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Advocates say the law has permitted homes to give anti-psychotic drugs, use restraints and withdraw treatment without allowing patients to object. But the industry warns the ruling will make it more challenging to provide routine care to such patients.
The problem, which is often preventable, is estimated to cost more than $143 billion annually and disproportionately affects people older than 65. It is often misdiagnosed as dementia.
In California nursing homes, just over 15 percent of dementia patients are on antipsychotic drugs. That鈥檚 far more than advocates say is necessary. But that number is down from almost 22 percent just three years ago.
Even in what look like middle class enclaves in Florida, a growing number of seniors are having trouble keeping food on the table. The rate of food insecurity across the country more than doubled among seniors between the years 2001 to 2013.
A young mother with a grave lung disease worries that a California bill that would make assisted suicide legal could pressure terminally ill people to end their lives.
Texas boasts the highest percentage of low-ranked nursing homes in the country, followed by Louisiana, Oklahoma, Georgia and West Virginia.
Even as end-of-life planning gains favor with more Americans, African-Americans, research shows, remain very聽skeptical of options like hospice and advance directives. The result can mean more aggressive, painful care at the end of life that prolongs suffering.
About 12 percent of people 85 and older who died had no assets left and 20 percent had only their homes, according to the research. But even people who die much younger can face similar financial problems.
Under Medicare鈥檚 hospice benefit, patients agree to forgo curative treatment, but they can continue to receive coverage for health problems not related to their terminal illness. Federal officials suspect some of those expenses should be covered by hospice.
Pleasing patients has become more important to hospitals as Medicare takes consumers views into account when setting payments. Most hospitals are getting better, but others have not improved since the government started publishing ratings six years ago.
New federal rules requiring current information apply to insurers selling plans on healthcare.gov and the private policies that are an alternative to Medicare.
A special 鈥渄aycare at night鈥 program in the Bronx cares for Alzheimer鈥檚 patients whose internal clocks mistake night for day.
For many physicians, normal pressure hydrocephalus, or NPH, doesn鈥檛 come to mind when they see people with cognitive and gait problems, although it is one of the few treatable causes of dementia.
Obese people are far more likely to become disabled as they age, and researchers say this burgeoning demographic will strain hospitals and nursing homes.
A little known part of Obamacare pays primary care doctors to help overweight seniors drop pounds and improve their health. So why aren鈥檛 more seniors taking advantage of the free benefit?
Nursing homes now will be graded on their use of anti-psychotic drugs and will have to do more to get top ratings on the federal website Nursing Home Compare.
The percentage of Americans experiencing pain in the last year of life increased between 1998 and 2010, despite the growth of palliative care programs and hospice use, according to a study released Monday.
About 400,000 beneficiaries have until the end of this month to reconsider their Medicare Part D plan choices after Aetna incorrectly identified some pharmacies as being in-network, dropped others and removed some from "preferred" network status.
With the growth of the hospice industry, consumers have a number of choices for end-of-life care. Here鈥檚 a primer to help be prepared.
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