How Do We Make Comprehensive Dementia Care a Benefit? |
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"Given the evidence that comprehensive dementia care improves outcomes for persons living with dementia and their caregivers at a cost savings to Medicare, why isn't this care as widely available as magnetic resonance imaging or total knee arthroplasty or hemodialysis? Do we need more evidence, and if so, what kind of evidence would tip the balance? If clinical trial evidence is not sufficient, what other information do payers require to affirm the readiness of comprehensive dementia care as a healthcare benefit? What other information is necessary to facilitate widespread dissemination of this beneficial care model?
In this issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Jennings et al. report additional evidence supporting the cost effectiveness of comprehensive dementia care. The research team places their findings in the context of a literature that is now 30 years in development. Beginning with studies of caregiver interventions and eventually maturing toward integrated medical and social care models, these many studies report a wide range of positive outcomes. In this literature, we find evidence of improved caregiver and patient outcomes as well as reduced healthcare utilization and costs."
From: Journal of American Geriatrics Society | September 25, 2020
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Ways for Dementia Caregivers to Handle Memory Loss
"Family caregivers need to be vigilant about their loved ones’ short-term memory deficits that pose safety issues — for example, taking medications incorrectly. But they also must manage their own emotional reactions to a care recipient's forgetfulness in order to cease making critical comments. How can we roll with a loved one's memory loss? Here are some ideas."
From: AARP | October 6, 2020
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'When I'm 64', Stanford Center on Longevity Podcast
"The Stanford Center on Longevity launched its first podcast called 'When I’m 64,' which navigates who and what caregivers are and the resources that could benefit them... Ken Stern, the host of 'When I’m 64,' spoke with MarketWatch about the misconceptions around caregiving, what these family members need and how they could be helped in the future."
From: MarketWatch | October 13, 2020
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Rural and Indigenous Caregivers |
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NAC is adding a new section to This Week in Caregiving. The "Caregiving Fact of the Week" section will feature a significant fact about caregivers or caregiving found in our own research, as well as research from other organizations. This week, in honor of Indigenous People's Day on October 12th, our caregiving fact of the week is about Indigenous caregivers. A 2017 infographic from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 1 in 4 American Indian/Alaska Native adults are caregivers. See more about this statistic HERE.
If you'd like to learn more about the experiences of Indigenous caregivers in the U.S., you can check out NAC's 2006 report on rural caregivers with Easter Seals that features a profile on a Native American caregiver on a reservation, Loretta, who participated in the Rosebud Reservation Native American Caregiver Support Program in South Dakota. This report also identified several themes from a 2004 national survey on rural caregivers conducted by NAC and AARP, including:
- The limited use and availability of services in rural areas,
- The financial hardships rural caregivers with low incomes face,
- The level of availability and concerns regarding use of the Internet,
- The prevalence of disability related to incidents in farming and ranching operations, and
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the current and increasing number of veterans in need of care in rural areas.
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Dementia Care in an Era of COVID19: Care Strategies for Caregivers, the Community and Providers
October 16, 2020 | 12:00-1:30 PM EST | Online
Hampton University is hosting a series of webinars on dementia care during COVID-19. The next webinars will take place on October 16th and 23rd from 12-1:30 PM EST. The conference is intended to provide caregivers, healthcare administrators, clinicians, and professional students with a more comprehensive understanding of how to overcome barriers to receiving a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, the benefits of dementia friendly communities, and the latest updates on advances made in Alzheimer's Disease research. Learn more HERE.
Speakers include:
- Fayron Epps, PhD, RN Gerontologist & Nurse, Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University
- Hamid Reza Okhravi, MD Eastern Virginia Medical School, Glennan Center For Geriatrics & Gerontology
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Family Caregiving and Telehealth in the Era of COVID-19
October 20th, 2020 | | 9-10 AM EST | Online
Tune in October 20th for a free webinar on 'Caregiving and Telehealth during COVID19,' featuring three of the world’s leading caregiver support organizations: National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC), Family Caregiver Alliance, and the Alzheimer's Association. Speakers will highlight new tele-health resources made available in the face of the pandemic, discuss how COVID-19 has impacted the international caregiver support landscape, emphasize specific needs that are ripe for tele-health innovation, as well as set a vision for how caregiver support will change moving forward. This webinar series is co-hosted by the Transatlantic Telehealth Research Network (TTRN), the International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth, CITRIS and the Banatao Institute, the Public Health Institute, and UC Davis Health, and sponsored by the Gary and Mary West Foundation.
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Tools for Financial Caregivers of Older Adults
October 20th, 2020 | 2 PM EST | Online
Join experts from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) for a free webinar on Tuesday, October 20, 2020 from 2-3 pm ET. NAC will share findings from its joint study with AARP on caregiving, including ways financial strain can affect caregivers and older adults. The CFPB will share free resources for financial caregivers of older adults, with an emphasis on tips and tools that can be used during the pandemic to manage someone else’s money. Presenters:
- Gabriela Prudencio – National Alliance for Caregiving
- Lisa Weintraub Schifferle – CFPB, Office for Older Americans
- Kate Kramer – CFPB, Office for Older Americans
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National Alzheimer’s and Dementia Resource Center
Webinar Series
October 22nd, 2020 | 2 PM EST | Online
This webinar will provide an overview of a new “Guide to Billing Codes for Dementia Services” developed by the National Alzheimer’s and Dementia Resource Center to help organizations that have medical billing systems in place understand how to bill for dementia services. Following the overview, Jill Cigliana of Memory Care Home Solutions in St. Louis, Missouri will provide examples of how her organization utilizes third party billing to help sustain their work.
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PAST WEBINAR
The Empowering Women & Girls Summit:
17 Days of Sustainability
September 17th-October 9th, 2020 | Online
This month, C. Grace Whiting, President and CEO of NAC, was interviewed by Idea-Gen for their 17 Days of Sustainability event, highlighting one goal per day to showcase how the world’s leading organizations are addressing these goals.
As part of this initiative, Grace spoke at the The Empowering Women and Girls Summit, on October 8th, corresponding to goal #5, "Gender Equality". The mission of this summit was to bring together and empower women leaders around the globe.
Watch by clicking the video below.
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PARTICIPATE IN SURVEY
How Can the Playbook Help You Improve Care?
The Better Care Playbook is an online resource center designed to help health care stakeholders find the best in evidence-based practices and promising approaches to improve care for people with complex health and social needs. The Playbook wants to hear from you to learn how to best serve you in your work to improve care for individuals with complex health and social needs. Share your thoughts by completing the brief survey.
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Strengthening Family Caregiver Programs and Policies through Collaboration: Lessons from Six States |
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The Center for Healthcare Strategies has released a brief outlining key foundational elements used by six states in their work to strengthen family caregiving programs, and explores what is needed at the state and national levels to advance innovations to support family caregivers. The six states -- Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Virginia -- participated in Helping States Support Families Caring for an Aging America, a Center for Health Care Strategies-led learning collaborative.
Click the red link below to learn more and access the brief.
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Experiences of Nursing Home Residents During the Pandemic |
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A new survey from Altarum provides a glimpse into how COVID-19 restrictions of nursing facilities have impacted resident life and the reduction of older adults' connection to community and family. The survey found that:
- 76 percent of respondents reported that they felt lonelier under the restrictions;
- 64 percent indicated they no longer even leave their rooms to socialize with other residents.
Click the red link below to access the report.
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Recommendations to Improve Payment Policies for Comprehensive Dementia Care |
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"The Payment Model for Comprehensive Dementia Care Conference convened more than 50 national experts from diverse perspectives to review promising strategies for payment reform including ways to accelerate their adoption. Recommendations for reform included payments for services to family caregivers; new research to determine success metrics; education for consumers, providers, and policymakers; and advancing a population health model approach to tier coverage based on risk and need within a health system," (from: The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, September 25, 2020).
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FOLLOW US TO STAY CURRENT ON CAREGIVING! |
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