Older Americans Report articles from June 2004

Older Americans Report archives from June 2004

This is an election year.(Slants & Trends)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... THIS IS AN ELECTION YEAR, meaning it is harder and harder for Democrats and Republicans to find common ground. But for aging service providers, that might be good news, if it means a decision on Fiscal 2005 appropriations can be put off until...

It should come as no surprise.(cases of same-sex marriage ban )(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... IT SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE that the fight by gays and lesbians for the right to marry is largely about the aging process and who takes care of whom as people become more dependent. After all, what is marriage if not a promise to stick...

AOA Budget would shrink in FY 2006 if projected number is followed.(Administration on Aging, fiscal year)
June 4, 2004... Debate over appropriations for Fiscal 2005 has barely begun, but already, advocates are looking ahead to Fiscal 2006, and what they see does not look good for seniors. In a memo dated May 19, the Office of Management and Budget told agency...

Hawaiian caregivers use native tools to avoid feeling overwhelmed.(ALU LIKE Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Caregivers who deal with tribal elderly require special training, and an innovative Hawaiian program is doing just that. In 2001, ALU LIKE Inc., a native Hawaiian organization, was awarded $100,000 per year for three years in Native...

Failure to agree on budget resolution suggests more roadblocks ahead.
June 4, 2004... It may seem awfully early to give up on passing an appropriations bill for the departments of labor, health and human services and education for Fiscal 2005 before Sept. 30, when Fiscal 2004 ends. But at the National Council on the Aging...

Feds shifting burden of aging services to local government, McFalls says.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... The prospect that the Administration on Aging might get less money in a second Bush administration is part of a trend in which the federal government has let its participation wither under the impact of inflation and population growth,...

Lesbian couple settles Florida lawsuit, prepares to join retirement community.(Sheila Ortiz-Taylor, Joy Lewis )(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Two women who were denied a joint life contract when they applied to a Florida retirement home have settled with the facility and its parent corporation, according to the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). Sheila Ortiz-Taylor and...

Florida couples sue for right to marry as battle reaches 'oldest' state.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Six same-sex couples, including two people in their 50s who have been together for 25 years, are suing Florida for the right to marry, challenging a law that says Florida will not recognize same-sex marriages, no matter in which jurisdiction...

Domestic partnerships may fall short even when it comes to state benefits.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Same-sex couples in California cannot rely on the state's domestic partnership law if they want all the benefits of marriage, even if the analysis is restricted to state law, according to the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). The...

Federal officials have limited oversight when it comes to assisted living.
June 4, 2004... Reports last week in the Washington Post and USA Today have highlighted a variety of problems in the assisted living sector. At least for now, however, the solutions are going to have to come from the states, through their licensing power,...

GAO highlights efforts by states to keep tabs on assisted living.(General Accounting Office)
June 4, 2004... States have several options for making the assisted living industry more transparent and helping operators comply with regulations, according to the General Accounting Office. GAO highlights a Web site run by the Florida Department of Elder...

Long-term care policy.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... LONG-TERM CARE POLICY. The National Governors Association and the Administration on Aging are sponsoring a conference on Rebalancing Long-Term Care Systems Toward Quality Community Living and Health Aging. The event will be in Denver in August....

Cancer rates drop.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... CANCER RATES DROP. The risk of getting or dying from cancer is dropping, according to the National Cancer Institute. From 1991 to 2001, cancer incidence rates dropped 0.5 percent per year. And from 1993 to 2001, the cancer death rate dropped...

Turnover problems.(human resource management of nursing homes)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... TURNOVER PROBLEMS. Two thirds of staff at California nursing homes left their jobs in 2002, according to the California HealthCare Foundation. The high turnover makes it hard to keep staffing levels in sync with state standards, and although...

Vaccine in progress.(avian flu vaccine)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... VACCINE IN PROGRESS. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has commissioned two companies to develop a vaccine for the avian flu, which caused 23 deaths in Asia earlier this year. The H5N1 strain does not pass easily from...

Help for the hearing impaired.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... HELP FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED. The Department of Aging in Baltimore County, Md., has produced a guide to resources for the hearing impaired. Produced in collaboration with Patuxent Publishing Company and the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, it...

Prostate news.(prostate specific antigen levels may not prevent prostate cancer )(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... PROSTATE NEWS. Men with "normal" levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) may still get prostate cancer, according to research by the National Cancer Institute. Prostate cancers that develop at PSA levels below 4.0 nanograms per milliliter are...

AAA leaders groom their successors rather than leave a vacuum.(Area Agencies on Aging)
June 4, 2004... As baby boomers age, the challenge will not just be caring for them, but replacing them as leaders of the aging network. To facilitate that transition, AAA 10B in Uniontown, Ohio, has begun a program called the Leadership Academy. The goal...

Grants from AoA have lasting impact as AAAs carry on fight against scams.( Administration on Aging)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Although seniors are vulnerable everywhere to being financially exploited, Pennsylvania has a program that has shown positive results. With help from AoA, the Pennsylvania Department of Aging (PDOA) began a pilot program in 2001 to stop...

HUD: Mainstream housing.(Funding Opportunities)
June 4, 2004... HUD: Mainstream housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has $11.8 million under the Mainstream Housing Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities program. The program will fund approximately 320 vouchers for five years and is...

HUD: ROSS program.(Funding Opportunities)
June 4, 2004... HUD: ROSS program. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has $11.4 million under the Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency Program for Resident Service Delivery Models targeted to residents of public or Indian housing who are...

HUD: Sec. 202 program.(Funding Opportunities)
June 4, 2004... HUD: Sec. 202 program. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has $495 million under the Sec. 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program. The money is for capital advances; additional funds are available for project-based...

HUD: Sec. 811 program.(Funding Opportunities)
June 4, 2004... HUD: Sec. 811 program. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has $118 million under the Sec. 811 Program of Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program. The money is for capital advances; additional funds will be provided...

CMS: audiologists.(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' funding)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... CMS: Audiologists. Final rule. To be consistent with Medicare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will henceforth predicate payment for audiology services under Medicaid on state licensure rather than certification by the American...

CMS: direct-service workers.(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' funding)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... CMS: Direct-service workers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has awarded $5.6 million to five efforts to help direct-service workers. workers. The grantees are in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and Washington; three...

FDA: risk disclosure.(Food and Drug Administration seeks comment on guidance for drug makers)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... FDA: Risk disclosure. The Food and Drug Administration reopens a request for comment on guidance for manufacturers of prescription drugs and medical devices on disclosing risks (OAR, Feb 13, p. 48). There are actually three pieces of guidance:...

HHS: bioethics.(Department of Health & Human Services, President's Council on Bioethics' meetings )(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... HHS: Bioethics. The President's Council on Bioethics will meet June 24-25 in Washington. Topics include ethical issues related to Alzheimer's disease, end-of-life care and stem-cell research. The public may testify June 25 at 11:30 a.m....

ITA: drug pricing.(International Trade Administration)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... ITA: Drug pricing. The International Trade Administration is investigating the way drug prices are set in countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and how those practices affect prices in the...

Access to benefits coalition aims to recruit seniors for drug cards.
June 11, 2004... Vowing to make the best of a program it had many reservations about, the National Council on the Aging (NCOA) this week inaugurated a multi-pronged effort to get seniors to sign up for Medicare drug discount cards, including up to $1,200 in...

Bill would revive pay-as-you-go rule but would not apply it to tax cuts.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Advocates for seniors are closely watching a House bill that would make it easier to cut taxes than expand entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. The Spending Control Act (H.R. 3973) would extend the pay-as-you-go principle...

Senate stem-cell letter falls two short of number needed to force a vote.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Fifty-eight senators wrote to President Bush last week asking him to fund research on stem-cell lines created after Aug. 9, 2001, when Bush went on television to say he opposed spending money on such research because human stem cells often come...

Home health workers in New York strike for better pay, benefits.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Thousands of home health aides in New York went on strike for up to three days this week, demanding better pay and working conditions. Many of these workers have reached new agreements with their employers, according to Local 1199 of the...

Craig keeping eye on assisted living but wants industry to police itself.(Larry E. Craig)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... For now, the chairman of the Senate Aging Committee is not inclined to propose new tools for federal oversight of the assisted living industry. But if the kind of problems reported recently by the Washington Post and USA Today persist, he warns...

Medicare-for-all concept visible in bill to end waiting period.(Ending the Medicare Waiting Period Act)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) plans to introduce legislation next week to eliminate the two-year waiting period for people under 65 who apply for Medicare on the basis of disability. The Ending the Medicare Waiting Period Act would phase out...

Project will ease rules on home health, but advocates want wider benefit.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last week designated three states where seniors will temporarily be able to get home health care without being homebound, but advocates say the initiative falls short of moving Medicare toward a...

Workgroup debates how to implement new provisions regarding Medigap.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... In the 18 months left before the Medicare drug benefit kicks in, there is much to be done, including writing rules that will force people who do not already have a Medigap drug plan to sign up for Part D if they want any such coverage. ...

Drug price strategy at Veterans Affairs may not work in other settings.(Department of Veterans Affairs)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Critics of the Medicare Prescription Drug law say HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson is denied a power wielded by his counterpart at the Department of Veterans Affairs: The ability to insist on lower drug prices. But Edmund Haislmaier, a consultant...

Better meals, nutrition therapy touted as way to keep seniors healthy.(System to Enhance Nutrition Services for the Elderly)
June 11, 2004... The termination of federal funding for a nutrition program for seniors in a North Carolina county does not mean the end of the line for participants, organizers say. In 2001, the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services received...

Few resources, fragile neighborhoods prompt Detroit seniors to move out.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Detroit's seniors are dying faster than their counterparts in other parts of Michigan, prompting the Detroit Area Agency on Aging to call attention to underlying concerns about poverty and access to health care. "When we looked at our Census...

Lawmaker pushes California to plan for needs of baby boom generation.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Saying there is no time to lose, California Assemblymember and former AAA director Patty Berg (D) is bringing together stakeholders to develop a comprehensive plan for senior services. A report by the California Strategic Plan on Aging Advisory...

Texas panel rethinks list of questions for adult protective services screening.
June 11, 2004... In the next two weeks, Texas officials will be expanding their review of adult protective services cases beyond El Paso, where investigators from the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) have found serious deficiencies. Meanwhile, a...

Easy does it, advises therapy expert, when dealing with long-ago trauma.
June 11, 2004... Caregivers should not force seniors who have experienced severe trauma to dredge up old memories but instead lend a helping hand and ear, according to mental health researchers at San Francisco's Institute on Aging (IOA). People often do...

New York state lawmaker promotes use of long-term care insurance.(Steven Englebright )(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... In a bid to get all seniors to purchase longtermcare insurance (LTCI), New York state Assemblyman and Aging Committee Chair Steven Englebright (D) has introduced three bills. One would boost the state tax credit from 10 percent of LTCI...

FTA: fiscal 2004 apportionments.(Federal Transit Administration)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... FTA: Fiscal 2004 apportionments. Congress has extended the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century until June 30, meaning the Federal Transit Administration can apportion 75 percent of Fiscal 2004 appropriations. Because of the delay in...

HHS: communicating dietary guidelines.(Health and Human Services)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... HHS: Communicating dietary guidelines. The Department of Health and Human Services solicits input on how to communicate the findings of the next edition of Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Respondents should discuss...

CMS: home health update.(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... CMS: Home health update. Proposed rule. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services increases payments to home health agencies by 2.5 percent for 2005 and changes the way such payments are calculated under the prospective payment system....

IRS: counseling for seniors.(Funding Opportunities)
June 11, 2004... IRS: Counseling for seniors. The IRS invites applications for cooperative agreements to provide tax counseling and assistance in preparing returns to people over 60. Funding amounts are subject to Fiscal 2005 appropriations. The deadline is...

IHS: diabetes program.(Funding Opportunities)
June 11, 2004... IHS: Diabetes program. The Indian Health Service has $23 million to combat diabetes among native Americans. About 60 grants will be made, 30 on primary prevention and 30 on prevention of cardiovascular disease in people who have diabetes. The...

Calendar update.(Calendar)
June 11, 2004... NURSING ASSISTANTS. The National Association of Geriatric Nursing Assistants will meet Sept. 22-23 in Joplin, Mo. Workshops will cover mentoring, oral health for long-term care patients and pain management. Contact: NAGNA, (417) 623-6049,...

Social Security report revives debate over how to keep program solvent.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... The long-term gap between revenues and outlays in the Social Security program is not as severe as the Social Security trustees have estimated, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But what that implies for public policy depends on...

CMS documents fail to support claim about feeding assistants, critics say.(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
June 18, 2004... Saying their suspicions have been confirmed, advocates say CMS has been unable to prove its claim that North Dakota and Wisconsin had good results when they let nursing homes employ people as feeding assistants. CMS alluded to those...

AoA grants will help diverse groups tackle variety of health problems.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... The Administration on Aging has released more than $4 million for minority and community groups to continue disease prevention programs for the elderly. The National Council on Aging; the North Central Area Agency on Aging in Hartford,...

APS workers, Humane Society team up to identify cases of animal hoarding.(American Psychological Society , Humane Society of the United States )
June 18, 2004... Animal abuse by seniors, including hoarding, may be indicative of larger problems, according to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), which is reaching out to the aging network in an attempt to tackle the problem. HSUS and the...

PET scans approved when diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is uncertain.(Positron emission tomography)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Although scientists have doubts about using positron emission topography to diagnose Alzheimer's disease, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has decided to cover the procedure under Medicare when doctors cannot rule out the disease...

Criminal justice system fills vacuum in regulation of assisted living.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... When she saw the story about a man who posed as a doctor while running an assisted living facility in Crystal River, Fla., and who is now charged with neglecting a resident who died shortly after losing a leg to gangrene, Toby Edelman just...

FTC says there is no quick solution for people inundated with spam.(Federal Trade Commission)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Seniors and others who are vulnerable to being duped by phony emails, or simply want to avoid getting any number of legitimate but unsolicited electronic pitches, will have to wait a while longer for relief. The Federal Trade Commission...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
June 18, 2004... An article incorrectly identified the head of the New York State Office for the Aging ("New York State Lawmaker Promotes Use of Long-Term Care Insurance," June 11, p. 175). The acting director is Neal Lane.

Medicare drug program described as way to promote food stamps.
June 18, 2004... About 6 million seniors and people with disabilities who qualify for food stamps do not get them, but the new Medicare drug program could change that, according to Dorothy Rosenbaum, an analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities...

Agriculture Department alters position, says drug help will not cut food aid.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... The Food and Nutrition Service last week said anyone using one of the new Medicare discount cards or receiving up to $1,200 in transitional assistance for low-income persons need not worry about having their food stamps reduced or their...

Antiseizure drugs speed bone loss among older women with epilepsy.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... One of the risks of aging is getting epilepsy, and another is bone loss. Unfortunately, treatment for the former condition can make the latter problem worse. In a study of 4,202 white women over age 65, including 40 users of antiepileptic...

No need to switch epilepsy medication, says scientist at National Institute.(William Theodore, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... People who take drugs for epilepsy tend to suffer higher rates of bone loss, but experts differ on what can do done about the problem. Bone loss is accelerated because standard epilepsy drugs induce the liver to produce more enzymes. These...

Seizures are major problem for seniors but symptoms are often overlooked.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Epilepsy used to be thought of as a children's disease, but about 550,000 people over 65 have seizures, making it the third most common neurological disorder among seniors, after dementia and stroke, according to the Epilepsy Foundation. ...

Proposed trust fund for APS programs dropped by Virginia lawmakers.(Adult Protective Services)
June 18, 2004... Funding for adult protective services is hard to come by, so in Virginia, legislators this year debated creating a trust fund that would provide additional support. At the last minute, however, the plan was dropped from legislation that...

Long-Term Care Partnerships.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... LONG-TERM CARE PARTNERSHIPS. The Senate Aging Committee will hold a hearing June 22 on the Long-Term Care Partnership Program, under which people who purchase long-term care insurance can have part or all of their assets protected from Medicaid...

Gay aging on screen.(International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... GAY AGING ON SCREEN. Three new films about the lives of older gay and lesbian persons will be shown June 24 at the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Liberty portrays the lives of a group of lesbians who have known each...

Eye drops can help.(glaucoma prevention)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... EYE DROPS CAN HELP. Among blacks, drops that reduce pressure within the eye can delay or prevent glaucoma, according to the National Eye Institute. The Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study found that daily use of such drops can cut the incidence...

An apple a day.(prevention of age-related maculopathy)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... AN APPLE A DAY. That old phrase, "the apple of your eye," may have something to it. Using data on almost 120,000 individuals who were followed for many years and who were at least 50 at the outset, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in...

Calendar update.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
June 18, 2004... MALE CAREGIVERS. The Virginia Department for the Aging is hosting a conference for male caregivers July 20 in Richmond, Va. On their face, the sessions do not focus on gender differences, but the gathering is designed to help providers reach...

DOL: homelessness initiative.(Funding Opportunities)
June 18, 2004... DOL: Homelessness initiative. Organizations serving homeless seniors may be interested in a $1.5 million award from the Department of Labor. The money will be used to provide technical assistance to five grantees under the Ending Chronic...

AoA: POMP initiative.(Federal Register)(Administration on Aging continues to use Performance Outcomes Measures Project)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... AoA: POMP initiative. Information collection. The Administration on Aging is expanding its use of the Performance Outcomes Measures Project, which helps state and local units monitor Title III programs. Existing measures cover caregivers,...

CMS: home health terminations.(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... CMS: Home health terminations. Information collection. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires home health agencies to notify Medicare beneficiaries whenever they intend to reduce or terminate home-health services. Comments are...

IRS: pension distributions.(Internal Revenue Service)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... IRS: Pension distributions. Final rule. The Internal Revenue Service sets forth the procedures to be followed in making required distributions from certain retirement plans. Effective June 15. Contact: Cathy Vohs, (202) 622-6090. Federal...

California AAAs enlisted in campaign to prevent cases of West Nile virus.(agencies on aging)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... It's summer, and that means mosquitoes are out, carrying with them the threat of infection by the West Nile Virus. Although fewer than 1 percent of people who are infected by West Nile require hospitalization, the elderly are at particular...

The new Medicare drug benefit.(Slants & Trends)(Brief Article)
June 25, 2004... THE NEW MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT has been described by many people as confusing, but that was before the Food and Nutrition Service got spooked by press reports and abandoned a perfectly sensible approach to accounting for those benefits when...

New regulations show how to combine food stamps, Medicare drug benefit.
June 25, 2004... After a one-week hiatus during which food stamp caseworkers had no guidance on how to treat seniors who are getting discounts and subsidies under the new Medicare drug program, the Food and Nutrition Service issued a revised set of instructions...

CMS solicits bids from researchers to study feeding assistant programs.(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)(Brief Article)
June 25, 2004... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last week requested proposals for research on the impact of a rule under which states can let nursing homes hire feeding assistants. The goal of feeding assistant programs is to take some of...

Change of name might spur seniors to enroll in food stamp program.
June 25, 2004... The federal government is thinking about changing the name of the food-stamp program to help people shed any shame about asking for help (see item, p. 192). But some states have already done this, including Kansas, where seniors who already...

Same-sex marriages, if recognized, would reduce federal outlays.
June 25, 2004... If gays and lesbians were allowed to marry, the federal government would save less than $1 billion a year, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office for Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), chair of the Judiciary Committee's panel on...

AARP updates model law protecting rights of manufactured home owners.(Brief Article)
June 25, 2004... For many seniors, home and community-based living means living in a manufactured home, where the traditional division between owners and renters is muddied. Often, residents own their homes but not the land underneath, making them vulnerable to...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
June 25, 2004... An article incorrectly quoted a Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services source regarding the type of elder abuse reports that have increased ("APS Workers, Humane Society Team Up to Identify Cases of Animal Hoarding," June 18, p....

Medicaid monopoly reinforces split between poor, rich facilities.
June 25, 2004... Researchers at Brown University this week painted a picture of a bifurcated long-term care system, with poor residents concentrated in nursing homes where the quality of care is inferior. A nursing home group said the findings point to the need...

Interactive 'catalog' lets consumers compare Long-Term Care aids.(Brief Article)
June 25, 2004... It's not quite Consumer Reports, but a new website for seniors and their families is one step up from most catalogs. The Technology for Long-Term Care project reviews products in four categories: devices that allow people to call for...

Using estrogen alone is no solution for women facing menopause.(Brief Article)
June 25, 2004... The bad news on hormone replacement therapy started in 2002, when the National Institutes of Health halted a study in which women took a combination of progesterone and estrogen as a way to deal with menopause. The benefits--fewer hip...

Switch in milk product touted as way to deliver calcium with less fat.(Nutrish AB)(Brief Article)
June 25, 2004... Alabama is providing its seniors more easily digestible milk as part of the state's congregate and home-delivered meals program. Starting in July, Alabama's 13 area agencies on aging and 340 senior centers will begin offering Nutrish AB, a...