Record numbers of people are crossing the threshold into old age, and many are living well into their 80s and 90s. New medical procedures and drugs become available every day, and quality of care and of life in the weeks and months before death is becoming a more common topic…
Read full post
The passage of health reform legislation in 2010 led to mixed emotions by health professionals and consumers. Many individuals are concerned that the health care system, as it exists today, is ill prepared to care for an additional 32 million residents of the United States. The oldest members of our…
Read full post
Rationality and evidence alone don't win major societal arguments, like the need for health care workers to be competent in geriatric care. But they are the tools we need to build a foundation for change. Add an emotionally powerful story, and you have an opportunity. IHI's campaign for 100,00…
Read full post
In 2001, older adults and disabled residents were left behind for days near Ground Zero after the September 11 attacks. In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma struck the southern United States, with a particularly devastating effect on older adults in long-term care facilities. Katrina took the lives of at…
Read full post
In 2008 the newly endorsed national Consensus Model for APRN Regulation: Licensure, Accreditation, Certification, and Education (LACE) specified that the certified nurse practitioner (CNP) must be educated and practice in at least one of six population foci: family/individual across the lifespan, adult-gerontology, pediatrics, neonatal, women’s health/gender-related, or psych/mental health. Prior…
Read full post
In what ages of life does one most need the advice of a doctor who understands rapid changes in the body and mind and can help keep you on a healthy course for the future? Most people know that this is one of the key functions of a pediatrician. Indeed…
Read full post
“Once a Beeson,” said the speaker, and more than 100 voices in the audience completed the refrain, “always a Beeson!” And thank goodness. The cheer was led by Dr. Bill Hazzard, a pioneer in geriatric medicine, and the event was the 2010 annual meeting of the Beeson Scholars—a group of…
Read full post
The hope of health reform is to increase access to care, while simultaneously paying for those newly covered people by squeezing waste and inefficiency out of the system. This is easy to say but hard to do, particularly without raising fears of further reducing the rather mediocre quality of care…
Read full post
Recently I was introducing myself and the Foundation to some prominent leaders in health care and had the up-and-down, roller-coaster experience of the Foundation being "recognized" by these eminences only to realize a bit further into the conversation that they had the wrong Hartford in mind. One famous health care…
Read full post
Ten weeks ago I honestly could not even define the word “geriatric.” I knew I was coming to New York City to intern at a nonprofit organization, and I knew that I would happily do whatever was asked of me, get paid, and head back to school for another year…
Read full post