I think we have done a pretty good job at the John A. Hartford Foundation of letting folks know that we have changed our strategic direction—that we are moving away from our signature, long-term faculty development investments to a more practice-driven focus to improve the health of older adults. And…
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Last month, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a major report on the State of U.S. Health 1990-2010 as part of the Global Burden of Disease project funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the Bill and Melinda Gates…
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Two years ago, I wrote a blog titled Confused About Post-Operative Confusion about my father’s experience with post-op delirium after he had triple bypass surgery. It obviously struck a chord with many. Even now, it consistently remains one of the most-visited pages on our website, and has drawn 26 comments…
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The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is swinging for the fences with the release of a new report, Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis. The report makes recommendations in six areas critical to the delivery of quality cancer care: Engaged patients An adequately staffed…
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As noted in a recent Los Angeles Times article, JAMA Psychiatry recently published a study showing that men are equally likely to be depressed as women. That doesn't sound very revolutionary until you consider the long-held belief that women are 70 percent more likely to have major depression than men…
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Dr. Tracy Lustig testified in August before the Commission on Long-Term Care. One of my biggest surprises in the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was the inclusion of title VIII, the CLASS ACT, which created the possibility of a national, voluntary, premium-financed, and federally…
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Amy Berman, right, with surgeon, author, and "Twitter rock star" Atul Gawande. I tweet therefore I am. That is quite an overstatement. But it’s true that my life has been greatly enriched by Twitter. I continually learn and grow through engagement with an incredibly robust network of people found…
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The trial of Anthony D. Marshall, the 89-year-old son of philanthropist and socialite Brooke Astor who was convicted in June of stealing tens of millions of dollars from his mother as she succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease, shed much-needed light on the issue of elder abuse—specifically financial abuse. And last week’s…
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In recent months, the debate over how best to reduce avoidable hospital readmissions has become a hot topic in the national media. While many are just now joining the fray, the John A. Hartford Foundation has been working on this issue for years. Hartford grantees have developed evidence-based models that…
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Amy Berman's daughter, Stephanie, with her greatgrandparents, Herb and Julia. It tickles me to report that I live with incurable cancer and I am expecting. I am expecting that the cancer will take its toll, that I will need to make choices about my health and care, that I…
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