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Hundreds of thousands of people will be able to appeal hospitals’ decisions to classify them as “observation care” patients instead of inpatients, under a ruling last week in a class action suit.
As President Donald Trump called the nation “in good shape” to handle COVID-19, a cache of emails released by officials in Washington state show that top public health authorities feared gear shortages and doctor safety in the early epicenter of sickness and deaths.
Families worry that overwhelmed hospitals won’t be able to provide palliative care for loved ones stricken with COVID-19.
Just how careful should older people be? Here’s what geriatricians think is reasonable.
A Kaiser Health News analysis shows that counties with ICUs average one ICU bed for every 1,300 older residents, those most at risk for needing hospitalization.
Older adults are at serious risk during this pandemic and have been advised to avoid contact with others. Yet many still need essential services, and programs are scrambling to adapt.
This online map shows which of the 15,000 nursing homes in the U.S. have been cited for infection-control violations and how serious those infractions are.
More nursing homes have been faulted for failing to follow practices designed to prevent and control infections than for any other type of error. Such lapses have become matters of heightened concern with the spread of the coronavirus this spring, especially as the virus is a bigger threat to the elderly.
Congress passed legislation Wednesday reauthorizing the Older Americans Act, which provides for home-delivered and group meals. Although proposed funding increases are substantial, they still don’t keep up with the nation’s growing senior population.
The good news: Life expectancy for people who make it to 65 has increased. Yet, coastal and urban people fare better than those in rural and middle America.
One woman's experience with the high cost of dental care and confusing Medicare coverage offers a teachable moment for other consumers. Her small church took up a collection, but the surprise bill — four times what she expected to pay — was sent to collections.
As homelessness among older adults increases, a movement is afoot to use a powerful 3D printer to construct affordable and durable housing.
Seema Verma, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, calls on state and federal health inspectors to focus on how facilities keep infections from spreading, especially in areas that have reported coronavirus cases.
Since the beginning of 2017, inspectors have cited more nursing homes for failing to ensure that all workers follow federal prevention and control protocols than for any other type of violation, according to federal records.
In advance of the Super Tuesday primary, California's Los Angeles County is rotating new touch-screen voting machines among 41 locations, including adult day care centers and jails, to increase voting among populations with historically low turnout.
The spread of coronavirus disease to a skilled nursing facility in Washington state underscores the risk the deadly new virus poses in elder care facilities, where illnesses caused by more common pathogens, like seasonal influenza, often spread rapidly.
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Health care experts thought the battle was won against heart disease, measles, smoking, STDs and other life-threatening conditions and behaviors. Better think again.
Because seniors are at higher risk of cognitive impairment, proponents say screening asymptomatic older adults is an important strategy to identify people who may be developing dementia and to improve their care. But the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force cited insufficient evidence the tests are helpful.
A recent cardiac health dust-up between former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Sen. Bernie Sanders, both vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, focuses attention on this question.
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