A paper summarizing the themes of and discussions had in a virtual Town Hall meeting hosted by Provincial Geriatrics Leadership Ontario, in collaboration with interRAI and the International Federation on Aging on September 25, 2020. The purpose of this event was to bring together international perspectives from researchers, clinicians, and policy experts to address disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Long Term Care homes and important themes potentially amenable to timely policy interventions. Read the full article here.
Topics
Plan switching among Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
Plan switching among Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
March 23, 2021
A paper presenting results from a study in which researchers used hospital, outpatient, and post‐acute care data to identify MA beneficiaries with and without ADRD in 2014. Multinomial logit models estimated the percentage of people who disenrolled to traditional Medicare (TM) or switched to a different MA plan in 2015. Read the full article here.
Perspectives on Value Frameworks in Alzheimer’s Disease
Perspectives on Value Frameworks in Alzheimer’s Disease
March 2021
An editorial written to open a special supplement to “Value & Outcomes Spotlight” exploring value assessment of new interventions in Alzheimer’s disease. Read the full article here.
Effectiveness of the Care of Persons With Dementia in Their Environments Intervention When Embedded in a Publicly Funded Home- and Community-Based Service Program
October 26, 2020
A paper presenting results from a study in which an evidence-based, nonpharmacologic intervention for persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) and their informal caregivers, Care of Persons with Dementia in their Environments (COPE), was tested in a Medicaid and state revenue-funded home and community-based service (HCBS) program. Read the full article here.
Supported Decision Making With People at the Margins of Autonomy
Supported Decision Making With People at the Margins of Autonomy
December 29, 2020
A paper that argues supported decision making is ideal for people with dynamic cognitive and functional impairments when compared to guardianship and similar surrogate decision-making frameworks. The authors propose a three-step model that specifies the necessary conditions of supported decision making and identify a series of challenges for this framework, providing preliminary responses, and highlighting avenues for future bioethics research. Read the full article here.
Declining COVID-19 Mortality Rates Among Nursing Home Residents
Declining COVID-19 Mortality Rates Among Nursing Home Residents
March 11, 2021
A paper presenting the results on changes in thirty-day mortality rates between March and November 2020 among 12,271 nursing home residents with COVID-19. Investigators found that adjusted mortality rates significantly declined from a high of 20.9 percent in early April to 11.2 percent in early November. Mortality risk declined for residents with both symptomatic and asymptomatic infections and for residents with both high and low clinical complexity. The mechanisms driving these trends are not entirely understood, but they may include improved clinical management within nursing homes, improved personal protective equipment supply and use, and genetic changes in the virus. Read the full article here.
Association of a Geriatric Emergency Department Innovation Program With Cost Outcomes Among Medicare Beneficiaries
March 1, 2021
A paper reviewing a cross-sectional study of 24 ,839 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries at two geriatric emergency departments. There was a significant association with reduced total costs of care after being seen by either a transitional care nurse and/or social worker trained to deliver geriatric emergency care. Per beneficiary, these savings were as much as $2905 after 30 days and $3202 after 60 days of the index ED visit. Read the full article here.
The HEAR‐VA Pilot Study: Hearing Assistance Provided to Older Adults in the Emergency Department
The HEAR‐VA Pilot Study: Hearing Assistance Provided to Older Adults in the Emergency Department
February 11, 2021
This paper reviews the results of a pilot study which assessed the feasibility and potential benefit of providing a simple hearing assistance device during an emergency department (ED) visit, for people who reported difficulty hearing. Read the full article here.
Recommendations to Improve Payment Policies for Comprehensive Dementia Care
Recommendations to Improve Payment Policies for Comprehensive Dementia Care
September 25, 2020
This special article reviews the recommendations for payment policy reform from the Payment Model for Comprehensive Dementia Care Conference in November 2019. More than 50 national experts from diverse perspectives reviewed promising strategies for payment reform including ways to accelerate their adoption. Recommendations for reform included payments for services to family caregivers; new research to determine success metrics; education for consumers, providers, and policymakers; and advancing a population health model approach to tier coverage based on risk and need within a health system. Read the full article at this link.
The Effects of Dementia Care Co‐Management on Acute Care, Hospice, and Long‐Term Care Utilization
The Effects of Dementia Care Co‐Management on Acute Care, Hospice, and Long‐Term Care Utilization
June 23, 2020
This paper seeks to further explain the impact of nurse practitioner dementia care co-management on cost of care for fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare beneficiaries. The authors examine acute care utilization, long‐term care admissions, and hospice use of program enrollees as compared with persons with dementia not in the program using FFS and managed Medicare claims data. Read the full article at this link.