Updated December 2025 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency charged with overseeing the quality of treatment in the nation’s 15,000 long-term care facilities, released a final rule in October 2016 heralding its first major regulatory reform in 25 years. The rule was slated to be phased in over three years, […]
If you or yours are up against a serious illness, you will likely hear the terms “palliative care” and “hospice care” — and may even be asked to choose between them while being confused by the question. There’s good reason for the confusion. Blurred Lines By most lights, “palliative” is just a multi-syllabic word for […]
Updated April 2026 Hospice care, usually elected toward the end of life to alleviate pain and symptoms rather than cure an underlying disease, involves fewer medical interventions and technology than conventional medical care. For this reason, and the fact that the care is often provided in a home, in part by trained volunteers, it is […]
Most myths contain a modicum of truth. What causes misinformation to endure is an unwillingness or inability to look more closely to ferret out the facts. This is especially true in understanding hospice care, which is closely allied with sickness, death, and dying—fraught topics that many avoid rather than confront head-on. It’s estimated that nearly […]
The “aging network” provides many resources for the elderly and their families at little or no cost. The challenge is understanding what those services are, what they are called and how to access them. There are two broad categories of resources available to seniors. One subset of those services is available through agencies and organizations […]
Updated July 2025 About 4.5% of Americans who are 65 or older live in long-term care facilities. About 2.3% of older Americans live in nursing homes. Census data confirms that seniors are more likely to move into nursing homes as they grow older. Only about 1% of Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 […]
Updated July 2025 If your loved one dies as a result of nursing home negligence, can you take the home to court even if someone signed an arbitration clause in admittance paperwork? The answer is “it depends.” Why Arbitration Clauses? An arbitration clause in a nursing home contract means if the person admitted to the […]
With an increasing aging population, being able to evaluate nursing homes on important issues is an essential skill for caregivers and children with aging parents. When one considers that their loved one might need a nursing home for either a short-term rehabilitation or more long term caregiving needs, one must realize that not all nursing […]
As the process of aging presents more and more challenges, many seniors become more resistive to help. Ironically, at the very time when a little more help would be useful, families are often faced with frustration and conflict when their older relatives say no to their suggestions for assistance. There are a variety of factors […]
Updated December 2025 I tend to spend a lot of time in my work as a geropsychologist thinking about technology. Which is an interesting thing, when you think about it – older adults aren’t exactly the first demographic group that people think of when they think of technology consumers (much less older adults living in […]