Latest California Healthline Stories
‘America’s Other Drug Problem’: Copious Prescriptions For Hospitalized Elderly
Older people are often given a huge number of medications, and many of them are unnecessary or even harmful.
Protecting California’s Seniors From Surprise Hospital, Nursing Home Bills
Lawmakers approve a bill to help Medicare patients with “observation care” costs.
Doctors Raise Concerns For Small Practices In Medicare’s New Payment System
The government is laying out plans to use payment incentives to promote higher quality care, but physicians say the new system may be hard on solo practices and small groups.
FAQ: Hospital Observation Care Can Be Costly For Medicare Patients
A guide to help Medicare patients receiving observation care.
As The For-Profit World Moves Into An Elder Care Program, Some Worry
PACE, a little-known Medicare program that helps keep older people in their own homes, is allowing for-profit companies in. Tech and venture capital have expressed interest.
Geriatric ERs Reduce Stress, Medical Risks For Elderly Patients
Overcrowding and chaos in traditional emergency rooms can harm seniors’ health. That’s prompting some hospitals to open ERs designed specifically for the elderly.
Elderly Patients In The Hospital Need To Keep Moving
Spending too much time in their hospital beds can leave older patients sicker than when they were first admitted.
Elderly Hospital Patients Arrive Sick, Often Leave Disabled
Some hospitals try to avoid sharp declines in the health of elderly patients by treating them in special units geared to their specific needs.
In Later Years, Disabilities End Blacks’ Active Lives Sooner Than Whites’
Elderly black women suffer most from shorter active life expectancy free of disabilities, showing no improvement since the early 1980s, Health Affairs study finds.
Teaching In-Home Caregivers Seems To Pay Off
Intensive training for such aides helps reduce repeated ER visits and hospitalizations of elderly disabled people, a pilot project suggests.