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NAIPC News February 27, 2017
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Using Telehealth: The costs of care at a distance |
By Mark Olshaker
Telehealth has become a widely accepted and important component of the overall healthcare structure in the United States.
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation of Owings Mills, MD, made a grant of more than $1.3 million to the Westchester Public-Private Partnership for Aging Services to support the Telehealth Intervention Program for Seniors (TIPS) that provides health-monitoring services at 15 community sites in Westchester County, NY (ten locations), and Lackawanna and Wayne Counties, PA (five locations). The foundation is dedicated to aiding the larger field of aging through investment in technology by connecting older adults with supports and services, monitoring health and maintaining independence. Other philanthropic organizations are coming on board to see how Telehealth can enhance affordable and senior residential living and aging in place.
It also has become big business. Cisco, through its Healthcare Business Transformation Team, is investing heavily in what it terms “care at a distance,” with the aim of: reducing costs, improving patient services, avoiding hospital readmissions and associated Medicare reimbursement penalties, providing improved access to specialists, educating patients and expanding the geographic footprint of client hospitals, other healthcare organizations and residential properties.
Telehealth has come a long way, but it is still very much a work in progress. In senior care and other aspects of affordable housing, it is becoming a major initiative in keeping people healthier and maintaining them in independent living longer.
Read full article |
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Stopping Senior Scams |
The Senate Special Committee on Aging invited representatives from the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Trade Commission and a Pennsylvania-based community organization to a public hearing this week to discuss efforts by law enforcement agencies to combat financial fraud and protect older Americans from being scammed.
In videotaped testimony before the committee, an 81-year-old man from Portland, Maine, described how he became the victim of an IRS impersonation scam. Philip Hatch described how he received a call from a fraudster posing as an agent of the Internal Revenue Service who told him he owed back taxes and needed to pay immediately, using iTunes gift cards, or he would be arrested. Believing that the caller was an official government employee, Mr. Hatch, a 23-year Navy veteran, complied and ultimately lost $8,000 to this scam artist.
The Senate Special Committee on Aging does not write legislation, but it can offer policy recommendations. The hearing coincided with the release of the committee’s comprehensive anti-fraud resource for seniors, Fighting Fraud: U.S. Senate Aging Committee Identifies Top 10 Scams Targeting Our Nation’s Seniors. You can also watch the hearing from the committee’s website. |
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Adapting Housing Needs for an Aging America |
Innovative, affordable senior living options are growing—but not as quickly as the senior population is, according to a recent blog post published by Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University. Through modifications to the existing housing stock and the creation of new communal models, communities everywhere will have to adjust to the changing demographics—and soon.
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The Senior Citizens League |
Under any new administration, it is important to let your local legislatures know your wants and needs. With The Senior Citizens League’s grassroots lobbying, perhaps the most effective way to let your representatives and senators know what you’re thinking, can be accomplished with the click of the mouse. And what better time than while all of the representatives and senators are home on recess?
TSCL challenges its visitors to Take Action by telling your leadership what is important to you, whether that be through sending a letter, emailing, signing a petition or making a personal visit. TSCL’s site provides links to relevant petitions, phone numbers for contacting Congress, surveys and a Retirement Resource Center. With over a million supporters TSCL is one of the nation’s largest nonpartisan senior groups. |
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