for seniors, their families and caregivers, should focus on the application of new technology and its impact on providing necessary...

Add technology demo projects to OAA reauthorization, advocates say.(Technology in Aging)
April 7, 2006... Technological demonstration projects under Title IV should be included in the reauthorization process of the Older Americans Act, long-term care advocates proposed. Technological innovations can be used to assist the frail elderly and...

CMS: notice.(Federal Register)
April 7, 2006... CMS: Notice. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announces the fourth meeting of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act Technical Advisory Group. The meeting will review regulations affecting hospital and physician...

DOL: funding opportunity.(Federal Register)
April 7, 2006... DOL: Funding Opportunity. The Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration is extending the closing date of the availability to fund the national grants portion of the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). The...

DOT: notice.(Federal Register)
April 7, 2006... DOT: Notice. The Department of Transportation announces a decision to exempt six individuals from its rule prohibiting persons with insulin-treated diabetes mellitus from operating commercials motor vehicles in interstate commerce. As a result,...

Maintaining blood pressure treatment may lower dementia risk in elderly.(Federal Register)
April 7, 2006... Maintaining high blood pressure treatment may lower the risk of dementia in old age, according to Stroke, a publication of the American Heart Association. "For every year of hypertension treatment, there is increased protection against...

Price increases for commonly used prescription drugs outpace inflation.
April 14, 2006... Manufacturers of prescription drugs commonly used by older Americans have raised the price for wholesalers and direct purchasers higher than the general inflation rate, according to a new AARP report that shows substantial drug price increases...

California awards $12.1M for stem cell science, ethics training.
April 14, 2006... The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a state stem cell agency, recently awarded its first research grants totaling $12.1 million to 16 nonprofit institutions. The awards will go toward training scientists and students in stem...

SSA's $8.9B overpayment prompts call for technical adjustments.(Social Security Administration)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Social Security Administration officials need to modify parts of the disability payment program to avoid costly overpayments, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said in response to a report that found billions in...

Medicaid coverage of nursing services can be enforced, but eligibility cannot.
April 14, 2006... A state can be liable for denying certain Medicaid benefits under one provision but not another, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Watson v. Weeks, 436 F.3d 1152, No. 04-35704. The section of the Medicaid Act known as...

Ticketed for slow crossing.(elderly paid fine for taking too much time for crossing the signal)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... TICKETED FOR SLOW CROSSING? Cited for obstructing traffic when she failed to cross a major intersection in timely manner, an 82-year old California woman was slapped with a $114 ticket for taking too long to cross the street, according to...

Funding opportunity. The Gerontological Society of America is now accepting nominations for the 2006 Maxwell A. Pollack Award.(Briefly Noted)
April 14, 2006... FUNDING OPPORTUNITY. The Gerontological Society of America is now accepting nominations for the 2006 Maxwell A. Pollack Award. This award recognizes instances of practice informed by research and analysis, research that directly improved policy...

Funding opportunity.(Briefly Noted)
April 14, 2006... FUNDING OPPORTUNITY. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing's Graduate Nursing Education Project presents a new publication is based on outcomes from the "Enhancing Geriatric Nursing Education in Undergraduate and Advanced Practice...

Funding opportunity. The Office of Nursing Services at the Department of Veterans Affairs announces available funding for VA facilities and nursing school affiliates through the Transforming Educational Affiliations for Clinical Horizons (TEACH) initiative.(Briefly Noted)
April 14, 2006... FUNDING OPPORTUNITY. The Office of Nursing Services at the Department of Veterans Affairs announces available funding for VA facilities and nursing school affiliates through the Transforming Educational Affiliations for Clinical Horizons...

Boomers boost construction.(Briefly Noted)
April 14, 2006... BOOMERS BOOST CONSTRUCTION. While the aging of the baby boomers is an oft-cited justification for the sharp increase in U.S. hospital construction, population aging will play a relatively small role in rising demand for inpatient hospital care...

States urged to employ innovation when addressing Medicaid woes.
April 14, 2006... To lessen Medicaid's drain on their annual budgets, states should find innovative solutions within the "framework" of the program, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt told government officials at the National Conference of State Legislatures' Spring...

Don't Buy Green Bananas offers humorous insights on aging.(A Humorous Journey Through the Sometimes Puzzling World of Aging book review)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 14, 2006... Covering a broad range of age-related issues from depression and mental illness to dating and sex, Barbara Hance's book, "Don't Buy Green Bananas... A Humorous Journey Through the Sometimes Puzzling World of Aging," is a must read for anybody...

Get moving!
April 14, 2006... GET MOVING! Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) want Medicare to account for the delay in launching an anti-fraud program. In a letter to CMS, Grassley said, "Federal officials announced a program six months ago, Medicare...

Congress gets failing grade on senior issue votes: advocate group.(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Aging advocates gave members of the 109th Congress a failing grade for voting against legislation to improve the health and economic wellbeing of older Americans during its first session from January to December 2005. According to results...

Key congressional votes on senior issues.
April 14, 2006... Homestead Exemption. Sen. Feingold (DWisc.) introduced an amendment to the bankruptcy bill that would provide a $75,000 homestead exemption to protect the homes of older Americans who declare bankruptcy. The amendment failed 40-59. S. 256, Roll...

An assessment of DC nursing homes finds multiple areas of improvement.(Housing)
April 14, 2006... Earlier pledges to ramp up the District of Columbia's quality of long-term care by furnishing better nursing facility monitoring, stiffer enforcement policies and greater staff recruitment have gone uncompleted, the District's Ombudsman Program...

Elder cohousing projects underway.(Housing)
April 14, 2006... A cohousing community is under development in Grass Valley, Calif., and construction of cohousing lofts will soon follow, the Elder Cohousing Network announced this week. The lofts will have about 27 homes each priced from $250,000 to $600,000....

Retiring boomers reshape pension, housing and financial services market.(Housing)
April 14, 2006... As millions of baby boomers approach retirement, the management of their retirement is expected to have a significant impact on the housing and financial services markets, according to new report by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation....

Elderly forced to cope with chronic pain, industry reports says.(Housing)
April 14, 2006... While there is an abundance of studies related to pain, just 1 percent of them concentrate on pain and aging. There is a clear need for more investigators from many fields to further the efforts of current researchers, according to published...

Treasury Department: final rule.(Federal Register)
April 14, 2006... Treasury Department: Final Rule. The Treasury Department's Office of Thrift Supervision revised the definition of "community development" in its Community Reinvestment Act regulations. The rule encourages savings associations to, among other...

VA: notice.(Federal Register)
April 14, 2006... VA: Notice. The Department of Veterans Affairs announces requirements for participation in the VA Multifamily Transitional Housing Loan Guarantee Program. The program is a pilot program, which authorizes VA to guarantee up to 15 loans with an...

HHS: meeting.(Federal Register)
April 14, 2006... HHS: Meeting. A fourth meeting of the American Health Information Community Electronic Health Records Workgroup is set to meet April 26 and May 2 in Washington. The meetings will examine ways to remove barriers for the adoption of electronic...

HHS: meeting. The Department of Health and Human Services' American Health Information Chronic Care Workgroup is set to meet April 24 and May 3 in Washington.(Federal Register)
April 14, 2006... HHS: Meeting. The Department of Health and Human Services' American Health Information Chronic Care Workgroup is set to meet April 24 and May 3 in Washington. The meetings will discuss, among other issues, the formation of a workgroup to...

HHS: meeting. The Department of Health and Human Services' American Health Information Community Empowerment workgroup is set to meet April 25 and May 1 in Washington.(Federal Register)
April 14, 2006... HHS: Meeting. The Department of Health and Human Services' American Health Information Community Empowerment workgroup is set to meet April 25 and May 1 in Washington. The meetings will make recommendations toward gaining wide spread adoption...

Education Department: notice.(Federal Register)
April 14, 2006... Education Department: Notice. The Department of Education's Office of Special Education Rehabilitative Services; Overview Information, Technology and Media Services for Individuals with Disabilities-Access to Emerging Technologies is inviting...