Latest News On Long-Term Care

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Reopening of Long-Term Care Facilities Is ‘an Absolute Necessity for Our Well-Being’

KFF Health News Original

Relatives and advocates are calling for federal authorities to relax restrictions in long-term care institutions and grant special status to “essential caregivers” — family members or friends who provide critically important hands-on care — so they have the opportunity to tend to relatives in need.

Long-Term Care Workers, Grieving and Under Siege, Brace for COVID’s Next Round

KFF Health News Original

As the coronavirus surges around the country, workers in nursing homes and assisted living centers are watching cases rise in long-term care facilities with a sense of dread. Many of these workers struggle with grief over the suffering they’ve witnessed.

Prayers and Grief Counseling After COVID: Trying to Aid Healing in Long-Term Care

KFF Health News Original

With employees emotionally drained and residents suffering from loss, many nursing homes and assisted living centers are working with chaplains, social workers and mental health professionals to help people deal with the effects of the coronavirus.

As Deaths Mount, Coronavirus Testing Remains Wildly Inconsistent In Long-Term Care

KFF Health News Original

Testing for COVID-19 varies widely across nursing homes and assisted living facilities, even within the same states and communities — increasing the risks for some of America’s most vulnerable seniors.

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Whom Do We Trust For COVID Info?

KFF Health News Original

The messaging from the White House coronavirus press briefings is becoming more confusing as President Donald Trump and his science advisers appear to not see eye to eye. Meanwhile, Congress is ready to approve more money to address both the health and economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the virus is taking an almost unimaginable toll on the nation’s nursing homes and putting strain on patients and health care providers with non-COVID ailments. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more.

COVID-19 Crisis Threatens Beleaguered Assisted Living Industry

KFF Health News Original

The Capital Senior Living chain of assisted living communities and others like it were struggling financially before coronavirus suddenly appeared. Now their situation is really getting tough.

What To Do If Your Home Health Care Agency Ditches You

KFF Health News Original

If you’re told Medicare’s home health benefits have changed, don’t believe it: Coverage rules haven’t been altered and people are still entitled to the same types of services. All that has changed is how Medicare pays agencies.

Why Home Health Care Is Suddenly Harder To Come By For Medicare Patients

KFF Health News Original

Medicare has changed how it pays for services. In response, agencies across the country are firing therapists, limiting physical, occupational and speech therapy, and terminating services for some longtime, severely ill patients.

As His Wife’s Caregiver, A Doctor Discovers What’s Missing At Health Care’s Core

KFF Health News Original

Harvard psychiatrist Arthur Kleinman shed his “veil of ignorance” during 11 years serving as the primary family caregiver for his wife, who had a rare form of early Alzheimer’s disease. In a new book, “The Soul of Care,” he offers suggestions for transforming health care ― just as caregiving transformed him.

Facebook Live: Intimate Lessons From The Front Lines Of Family Caregiving

KFF Health News Original

Family caregivers are the backbone of our nation’s system of long-term care for older adults. Every year, more than 34 million unpaid caregivers — mostly family members — provide essential aid to adults age 50 and older, helping with tasks such as bathing or dressing and, increasingly, performing complex medical tasks such as managing medications, dressing wounds and operating medical equipment.

California Nursing Home Residents Told To Find New Homes

KFF Health News Original

Dozens of frail nursing home residents have been informed by their Medi-Cal managed care plans that they are no longer eligible for long-term care. Some health care advocates and legal aid attorneys fear that such terminations will increase as the state implements mandatory managed care for nursing home residents.

California Hospitals And Nursing Homes Brace For Wildfire Blackouts

KFF Health News Original

Facing billions of dollars in legal claims for the role its equipment has played in a spate of deadly wildfires, California utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric plans to step up efforts to cut power to broad regions of the state during high-risk weather conditions. The potential for prolonged blackouts has prompted disaster preparations by hospitals, nursing homes and home care providers.

A Young Woman, A Wheelchair And The Fight To Take Her Place At Stanford

KFF Health News Original

Throughout her young life, Sylvia Colt-Lacayo has been told her disability didn’t need to hold her back. She graduated near the top of her high school class. She was co-captain of the mock trial team. In April, she learned she had been admitted to Stanford University with a full scholarship. Now, the struggle to fund the caregivers she needs to leave home is proving her toughest battle yet.