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If youāre told Medicareās home health benefits have changed, donāt believe it: Coverage rules havenāt been altered and people are still entitled to the same types of services. All that has changed is how Medicare pays agencies.
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.
Neil Mahoney had terminal cancer. He also had a legal right to aid-in-dying. But his faith-based hospital called it āmorally unacceptable.ā So he turned to a network of Colorado doctors to fulfill his last wish.
Fewer Americans are dying in a hospital, under the close supervision of doctors and nurses. That trend has been boosted by an expanded Medicare benefit that helps people live out their final days at home in hospice care. But as home hospice grows, so has the burden on families left to provide much of the care.
Across the U.S., people with early dementia are signing new advance directives to confirm their end-of-life wishes while they still have the ability to do so. But doctors say the documents may offer a false sense of security.
On the bright side, advances in medical science and a push for healthier lifestyles might extend the quality of life for aging boomers. Among clouds on the horizon: ageism, strained long-term care services and the need to work well past retirement age.
Seema Verma, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, sat down for a rare interview with KHN senior correspondent Sarah Varney. They discuss her views on President Donald Trumpās plan for sustaining public health insurance programs, how the administration would respond if Obamacare is struck down by the courts in the future and her thoughts on how the latest "Medicare for All" proposals would affect innovation and access to care.
Because of a little-known federal exemption program, death data about heart devices sits in inaccessible FDA files that can take up to two years for the public to see under open-records laws.
The federal government funneled billions in subsidies to software vendors and some overstated or deceived the government about what their products could do, according to whistleblowers.
The Texas Advance Directives Act gives hospitals the authority to stop life-sustaining support if another hospital wonāt accept the patient. The family of Tinslee Lewis, a 10-month-old with serious medical problems, is fighting to keep her in hospital care.
The aptly named Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly provides services funded by Medicaid and Medicare that range from medical and mental health care to hot lunches, recreation, transportation and haircuts. Californiaās newest PACE center opened recently in San Diego County.
Relationships between adult children and their parents can fray with age. Experts offer help on how loved ones can preserve the love and negotiate those tension-filled final years.
Family caregivers pledge to fulfill their loved onesā end-of-life wishes. But too often circumstances change, and they must break their word and guard against breaking hearts ā including their own.
Members of Congress and others complain Medicareās revamped Plan Finder had problems. Federal officials say they can help consumers who got bad information change their plans next year. But details about how switching will work are yet to come.
Harvard psychiatrist Arthur Kleinman shed his āveil of ignoranceā during 11 years serving as the primary family caregiver for his wife, who had a rare form of early Alzheimerās disease. In a new book, āThe Soul of Care,ā he offers suggestions for transforming health care ā just as caregiving transformed him.
Millions of injuries and malfunctions once funneled into a hidden Food and Drug Administration database are now available.
As alarms proliferate, hospitals are working to sort through the cacophony that can overwhelm staff and cause them to overlook real signs of harm.
Family caregivers are the backbone of our nationās system of long-term care for older adults. Every year, more than 34 million unpaid caregivers ā mostly family members ā 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.
A federal audit of 19 California nursing homes released today found hundreds of violations of safety and emergency standards, putting vulnerable nursing home residents at increased risk of injury or death during a wildfire or other disaster.
A long illness creates a real risk: that the relationship will be undermined and essential emotional connections lost.
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