Tag: State Medicaid programs

Assisted Living Centers and Families

Many families do not learn about the costs of long-term care until the crisis hits and many get the sort of rude awakening that people who underwent this experience felt, said Jon Howell, president and CEO of the Georgia Health Care Association, an industry group that represents assisted living centers, nursing homes and companies that coordinate home care across the state. Seventy percent of individuals now turning 65 will need long-term care at some point during their lives. Only a fraction of those who will need proper care have long-term care insurance, which can pay for services at home or in an elderly care facility or assisted living centers.

Such plans grew in popularity during the 90’s, but sales have dropped recently as some insurance providers exited the market and many of the remaining insurance providers have hit policyholders with steep premium increases. When speaking to civic groups, Howell said, he shares lots of key facts that catch individuals off guard, including: Medicare covers elderly care facility care after a hospitalization, but at day 21, a co-pay requirement kicks in that could cost up to $12,000 over the next 80 days of care. To qualify for State Medicaid programs, residents must effectively impoverish themselves, spending all but $2,000 of their non-exempt resources and also using all but $50 of their monthly Social Security checks to pay for their care.

Medicaid pays an average of $158 a day in Georgia for elderly care facility care; private pay prices are higher. Medicaid doesn’t cover assisted living, only nursing home care. After a resident’s death, State Medicaid programs can take the resident’s house equity and other resources in an estate to cover the price of care paid by the government, although there are protections for surviving spouses. The requirements represent a harsh reality for many once solidly middle-class individuals, individuals who have spent a lifetime working toward financial security, who find they have no option other than switching to State Medicaid programs to cover nursing home bills.

Senior Care Hybrid Model

The variety of elderly living options are growing as the years go by, reviews the New York Times, as new models of senior care are designed in reaction to demand for solutions to conventional ones. “As millions of middle-agers reach retirement age (and in many cases care for seniors parents), families and the pension industry have modified old lifestyle types and designed hybrids,” says the content. In addition to conventional pension areas, the aging population can also choose from family-style group homes, “villages” that connect individual houses with neighborly assistance, or aging in place-specific house renovating.

“We used to think that a person lived in their own house, and if they got weak, they moved in with a relative or to a seniors care facility,” Jon Pynoos, a lecturer of gerontology, policy and planning at the University of Southern California, told the New York Times. “People need more choices.” Most individuals prefer to age in place, according to an AARP study where almost 90% of individuals said they recommended staying in their current residence as they got older.

While house renovating is not always genuine and can be costly, the content points out, there are a lot more ways seniors people can live at home, whether it’s with the help of a home health aide, through the use of programs such as Meals on Wheels, or with remote tracking devices. Long-term care insurance, Medical health insurance, State Medicaid programs and Veterans Affairs benefits cover only some of these charges. Beyond price and their wellness needs, individuals should consider the weather, the location, how much socializing they want, the accessibility to close relatives and transport, experts say.

Owning Nursing Homes

92% of county-owned nursing homes outside New York City lost money in 2010 and are struggling to survive, a report uncovered. Counties have been looking to leave the nursing-home business as expenses rise and as they face fiscal demands from flat tax earnings to pay for government operations. The report from the Rochester-based Center for Governmental Research said 33 areas own nursing homes, down from 40 in 1997. Eight, including Rockland County, are in the process of selling their features and five plan to put them on the block.

The New York State Health Foundation, a private Albany-based group, requested the research. “In the past few years, six areas have marketed or closed their houses, with mixed results ranging from improvements in proper care expressing closing of one poorly performing house,” said Donald Pryor, the study’s author, said in a statement. “Other areas have kept their houses but are dealing with an increasingly rugged landscape.” Counties traditionally considered running an elderly care service as a way to take care of its elderly, particularly those who are poor. Yet at a time of cost constraints, counties are finding the mission affected as more private houses are built.

Nursing-HomesWestchester County marketed its elderly care service to the Westchester County Nursing Center and the service was closed in 2009. Dutchess County sold its elderly care service in 1998. Monroe County has struggled with growing expenses of its nursing home and in Albany County; there has been a delivered debate about whether to sell its service. Broome and Chemung counties also own nursing homes. The troubles are expected to grow as the population ages, the research discovered. In the upstate areas with assisted living features, there will be 180,000 more residents older than 75 by 2030. The research said wages grew at all assisted living features 37 % since 2001 and were up 45 % at county houses.

While county houses are about 8 % of all assisted living features in the state, they represent about 11 % of all the beds in the state because they are among the state’s largest facilities. Many of the patients rely on State Medicaid programs, yet the payments haven’t kept up with the expenses by as much as $100 a day, the review said. State Medicaid programs represented 71 % of county-owned homes’ revenue in 20130, in comparison to 55 % for other houses. County assisted living features reported a lack of $201 million in 2010, double the decrease in comparison to 2005, the review said.

Obamacare and Nursing Homes

Since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act were approved this summer, states and many rights groups have been disagreeing about the benefits and drawbacks. The impact the act has on elderly people due to Medicaid/Medicare reduces, as well as its impact on nursing homes, are both popular issues. Many senior rights groups were passionate about the latest regulation, declaring it permitted them to acquire more advantages from State health programs and Medical health insurance. Max Richtman, head of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, assured people they would “get more and pay less for it.”

The decreasing of medicine prices for those with Medical health insurance is a plus, but where are the other benefits? With a loss of $716 billion dollars for Medical health insurance, President Barack Obama’s using a double-edged blade on elderly people, as medical centers have to downsize employees to afford budget and wage reduces. This does allow elderly people in medical centers and nursing homes to have the same advantages with lower costs and insurance deductibles. However, there will not be enough staff to care for the sick and injured, which in the end will fuel the two main causes of occurrences in nursing homes right now, the shifting of sufferers to different facilitations, as well as abuse and disregard.

One of the latest problems for sick and injured elderly people is their treatment in nursing homes. California has come under fire during modern times due to many undercover reviews exposing the true characteristics of these features and lack of care being provided. Will the new reduces to State Medicaid programs and Medical health insurance under Obamacare aid our elderly people, especially those in nursing homes? With needing health insurance coverage, yet less financing to offer the advantages and financing to the programs, there is a connection between the ongoing inadequate care of these sufferers, especially in the conglomerate unfortunately that the nursing facilitation market has turned into.

Trends in Hospitals for 2013

Hospitals & Health Networks together with the American Hospital Association released a 2013 environmental check, a comprehensive review of the health care field that recognizes market forces likely to impact the field. The report identified 10 key themes which are generally not new to health care, but jointly indicate the industry’s sweeping changes. They are:

Information technology and e-health, such as ICD-10 execution, mobile health, big data, details exchange, and EHRs

  • Insurance and coverage, such as State Medicaid programs spending and registration growth, consumer-driven health plans, and Medical health insurance costsPolitical issues, such as the decrease of Medical health insurance company rates, the Supreme Court ruling State Medicaid programs expansion unconstitutional, and the decrease of federal support for hospital State Medicaid programs and Medical health insurance programsProvider organizations and doctors, such as the increase of retail treatment centers, the creation of a culture of performance quality and responsibility, and the need for hospitals to operate more leanly
  • Quality and individual safety, such as penalizations for low quality analytics, cost benefits opportunities in supply-sensitive care, care synchronization during hospital-to-home changes, and concern that public reports fairly and perfectly reflect hospital performance
  • Science and technological innovation, such as the capability to build and enhance virtual company networks, the use of mobile phones and tablets, the growth of e-visits, and the facilitation of hospital care through wireless technology
  • Human resources, such as trust between doctors and hospitals, demand for highly trained individual capital, and shortages of primary care physician
  • Consumers and census, along with a development of adult and weight problems in children, an increase in serious conditions, middle-agers working past the age of 65, and families providing the majority of proper care to the elderly
  • Economy and finance, along with a negative outlook for the charitable health care sector, a growth of hospital mergers and products, and $200 billion dollars of annual waste in health care