elderly patients

A new study has concluded that patients who wait longer than a month to get treatment are more likely to die within six months of their medical visit. Researchers found that patients who waited 31 days or more to visit medical facilities were 20 percent more likely to die during a six-month follow-up period. The study, which appeared in the journal Health Services Research, found that the effect was particularly noticeable for elderly patients. On the positive side, the study …

With elderly patients increasingly dealing with major health issues at home, getting skilled home care in place has never been more important. Such care might cost $150,000 a year when provided by an agency offering bonded, insured and certified home health aides. But with Medicare limiting how much of such care it will pay for, few can afford these more-qualified helpers. Instead, middle-class families are turning to informal networks of unlicensed, untrained and unsupervised home care …

The distribution of healthcare workers continues to be quite uneven across the U.S., according to a new report from The Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) at the University at Albany's School of Public Health. The report, which used data from 2004, found that New Hampshire had the highest number of nurses per capita in the U.S., at 1,283 per 100,000 residents, while California, in contrast, has only 588 nurses per 100,000. Researchers also noted that only 5 percent of the nation's …

When chronically ill patients are discharged from the emergency department, chances are they'll be back soon without further help. In response, health plans have increasingly been assigning "health coaches" to such patients, tasked with making sure patients are doing what they can to stay well. The health coaches, typically registered nurses, stay in regular touch with the patients, sometimes with home visits and sometimes over the phone, helping them schedule appointments, decipher …

According to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 700,000 Americans go to the ER each year as a result of adverse drug reactions or interactions. Patients over 65 were much more likely to experience these problems because of the greater number of prescription drugs they take. Certain types of drugs are also much more likely to send people to the ER: “three medications--the blood thinner warfarin, the diabetes drug insulin and the heart medicine digoxin--accounted for one-third of drug-related emergency room visits among people over 65,” reports the Los Angeles Times. Experts say the study illuminates the need for the medical community to better monitor which drugs patients are taking and how they might interact. In addition, Dr. David Bates of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston says prescribing slightly lower levels of drugs to the elderly could cut down on hospital visits since many elderly patients’ bodies can’t handle high drug doses.

While risk-adjusted mortality rates for elderly patients improved, the mortality rate gap between high-performing and poorly-performing hospitals has grown in recent years, according to research by healthcare rating firm HealthGrades. For its ninth annual study, HealthGrades analyzed 40.6 million Medicare records taken from 2003 through 2005, examining care at the nation's 5000 non-federal hospitals. The firm then gave hospitals a one, three or five-star rating based on outcomes in each …

While the idea of providing hospital care at home dates back to the 1960s, it hasn't been widely implemented yet, particularly in the United States. But it's high time that U.S. healthcare providers take a closer look at this approach, particularly given the technology we have available to support remote patients, argues Vince Kuraitis of Better Health Technologies. Not only does home-based hospital care save money, it sidesteps the risk of hospital-acquired infections and keeps the …

In New Orleans, the two owners of St. Bernard Parish nursing home have been indicted for the drowning deaths of 35 nursing home residents. The owners are accused of ignoring an evacuation order that could have saved residents' lives. "Katrina's massive storm surge flooded the one-story nursing home to the ceiling within 20 minutes, overwhelming the elderly residents, many of whom were confined to beds or wheelchairs."  Rescue workers saved 29 elderly patients but could not reach all …

In a Q&A with UPI, William Plested III, president of the AMA, discusses the impact of Medicare reimbursement rate cuts on physicians. He says that their primary concern is that physicians--particularly geriatricians--won't be able to afford taking on more elderly patients if Medicare doesn't reimburse them properly. According to an AMA study, 45 percent of physicians say the cuts will …

The AMA's National House Call campaign made a stop in Philadelphia yesterday, bringing attention to how the proposed Medicare cut will impact doctors serving poor and elderly patients. According to an AMA survey, 45 percent of the association's members said the cuts will force them to limit the number of Medicare patients they treat. "Physicians want to serve America's seniors. Unfortunately, drastic Medicare cuts will force physicians to make difficult practice changes," the AMA said in …