In The News

CDC and WHO Monitoring New COVID Variant with Large Number of Mutations

 NBC News | By Aria Bendix

Global disease experts are monitoring a new variant, BA.2.86, that carries a large number of mutations — meaning it looks significantly different from the original version of Omicron and the previously dominant strain targeted by upcoming Covid booster shots this fall.

It's still unclear how transmissible BA.2.86 is, though experts said it seems capable of sidestepping vaccine protection to some degree.

"We have not seen a new variant [in humans] with this many new spike mutations happening all at once since the emergence of the original Omicron,” said Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at Fred Hutch Cancer Center.

Mutations in the spike protein, one of three main parts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, could make it easier for the virus to invade human cells.

So far, only a handful of cases of the new variant, BA.2.86, have been identified globally. In addition to one case in Michigan, the variant has also been spotted in Denmark, Israel, and the UK, according to sequences uploaded to GISAID, a global virus database…

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The Upheaval at America’s Disappearing Nursing Homes, in Charts

The Wall Street Journal | By Jon Kamp, Melanie Evans, and Gretchen Lenth

America’s nursing homes are fading away.

The U.S. has at least 600 fewer nursing homes than it did six years ago, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data. More senior care is happening at home, and the Covid-19 pandemic caused many families to shun nursing homes while draining workers from an already short-staffed industry.

The result? Frail elderly patients are stuck in hospitals, a dangerous place for seniors, waiting for somewhere to go—sometimes for months. Beds are disappearing while the need for senior care is growing. The American population 65 and older is expected to swell from 56 million in 2020 to 81 million by 2040.

Even before the industry started to shrink noticeably, it was effectively contracting. Though fewer people tend to live in counties without nursing homes, those counties tend to have more elderly residents than average. For people who need comprehensive care, closures can mean disruptive moves or ending up far from loved ones.

Data show capacity in the nursing-home industry has lagged behind growth in the ranks of older Americans for many years. By 2018, the decline accelerated as nursing-home beds steadily disappeared.

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HCAOA Addresses Cost-Effectiveness of Home Care in Letter to the Editor of TheHill.com

Home Care Insider

An article entitled, Price of elder care soars as demand increases, baby boomers age,” was published on TheHill.com on August 13, 2023. The article discusses how the cost of caring for aging or ailing family members in the U.S. has risen dramatically in recent years in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and adult day centers. With insufficient support from programs like Medicare and Medicaid, many family caregivers are forced to deplete their limited funds to cover expenses.

HCAOA submitted a Letter to the Editor in response to the article informing them of the cost-effectiveness of home care for seniors and people with disabilities since it was not addressed. HCAOA strives to be part of the conversation and continually seeks opportunities to support the home care industry and provide education when needed. A copy of the letter is below.

****

Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech’s article, “Price of elder care soars as demand increases, baby boomers age,” published August 13, which discusses the rising costs of senior care. You addressed the common institutional settings for senior care, such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities, and even touched on adult day centers. However, you neglected to mention the most cost-effective type of care for seniors and people with disabilities – which is also the most preferred: care at home.

You are correct about the strain the aging Baby Boomer generation is putting on America’s healthcare systems and reimbursement structures. They were simply not designed for a nation that will soon have more older people (65+) than young (18 and under), many of whom are living longer, fuller lives with their chronic conditions managed. Home care has emerged as a valuable solution to fill gaps created by the institutional settings mentioned above.

Planning and saving for future long-term care needs will require multiple options based on one’s ability to save and projected care needs. Saving for care in old age should be as top-of-mind as saving for education when a child is born. Government and private-sector stakeholders must prioritize financing for care and develop a suite of options to fit the diverse financial and care needs of older Americans.

“You can’t finance these 100-year lives purely by public purse or purely by private purse. You need the two to come together.” - Surya Kolluri, Managing Director, Bank of America.

While not covered by Medicare, there are several proposals to make this cost more sustainable in the long run. One in particular is H.R. 1795, Homecare for Seniors Act, sponsored by Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE-3). This bill allows tax-exempt distributions from health savings accounts (HSAs) to be used for home care. This is just one proposal that could ease the cost of care.

We appreciate you highlighting the rising cost of senior care and wanted to provide you with a viable, cost-effective option seniors and people with disabilities have to remain comfortably at home with professional care.

Sincerely,
Vicki Hoak
CEO
Home Care Association of America

 

How Former President Carter Helped Shape Hospice Care

Hospice News | By Jim Parker

As Jimmy Carter marks his sixth month in hospice care, the provider community is raising awareness by saluting the former president.

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) convened a group of hospice leaders at Times Square in New York City to commemorate Carter’s hospice experience. Some hospice executives have said they believe that his example will prompt more Americans to learn more about this form of end-of-life care.

“Once again leading by example, [the Carter family] is showing us how to embrace a stage of life that people don’t want to think about — that people don’t want to talk about,” NHPCO COO and interim CEO Ben Marcantonio said at the Times Square event. “They’re showing us how hospice helps patients live life to the fullest to the end of life, and that’s why we’re gathered here today to publicly thank President Carter and his family.”

The Carter Center, a nonprofit human rights and health organization founded by the former president and his family, announced in February that he would enter hospice care in a brief statement.

Hospice is indelible to Carter’s legacy as president. The federal payment model demonstration that led to the founding of the Medicare Hospice Benefit began during his tenure in the White House.

The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) in 1979 launched the demo with 26 providers in 16 states to establish a clear definition of hospice as well as assess the cost-effectiveness of those services. HCFA was later reorganized as the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The benefit’s founding catapulted hospice growth. In 2021 alone, more than 1.7 million Medicare decedents received hospice care, CMS reported.

“The hospice approach is different from any other approach in health care, and we’re so lucky for that,” Jacqueline Lopez-Devine, chief clinical officer for Gentiva Health Services, said in Times Square. “We put patients and their goals at the center of the plan of care. And with that approach, we’re able to help people live their lives as they would want in the last weeks and months of their lives.”

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FMLA & Short-Term Disability

SESCO Management Consultants

  • The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitles eligible employees of employers with at least 50 employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for specified family and medical reasons. The employer may elect to use the calendar year, a fixed 12-month leave or fiscal year, or a 12-month period prior to or after the commencement of leave as the 12-month period. FMLA contains provisions on employer coverage; employee eligibility; maintenance of health benefits during leave; job restoration after leave; notice and certification of the need for leave; and protection for employees who request or take FMLA leave.

  • Short-Term Disability (STD) is offered by private insurance companies to offer partial wage replacement while an employee is out of work due to a policy specific covered medical condition. STD does not provide job protection or maintenance of health benefits.

  • Because FMLA and STD serve different purposes, it is common for an employer to run FMLA and STD leave concurrently with each other when the reason for the need for FMLA relates to the employee’s own health condition. In fact, doing so is recommended so an employee may not take STD leave after FMLA leave has been exhausted. If the employee’s health condition is a FMLA-qualifying “serious health condition”, it will likely also be covered by STD.

  • When an employee’s need for FMLA leave relates to anything other than the employee’s own medical condition, STD will rarely be an option because that need will not be a covered benefit under the STD policy.

  • There is much to consider in determining FMLA eligibility and administering FMLA leave. Please do not hesitate to contact us with specific questions.

If you are not a retainer client, contact us to learn about our services by calling 423-764-4127 or click here.

 
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