One of my favorite papers is a Health Affairs piece by Bruce Vladeck, the former administrator of what was then HCFA, (the Health Care Financing Administration, now CMS - the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) entitled, The Political Economy of Medicare: Medicare Reform Requires Political Reform. In it he…
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© iStockphoto.com/Feverpitched Many of you know that eight months ago I was diagnosed with Stage IV inflammatory breast cancer, which has spread to my spine. My incurable diagnosis means that I live with a chronic disease, just like millions of older adults. Life continues to be fairly routine with…
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For the past few months, we have been blogging on the pioneering nurse leaders featured in our photo-driven “Day in the Life of an Academic Geriatric Nurse” annual report honoring the 10th anniversary of our Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity (BAGNC) Initiative. We have done so for a few reasons…
Read full postEach quarterly meeting of the Foundation’s trustees features a prominent speaker in the field of aging and/or health care, giving us an opportunity to increase our collective knowledge. Rather than reserve that knowledge entirely for ourselves, we decided to make it available to everyone through our “Beyond the Boardroom” series…
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Last Tuesday, I offered some basics on hospice care in America—mostly for older people, mostly at home, and becoming standard care with 40% of Medicare beneficiaries now in hospice when they die. I warned that the attention on supposed “overuse” and increased costs from long-stay cases may lead to…
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Janice Lynch Schuster works with Joanne Lynn, a geriatrician and friend of the Hartford Foundation, at the Center for Eldercare and Advanced Illness at the Altarum Institute, a new voice in the field of aging and end of life issues. Learn more about the Center's work at www.medicaring.org, or follow…
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In the last few weeks, there has been an uptick in the discussion of rising Medicare hospice costs and the role of fraud in the phenomena. The headlines feel like a rush to judgment and it worries me. I don't think that most people understand the first thing about…
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Our 2010 Annual Report, “A Day in the Life of an Academic Geriatric Nurse,” includes photographic profiles of 18 nurses who have received BAGNC awards or who play key roles in the program. Today we feature Sarah Szanton, PhD, CRNP, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, who received…
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Our 2010 Annual Report, “A Day in the Life of an Academic Geriatric Nurse,” includes photographic profiles of 18 nurses who have received BAGNC awards or who play key roles in the program. Today we feature Jimmy Reyes, DNP, MSN, RN, who received a 2008-2010 BAGNC predoctoral scholarship award to…
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Not too long ago I had the unique experience of needing the services of the emergency room of a major teaching hospital in New York City. (Don’t worry, I’m fine now.) During my thirty-four hours in the ER, I had the opportunity to observe the other patients crowded around…
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