Maine Center for Elder Law Blog

This link to the Medicare website offers lots of useful information, http://www.medicare.gov/medicare-and-you/whats-new/whats-new.html.

In most cases, this open enrollment period may be the one chance you have to make a change to your health and prescription drug coverage for 2014.

Staffing is a key factor in determining a nursing home's quality of care, according to new state-by-state analysis from advocacy group Families for Better Care.

The organization graded each state's overall quality of nursing home care based on eight metrics, from the Kaiser Health Foundation, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and state long-term care ombudsman programs. Families for Better Care touts this as the first report of its kind.

“States whose nursing homes staffed at higher levels ranked far better than those with fewer staffing hours,” said Brian Lee, executive director of FBC and former Florida long-term care ombudsman. This finding supports what many stakeholders have been saying for years, Lee noted.

Alaska, Hawaii and Maine scored among the nation's best for nursing homes, and all earned “A” grades in all staffing categories, such as direct care staffing hours and registered nurse hours. Alaska was ranked No. 1 in the nation overall. Rhode Island came in at No. 2, followed by New Hampshire.

Full article: http://www.mcknights.com/better-staffing-means-better-care-new-nursing-home-state-rankings-suggest/article/307083/

From the andalusia star news

Local man accused of stealing from VA

Published August 3, 2013

See http://www.andalusiastarnews.com/2013/08/03/local-man-accused-of-stealing-from-va/

Governmental benefit programs based on an applicant's income and/or assets depend on honest disclosure by applicants in order to determine eligibility and benefit levels.  Whether or not the defendant in this story is guilty, the story is a reminder of what not to do.

 The Maine Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program is a non-profit agency whose mission is to advocate for quality of life and care for long term care consumers. Federal and Maine laws authorize the staff to investigate complaints made by or on behalf of long-term care consumers and to assist consumers in exercising their rights that are guaranteed by law.

The program serves residents of nursing facilities and assisted housing programs including: residential care facilities and assisted living facilities. In addition, we serve recipients of home care services, adult day services and homemaker services.

 http://www.maineombudsman.org/

The House passes a bill to deter assets exploitation as Maine prepares for a surge in its population of seniors.

L.D. 527, sponsored by Rep. Mark Dion, D-Portland, a former Cumberland County sheriff, was passed by the House on Tuesday. It now awaits votes in the Senate.

The bill would clarify state law to say that people with dementia and other cognitive impairments cannot consent to financially abusive conduct by caregivers that would be criminal without the consent.

In a state plan released last year, the Department of Health and Human Services said one in five Mainers older than 65 have been exploited financially by family members, caregivers or scammers.

Dion, who is now a lawyer, said that as a police investigator, he often walked away unsatisfied from unprovable cases involving elders. Often, many seniors couldn't "consent the way the general public understands consent," he said.

Full Story

Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging offered testimony in support of LD 527, which would clarify state law to say that people with dementia and other cognitive impairments cannot consent to financially abusive conduct by caregivers that would be criminal without the consent.

http://www.maine4a.org/image_upload/LD527Testimony.pdf

Preferred-pharmacy plans that promise lower prices for people who agree to buy theirprescription drugs from certain stores may be costing the U.S. Medicare program more money to support, pharmacists said.

While Medicare patients get reduced co-payments in the plans, offered by companies including UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH)and Humana Inc. (HUM), the insurers are shifting the burden of those discounts onto the federal government, according to an analysis today by the National Community Pharmacists Association. The agency that runs Medicare told insurers in a Feb. 15 letter that it has begun to scrutinize the costs of preferred pharmacies.

Full story: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-21/discount-drug-plans-for-may-not-be-saving-medicare-money.html

The Baby Boomers who grew up during the hippie counterculture movement are unlikely to follow in their parents' footsteps as they approach retirement.

But Boomers, many of whom are turning 65, have no road maps. They not only have to figure out how to make their money last, but they need to reinvent themselves in the second act of life.

"Before, retirement was a destination," says Dorian Mintzer, a therapist and board-certified retirement transition coach based in Boston."You had your retirement party and bought your condo in Florida. Now it's a process. It's a journey that can be daunting but can be very exciting, too."

Full story, http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/01/15/preparing-for-retirement-baby-boomers/1823723/

Medicare will revise the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual to correct suggestions that Medicare coverage is dependent on a beneficiary "improving." New policy provisions will state that skilled nursing and therapy services necessary to maintain a person's condition can be covered by Medicare.

For decades, Medicare beneficiaries – particularly those with long-term or debilitating conditions and those who need rehabilitation services – have been denied necessary care based on the "Improvement Standard".  

http://www.medicareadvocacy.org/hidden/highlight-improvment-standard/

The result is 10 items that mature drivers can look for when shopping for a new vehicle that will likely make their driving experience safer and less stressful.

"Our primary interest was equipping consumers to have this info so when they go shopping they can bring our list and talk to the salesman and use it in the decision-making process," Olshevski said.

While the list includes some technologies like lane-departure warning or parking assist systems that may only be available on more expensive vehicles, others are more common: electronic stability control is now mandatory for all passenger vehicles made after 2011.

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-mo-autos-hartford-10-technologies-mature-drivers-20121030,0,7744146.story

Use this tool to search more than 25,000 nursing home inspection reports, most completed since January 2011, and encompassing over 130,000 deficiencies.

http://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/