KFF Health News’ coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported in part by a grant from The SCAN Foundation. Stories related to these topics are featured below. Click here for more on KFF Health News and its funders.

Care Suffers As More Nursing Homes Feed Money Into Corporate Webs

Increasingly, owners of nursing homes outsource services to companies in which they also have financial interest or control. That allows the nursing homes to claim to be in the red while owners reap hidden profits.

Infection Lapses Rampant In Nursing Homes But Punishment Is Rare

A Kaiser Health News analysis of federal inspection records shows that nursing home inspectors labeled mistakes in infection control as serious for only 161 of the 12,056 homes they have cited since 2014.

These Annual Checkups Help Seniors Not Only Survive But Thrive

Seniors are living longer and defying predictions of cognitive and functional decline. Wellness coaches guide them in setting goals for the year — whether physical, social, in­tellectual or spiritual.

An Overlooked Epidemic: Older Americans Taking Too Many Unneeded Drugs

Researchers estimate that 25 percent of people ages 65 to 69 take at least five prescription drugs to treat chronic conditions. But some doctors are trying to teach others about “deprescribing” or systematically discontinuing medicines that are inappropriate, duplicative or unnecessary.

Health Risks To Farmworkers Increase As Workforce Ages

Harvesting U.S. crops has been left to an aging population of farmworkers whose health has suffered from decades of hard labor. Older workers have a greater chance of getting injured and of developing chronic illnesses.