Medicare/Medicaid

Judge Halts Change to Medicaid

Good news for disabled and elderly people who require personal care services:  A federal judge has stopped North Carolina from ending services for some Medicaid recipients who receive in-home care. According to an article in the News & Observer, the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) had recently increased eligibility requirement for personal

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Hazardous Antipsychotic Drugs

The New York Times published an eye-opening article about how some antipsychotic drugs given to the elderly are dangerous, and even potentially lethal. Nearly one in seven elderly nursing home residents, nearly all of them with dementia, are given powerful atypical antipsychotic drugs even though the medicines increase the risks of death and are not approved

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Exciting Changes to Nursing Homes Compare Website

For years we’ve been telling you about the Nursing Home Compare 5-star ratings posted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The ratings help consumers evaluate the quality and safety of nursing homes across the country. Today, CMS has made three changes to Nursing Home Compare: Information about how consumers can file complaints

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Report Questions Nursing Home Charges

The Department of Health and Human Services released a report titled “Questionable Billing by Skilled Nursing Facilities.” The title says it all… but we’re still going to comment. In recent years, government analyses have discovered improprieties in the amount of Medicare dollars billed by–and paid to–to skilled nursing facilities (a general term that includes nursing

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Role for Palliative Care in Dementia

Palliative care is treatment intended not to heal, but to relieve symptoms so that the patient feels better. Despite the fact that it is an important part of treatment, especially for people with incurable disorders, palliative care is not well understood by most people, including those who need it. For people with a terminal illness,

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