The Delicate Issue Of Taking Away A Senior’s Smartphone
Knowing when — and how — to limit a loved one’s access to digital devices is akin to taking their car keys.
KFF Health News’ coverage related to aging and improving care of older adults is supported in part by The John A. Hartford Foundation.
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In Search Of Age-Friendly Health Care, Finding Room For Improvement
Simple alterations — like better signs, seating, parking or door design — can make it easier for older patients to navigate health care facilities. Here are several changes doctors’ offices, clinics and hospitals could make.
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Watch: Five Things To Know About Hunger Among America’s Aging
One out of every 13 seniors in America struggles to get enough food to eat while the federal program intended to help hasn’t kept pace with the graying population. KHN Midwest editor/correspondent Laura Ungar explains what you need to know about this largely hidden problem.
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Starving Seniors: How America Fails To Feed Its Aging
One out of every 13 older Americans struggles to find enough food to eat while the federal program intended to help hasn’t kept pace with the graying population.
By Laura Ungar and Trudy Lieberman -
Firing Doctor, Christian Hospital Sets Off National Challenge To Aid-In-Dying Laws
In Colorado case, the right to aid a cancer patient’s death runs up against faith-based hospital policies. As more states have passed laws, about 1 in 6 acute care beds nationally is in a hospital that is Catholic-owned or -affiliated.
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Feds Pave The Way To Expand Home Dialysis — But Patients Hit Roadblocks
What changes are needed to bring home dialysis to more patients — especially older adults, the fastest-growing group of patients with serious, irreversible kidney disease? We asked nephrologists, patient advocates and dialysis company officials for their thoughts.
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What The Trump Home Dialysis Plan Would Really Look Like
It takes more than an executive order to shift kidney disease patients from dialysis centers to home care. These patients show it takes discipline, skill, will and support.
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Class-Action Lawsuit Seeks To Let Medicare Patients Appeal Gap in Nursing Home Coverage
Medicare beneficiaries under observation care in the hospital can face higher costs for treatment and are not covered for nursing home care when discharged. A federal trial in Hartford, Conn., will determine whether the government’s ban on appeals involving observation care coverage is fair.
By Susan Jaffe -
Kathy Brandt, A Hospice Expert Who Invited The World Into Her Own Last Days With Cancer, Dies
Kathy Brandt and her wife, Kim Acquaviva, national experts in hospice and palliative care, shared intimate details of Brandt’s experience with terminal cancer before her death Sunday.
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The Talk Seniors Need To Have With Doctors Before Surgery
Surgeons are rethinking the old notions of "informed consent." With older patients especially, a push is on to talk candidly about what a surgery will do, its risks and how it will affect their quality of life.
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Genetic-Testing Scam Targets Seniors And Rips Off Medicare
Capitalizing on the growing popularity of genetic testing — and fears of terminal illness — scammers are persuading seniors to hand over cheek swabs with their DNA, not knowing it may lead to identity theft and Medicare fraud.
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Creator Of Brain Exam That Trump Aced Demands New Training For Testers
Geriatricians are outraged over a new requirement to pay for training in order to administer the MoCA test, a widely used tool to screen for cognitive problems. The test’s creator said he was worried about accuracy and liability.
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Federal Suit Alleges ‘Staggering’ Urine Drug Testing Fraud At Tennessee Pain Clinics
Tennessee company’s Medicare billings for urine tests were examined by Kaiser Health News in 2017.
By Fred Schulte -
Common Medications Can Masquerade As Dementia In Seniors
A wide variety of medications used to treat allergies, insomnia, leaky bladders, diarrhea, dizziness, motion sickness, asthma, Parkinson’s disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and psychiatric disorders can interfere with cognition in older patients.
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More Seniors Are Dying In Falls. Doctors Could Do More To Reduce The Risk.
Doctors should assess older adults for the risk of falling, come up with individualized plans and refer seniors to physical therapists, occupational therapists and evidence-based programs.
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In Secret, Seniors Discuss ‘Rational Suicide’
Running counter to the efforts of suicide prevention experts and many religious and social norms, some seniors are quietly exploring the option of turning to suicide when they feel they've lived long enough.
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Stem Cell Company Persuades Employers To Steer Workers Toward Controversial Therapy
Regenexx, which runs a string of clinics, says stem cell injections can save employers a lot of money, but critics say there’s no proof.
By Liz Szabo -
Why So Many Older Americans Rate Their Health As Good Or Even Excellent
As people advance in age, the expectations for what constitutes good health change. People focus on positive emotions and satisfaction with life, while physical ailments play a less important role.
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Never Say ‘Die’: Why So Many Doctors Won’t Break Bad News
It’s never easy to tell a patient about a terminal illness, but a longtime doctor whose own diagnosis was botched says physicians must do better.
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Why Your Perception Of ‘Old’ Changes As You Age
Boomers are aging reluctantly but, for the most part, gracefully. Many even have found the secret to shaving a decade or more off their physical age.