Older Americans Report articles from November 2004

Older Americans Report archives from November 2004

The reelection.(Slants & Trends)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... THE REELECTION of President Bush puts the future of Social Security front and center on the agenda of the 109th Congress, and GOP gains in the House and the Senate mean Bush has extra support for his plans. Bush says letting people put a...

Baltimore assisted living facility sued over ads depicting no black people.
November 5, 2004... Arguing that a picture--or what is missing from that picture--is worth a thousand words, a Baltimore group has sued an assisted living facility in suburban Catonsville over the absence of black people in its ads. Baltimore Neighborhoods...

Studying aging.(FYI)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... STUDYING AGING. The National Institute on Aging has launched six new Centers for Research on Applied Gerontology and four new Centers on the Demography of Aging. The former are at the University of Indiana, Princeton, Stanford, the Oregon...

Making the switch.(FYI)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... MAKING THE SWITCH. The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded $62.5 million to help participants in State Pharmaceutical Assistance Programs transition to Medicare Part D. An equal sum will be available in Fiscal 2006. New York's...

Preventing infections.(FYI)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... PREVENTING INFECTIONS. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has two items on infection control. Meeting JCAHO's Infection Control Requirements (Item MICS-01, $70) shows how the commission's standards provide a...

Gay and gray.(FYI)
November 5, 2004... GAY AND GRAY. The next generation of aging service providers is learning about the needs of gay and lesbian seniors. At the University of Kansas, Rosemary Chapin and Holly Nelson-Becker have developed a backgrounder on older gays for social...

The administration on aging.(Election Wrap-Up)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... The reelection of President Bush and the expansion of GOP majorities in Congress mean the aging network is likely to get little new money over the next four years, if budgets passed in Fiscal 2003 and 2004 are any indication. In those...

Stem cells.(Election Wrap-Up)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... Voters in California approved a measure that would provide $3 billion over 10 years for research on human embryonic stem cells, much to the delight of advocates for people with Parkinson's and certain other diseases. The California...

Same-sex marriage.(Election Wrap-Up)
November 5, 2004... Tuesday's vote was a disappointment for gay and lesbian seniors, because 11 states banned same-sex marriage. The measures bring to 40 the number of states that limit the rights of same-sex partners, according to Sean Cahill, director of the...

Social security.(Election Wrap-Up)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... At a news conference yesterday, President Bush was asked about his plans for changing Social Security and how he would cover the costs of introducing private accounts. "Every speech, I talked about the duty of an American President to...

Fate of New Hampshire Medicaid plan unclear as governor leaves office.
November 5, 2004... A proposal by New Hampshire Gov. Craig Benson (R) to overhaul Medicaid probably died Tuesday when Benson opponent John Lynch (D) secured 51 percent of the vote. But similar proposals may emerge from other states, which is why the framework and...

Maps from Center for Health Statistics suggest priorities for state officials.
November 5, 2004... As aging service providers try to find flu shots for their clients, they may wish to take a peek at one of the charts in a document from the National Center for Health Statistics and the Office of Women's Health at HHS. There, on p. 17 of...

In price-gouging case, HHS hails move by Fla. firm to relinquish flu vaccine.
November 5, 2004... Saying he wants to stop any would-be profiteers in their tracks, HHS chief Tommy Thompson applauded the decision by a Florida company to turn over its remaining supply of flu vaccine after it was accused by Florida Attorney General Charlie...

Looking ahead.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... LOOKING AHEAD. At AARP's National Aging & Law conference in Washington last month, the Center for Social Gerontology agreed to serve as a clearinghouse for reauthorizing the Older Americans Act, which expires next year. The first task is to...

Who's doing what on malpractice.(National Conference of State Legislatures )(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... WHO'S DOING WHAT ON MALPRACTICE. The National Conference of State Legislatures has produced a chart showing each state's laws on medical practice. The issue matters to seniors because many states have capped noneconomic damages, which for those...

No progress on elder justice.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... NO PROGRESS ON ELDER JUSTICE. Negotiations between the Elder Justice Coalition and Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) over Graham's refusal to let the Elder Justice Act (S. 333) come to the floor remain stalled. Graham persuaded chief sponsor John Breaux...

Changing medicaid.(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... CHANGING MEDICAID. Tennessee is seeking approval for a Sec. 1115 waiver to its TennCare program that would help it keep Medicaid outlays within 26 percent of the budget. The requested "pre-approval" authority would let the state act first and...

Knowing what to call senior housing made easier by new definitions.
November 5, 2004... As policymakers wrestle with how--or even whether--to regulate assisted living, they quickly come up against the fact that very few people agree on what the term means. Now, the National Investment Center and American Seniors Housing...

Treating breast cancer.(This Just In)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... TREATING BREAST CANCER. Focus groups show that the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act, which provides Medicaid coverage to women who would not otherwise be eligible for such assistance, has been a success, at least in...

More PET scans covered.(This Just In)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... MORE PET SCANS COVERED. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services continues to expand its coverage for Positron Emission Topography, a diagnostic imaging tool. Last month, the agency said it would start covering PET scans for people with...

Managing side effects.(This Just In)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... MANAGING SIDE EFFECTS. Oncologists who ask chemotherapy patients to rate their pain, nausea or fatigue on a scale of 1-4 can receive an extra $130 per patient per day from Medicare in 2005 by entering the results along with patient billing...

Listening well.(This Just In)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... LISTENING WELL. Saying patients who feel they have been heard are more likely to follow doctors' recommendations, the National Institute on Aging has published Working with Your Older Patient: A Clinician's Handbook. It covers how to discuss...

SSA: Representative payees.(Federal Register)
November 5, 2004... SSA: representative payees. Information collection. The Social Security Administration has developed Form SSA-445 to gather information on prospective organizational payees operating on a fee-for-service basis. Comments are due in 60 days....

VA: waiving debts.(Federal Register)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... VA: Waiving debts. Final rule. The Department of Veterans Affairs codifies a practice under which Fiscal Officers at VA facilities have been allowed to waive veterans' debts when those debts were incurred by making copayments. Effective Nov....

AOA: Native Americans.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... AOA: Native Americans. The Administration on Aging invites applications to supply nutritional and support services to Native American elders under Title VI, Part A of the Older Americans Act and to provide caregiver services under Part C. To...

CDC: injury prevention.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... CDC: Injury prevention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make two awards totaling $600,000 to foster injury prevention. Among other things, the agency is interested in reducing injuries to older pedestrians and reducing elder...

HRSA: bioterrorism training.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
November 5, 2004... HRSA: Bioterrorism training. The Health Resources and Services Administration has $36 million to train the healthcare workforce to cope with the effects of a terrorist attack. About 35 awards will be made, mostly for continuing education but...

Calendar update.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
November 5, 2004... FACING THE END. The National Institutes of Health is sponsoring a State of the Science Conference on Improving End-of-Life Care Dec. 6-8 in Bethesda, Md. Presenters include University of Chicago professor Greg Sachs on "Key Factors Affecting...

Insurance commissioners criticize effort to move people off Medigap.
November 12, 2004... Federal officials this week defended their characterization of the Medicare drug program after state insurance commissioners said it would be inaccurate to say Part D is necessarily a better value than Medigap. After Dec. 31, 2005, no one...

Tennessee advocates huddle over plan to dissolve special Medicaid program.
November 12, 2004... After Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) said Wednesday that he would abolish the state's special health care program and replace it with traditional Medicaid, advocates were in meetings yesterday in a last-ditch attempt to keep the existing...

Advocates say White House Conference is chance for older gays to organize.
November 12, 2004... Saying they will not be deterred by last week's passage of 11 ballot measures banning same-sex marriage, advocates for gay and lesbian seniors are looking ahead to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, where they hope to make a larger...

Union Alleges Ensign Group fell short in meeting California staffing rule.
November 12, 2004... Nursing homes were reminded of their susceptibility to public scrutiny when the California Alliance for Retired Americans and Local 250 of the Service Employees International Union filed suit last month against Ensign Group, a California...

CMS says hospices may continue to contract for nursing staff.(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... Recognizing that the nursing shortage in many parts of the country continues, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last month said hospices could continue to contract for nursing services instead of hiring their own nurses. As...

Recommendations seek improvement in care for people with dementia.
November 12, 2004... Seeking to fill a gap in services for people with dementia, the Alzheimer's Association has drafted a set of recommendations for nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The Dementia Care Practice Recommendations follow more than six...

Expert on Alzheimer's disease offers video tapes on care planning.(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... When dealing with people with Alzheimer's disease, it helps to have a plan. That is why a series of videotapes from New Mexico-based gerontologist Mary Lucero may be useful. Previous Lucero products include a 1.5-hour overview called...

Risk of falling by seniors related to heel height, contact area.
November 12, 2004... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking for exercises that might keep seniors from falling (see item, p. 352), but the key to safety may be simply wearing the right shoes, according to a report by researchers at Harborview...

Understanding LTC insurance.(Long-term care insurance)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... UNDERSTANDING LTC INSURANCE. There is a lot of information about long-term care insurance, but much of it is either too general or too detailed, according to a report commissioned by the Pew Charitable Trusts. In addition, people who sell...

Tracking veterans care.(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... TRACKING VETERANS CARE. The Department of Veterans Affairs should collect data on veterans who receive care at state and community nursing homes, not just VA facilities, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office for the...

Translating the cards.
November 12, 2004... TRANSLATING THE CARDS. The National Asian Pacific Center on Aging has launched hotlines so that people can get information on the Medicare drug discount cards in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. The numbers are (800) 582-4218, (80) 582-4259 and...

Lining the eggs up.
November 12, 2004... LINING THE EGGS UP. The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a $10 million contract to Sanofi Aventis to make sure there are enough eggs on hand to rapidly boost vaccine production in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak. The...

Green house organizers say survey shows success of new approach.
November 12, 2004... The home-like setting of a new type of long-term care is making for more satisfied residents and staff members alike. Those are the preliminary findings released this week from a study of what proponents call a revolutionary type of...

FDA: drug applications.(Federal Register)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... FDA: Drug applications. The Food and Drug Administration issues draft guidance on the procedures for listing new drugs, including the circumstances under which a manufacturer of a patented drug can delay the agency's consideration of an...

FTC: identity theft.(Federal Register)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... FTC: Identity theft. Final rule. The Federal Trade Commission implements the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 and includes attempted identify theft in the definition of prohibited actions. Seniors with substantial assets are...

SSA: chronic liver disease.(Federal Register)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... SSA: Chronic liver disease. Proposed rule. The Social Security Administration is reopening a proposed rule from 2001 in order to get additional comment on how to handle requests for help based on chronic liver disease. Comments on Regulation...

SSA: nonattorney fees.(Federal Register)(Social Security Protection Act of 2004)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... SSA: Nonattorney fees. Information collection. Under the Social Security Protection Act of 2004, the Social Security Administration will conduct a five-year demonstration project under which nonattorney representatives will be eligible for...

AFAR: various programs.(Funding Opportunities)(American Federation for Aging Research)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... AFAR: Various programs. The American Federation for Aging Research has several grant opportunities, including AFAR Research, Pfizer/AFAR, Ellison Medical Foundation/AFAR and Glenn/ AFAR Research grants, all of which have a deadline of Dec. 15....

Brookdale foundation: relatives as partners.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... Brookdale Foundation: Relatives as Partners. The Brookdale invites applications to its Relatives as Partners Program, which helps grandparents and other relatives serving as surrogate parents. For public agencies in selected states, the...

CDC: conference support.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... CDC: Conference support. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has $2 million to sponsor conferences on various aspects of public health, including early cancer detection. Up to 50 awards will be made, and no matching funds are...

CDC: fall prevention.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... CDC: Fall prevention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has $350,000 to create a set of fall-prevention exercises for seniors and to study how well the package is adopted by community groups and how well it works. Only one award...

CDC: new investigator training.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... CDC: New investigator training. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has $900,000 for research by new investigators on unintentional injuries, acute injuries care and injury biomechanics. Injuries to older drivers are mentioned as a...

CDC: state implementation projects.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... CDC: State implementation projects. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has $2.5 million to help states develop programs for people with disabilities, especially people at risk of developing secondary conditions. Up to 11 awards will...

CDC: traumatic injuries.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... CDC: Traumatic injuries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has $840,000 to support research on the biomechanics of traumatic injuries, including falls among the elderly and injuries to older drivers. Three awards will be made. The...

CDC: violence-related injuries.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... CDC: Violence-related injuries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has $1.7 million for research on violence-related injuries, including "suicidal behavior among populations at elevated risk for engaging in such behaviors." Up to...

This just in.(Brief Article)
November 12, 2004... On Tuesday, the day he announced his resignation as Attorney General, John Ashcroft asked the Supreme Court to review a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, rebuffing his attempts to preempt Oregon's assisted-suicide law. Ashcroft...

Advocates brace for another round of across-the-board budget cuts.(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... As Congress moves toward passing a budget for Fiscal 2005, members of the aging network face the prospect of a third consecutive across-the-board budget cut, which will make even smaller what was already expected to be only a modest increase...

Drug enforcement administration lists 'errors' in statement on pain drugs.
November 19, 2004... Filling in some of the blanks it left when it withdrew its guidance on prescribing pain medications, the Drug Enforcement Administration this week spelled out several ways in which it now says the guidance was mistaken. But advocates are...

DEA called unqualified to set standard on pain-killing drugs in the first place.(Drug Enforcement Administration)
November 19, 2004... Laudable as it might have been for the Drug Enforcement Administration to provide guidance on the proper use of narcotics, it is not the place of a law enforcement agency to get involved in setting standards of care, according to a lawyer in...

Bill would shift hospice care benefit from 'hopeless' to 'hopeful'.(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... One of the paradoxes of the Medicare hospice benefit is that it provides services that are comforting but not restorative, because it is assumed that beneficiaries have only six months to live. After all, if people get well in hospice care,...

Couples find help in switching roles when macular degeneration strikes.
November 19, 2004... Macular degeneration, a severe, progressive vision failure, is difficult both for stricken individuals and their sighted partners. That may explain why about 1,200 people in Oregon and Western Washington have joined support groups through a...

Lawmakers realize they must act soon as pension agency shortfall doubles.(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... Forget Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security--the issue that is front and center on lawmakers' plates, even before the 109th Congress convenes, is pension plans. This week, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation said it lost $12 billion...

Changes may be forthcoming at helm of Senate aging committee.
November 19, 2004... A state that prides itself on keeping seniors out of nursing homes may have a higher profile next year if Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) takes over from Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) as chairman of the Aging Committee. The ascension of Smith, so...

Trying to beat the deadline.(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... Proponents of the Elder Justice Act (S. 333) are trying to get the measure passed in both houses of Congress before lawmakers go home. At least one obstacle has been removed: Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), who had put a hold on the bill in hopes of...

Seeing with women's eyes.(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... Medicaid is not usually thought of as a women's program but 71 percent of adult beneficiaries are female, including 81 percent of beneficiaries over 85, according to a brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Offering a whole-life picture,...

Enforcing Medicaid.(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... Individuals can sue states for failing to pay providers enough to induce them to treat Medicaid patients, according to a federal judge in Pennsylvania. The issue matters to seniors because low reimbursement rates, whether for direct-care...

Estimating the cost of diabetes.(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... By the year 2000, the cumulative cost of diabetes to people born in a single decade of the 20th century--those born between 1931 and 1941--was about $134 billion, according to researchers at the University of Michigan and the Department of...

Clarification.(Correction Notice)
November 19, 2004... An item about the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging ("Translating the Cards, Nov. 12, p. 350) provided the phone number of the group's D.C. office, rather than its headquarters. The headquarters office can be reached at (206) 624-1221.

SSA has never exercised authority to waive medicare waiting period.(Social Security Act)
November 19, 2004... In the 109th Congress, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (DN. M.) will reintroduce legislation to eliminate the two-year waiting period for Medicare for people who qualify on the basis of disability rather than age. It turns out, however, that the Social...

CMS to test wider coverage for chiropractic services.(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... As part of its growing arsenal of preventive therapies, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will start covering an expanded range of chiropractic services in April. The Medicare demonstration project will allow chiropractors to...

Home health industry on guard.
November 19, 2004... November is National Homecare and Hospice Month, but the American Association for Homecare is not resting on its laurels. In the 109th Congress, the group will be on guard against efforts to impose a copayment for home health visits under...

Advocates seek to document cases of retaliation by nursing homes.
November 19, 2004... Groups that advocate for nursing home residents say they are getting more reports from family members who have suffered retaliation after speaking up on behalf of their loved ones. In one case, a Wisconsin family was barred from...

Providers would shoulder higher costs if Tennessee health plan is eliminated.(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... A plan by Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) to eliminate its special version of Medicaid would force health care providers to provide a higher level of uncompensated care, according to an analysis by Leighton Ku and Victoria Wachino at the...

Performing private duty.(Calendar Update)(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... PERFORMING PRIVATE DUTY. The National Private Duty Association will meet March 2-4 in San Diego to discuss the needs of seniors served by home care agencies. The group is particularly concerned about the trend toward consumer direction, under...

Calling all hopsices.(Calendar Update)(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization will meet Aug. 1-3 in St. Louis. Opening Doors, Building Bridges will feature workshops on reaching out to different cultural, geographic and socio-economic groups, including people without...

Promoting gerontological health.(Calendar Update)(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... The American Public Health Association will meet Nov. 5-9 in New Orleans, and members of the group's Gerontological Health Section are soliciting abstracts on self-care, home care and residential living, among other topics. The deadline is...

DEA: drug production.(Federal Register)(Drug Enforcement Administration)(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... The Drug Enforcement Administration bans the use of many drugs and restricts the use of others (see story, p. 353), but it authorizes the production of certain controlled substances for medical and research purposes. This week, the agency...

IRS: phased retirement.(Federal Register)(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... Proposed rule. The Internal Revenue Service explains how it intends to treat people who withdraw a portion of their pension benefits while cutting back their hours in what is known as phased retirement. To qualify, employees would have to be at...

Carter Institute.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... CARTER INSTITUTE: Hurricane relief. The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving is soliciting applications from agencies that serve caregivers affected by the hurricanes of 2004. The maximum award is $10,000, and collaborations are encouraged....

NIH: stem cell fellowships.(Funding Opportunities)(Brief Article)
November 19, 2004... NIH: Stem cell fellowships. The National Institutes of Health seeks to foster more research on human embryonic stem cells by providing stipends and tuition assistance to postdoctoral fellows. NIH will also provide a budget for institutional...