Elder Law Prof Blog

Congrats to Center for Medicare Advocacy on Win for Beneficiaries

This case has been going on for over a decade!

The Jan. 25 ruling, which came in response to a 2011 class-action lawsuit eventually joined by 14 beneficiaries against the Department of Health and Human Services, will guarantee patients the right to appeal to Medicare for nursing home coverage if they were admitted to a hospital as an inpatient but were switched to observation care, an outpatient service.

The court’s decision applies only to people with traditional Medicare whose status was changed from inpatient to observation. A hospital services review team can make this change during or after a patient’s stay.

The full opinion is available here.

P.S. I'm on the board of CMA and they do great work!

Webinar Elder Justice Decision-Making Capacity Symposium

Register now for this important virtual symposium from DOJ's Elder Justice Initiative, scheduled for April 19th through April 21, from 1-5 eastern.  Here's a description about the Symposium.

Every day the lives of older adults are profoundly and negatively impacted in both the criminal and civil justice systems based on mistaken assumptions and inadequate assessments of their capacity to make decisions for themselves. In order to raise greater awareness of these issues and improve how elder justice professionals approach these issues, the Department of Justice will be hosting the Elder Justice Decision-Making Capacity Symposium, a three-day virtual conference on April 19-21.

The Symposium will highlight what we know today about the aging brain and its impact on decision-making, and discuss the protocols and tools available to assess decision-making capacity. The Symposium will then focus on the myriad of ways that perceptions of an older adult’s decision-making capacity can have profound implications on their treatment in criminal and civil proceedings. These may include elder abuse or fraud prosecutions not being pursued; unnecessary or inappropriate guardianships being imposed; and civil legal remedies being denied to older victims of elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation.

By shedding light on the latest science as well as best clinical, legal and judicial practices, the Symposium aims to increase access to justice while promoting the autonomy of older adults.

Free Symposium provided by the Elder Justice Initiative, U.S. Department of Justice.

Click here to register.

Tech Use Among Older Adults Increased

Pew Research Center periodically releases reports about older adults using tech, with the latest one released last week. Share of those 65 and older who are tech users has grown in the past decade explains although tech use is higher among younger folks, "on several fronts, adoption of key technologies by those in the oldest age group has grown markedly since about a decade ago, and the gap between the oldest and youngest adults has narrowed, according to new analysis of a Center survey conducted in 2021."  Here's some data collected about specific technologies:  about 65% of older adults (65+) have smart phones, about 1/3 less than younger people.  There's a bigger gap between the age groups as far as social media uses. The gap on internet access is narrowing, although those 65+ are connected at about 75% of the rate of younger folks, but this gap narrows for the near old. However, the data on frequency of internet usage shows a significant gap based on age,  with less than 10% of the 65+ group indicating they were on the internet constantly.

I was a bit surprised at the numbers, thinking with social isolation, the participation by older adults would have been higher.  There is some good info in this report, so check it out.

Register Now: EJI Webinar: Trauma Informed Counseling for Older Adults – 1/27/22

DOJ's Elder Justice Initiative announced an upcoming webinar on Trauma Informed Counseling. Here's info about the webinar

Many older adults have been exposed to trauma in their lifetime. They may have been exposed to violence, discrimination, natural disasters or have survived a past crime.

The accumulation of past trauma experiences can exacerbate symptoms related to a current trauma.

In this webinar, attendees will learn:

- the importance of referring older survivors of crime to counseling services,

- the factors that increase an older adult's risk for future victimization,

- how counseling services can help a survivor and aid in your professional role,

- and what types of counseling resources are available to older adults.

Issues pertaining to cultural sensitivity and ethical dilemmas will be explored.

Speaker:

Sheri Gibson, PhD

To register, click here.

Roundup of Articles Part 2

Here are the rest of the news items I mentioned in yesterday's post.

Nursing Homes Bleed Staff as Amazon Lures Low-Wage Workers With Prime Packages

National Guard Empties Bedpans and Clips Toenails at Nursing Homes

Why Older Women Face Greater Financial Hardship Than Older Men

From my friend Morris Klein, Increasing Medicaid’s Stagnant Asset Test For People Eligible For Medicare And Medicaid Will Help Vulnerable Seniors

Nursing Hone Visitation FAQ ( CMS updated January 6, 2022).

A Catch-22 Trips Up Some in Legal Guardianship Who Try to Regain Independence

Man becomes first person in Colombia with non-terminal illness to die by legal euthanasia

and

Colombian woman dies by euthanasia after historic legal fight

and finally from my friend Professor Richard Kaplan, Richard L. Kaplan (Illinois; Google Scholar), When the Stepped-Up Basis of Inherited Property Is No More, 47 ACTEC L.J. 77 (2021) (see Tax Law Prof Blog for synopsis)

Now we are all caught up.  More next week!

 

 

Roundup of Articles

I've been off the grid for a while, so I have a backlog of articles for the blog.  I think they are interesting, even though they may be dated by a couple of months. So I'm going to list some of them here and if the topic interests you, click on the link to read the article.  There are so many, I'm not going to summarize or discuss them.

Lowe’s sees sales growth by helping baby boomers stay in their homes.

Costs and considerations for home health care of aging loved ones in Florida. (48 minute podcast plus accompanying article)

End-of-life conversations may be helpful to patients and families

From my friend Professor Naomi Cahn: Contextualizing Menopause in the Law.

The data that shows Boomers are to blame for the labor shortage

‘Greatest Generation’ runs counter to its wholesome image in survey on race, sex and combat during World War II

Private Equity Is Gobbling Up Hospice Chains And Getting Involved In The Business Of Dying

Three key numbers that explain America's labor shortage (discussing early retirement).

I have more for tomorrow's post and then I'll be "caught up" with the news!

Will Medicare Part B Premiums Drop in 2022?

Last fall I had blogged about the significant increase in the Medicare Part B premiums for 2022. Part of the increase was due to the cost of the new Alzheimer's drug.  There have been developments since the Part B premium was announced.  Here are a couple. First, the AP reported on January 10, 2022 that Medicare told to reassess premium hike for Alzheimer's drug.

" U.S. health secretary Xavier Becerra on Monday ordered Medicare to reassess a big premium increase facing millions of enrollees this year, attributed in large part to a pricey new Alzheimer’s drug with questionable benefits.  [This] came days after drugmaker Biogen slashed the price  [about in half]."  Based on that cut, the Secretary determined that a review of the 2022 premium was appropriate. This is no guarantee that the Part B premium will be reduced, but the article notes that beneficiaries will [not] see [an] immediate change to their costs, but Monday’s move could open the way for a reduction later in the year. The Department of Health and Human Services says it is reaching out to the Social Security Administration, which collects the premium, to examine options."

Second, Kaiser Health News  included summaries of stories from several news outlets regarding the decision by CMS regarding coverage of the new Alzheimer's drug  Medicare To Limit Coverage Of Contentious And Costly Alzheimer’s Drug.  For example, the AP story, Medicare limits coverage of $28,000-a-year Alzheimer’s drug, "The initial determination from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services means that for Medicare to pay, patients taking Biogen’s Aduhelm medication will have to be part of clinical trials to assess the drug’s effectiveness in slowing the progression of early-stage dementia as well as its safety. Medicare’s national coverage determination would become final by April 11, following a public comment period and further evaluation by the agency."  The drug manufacturer disagrees with the decision.

So what will be the impact of the price drop, the reassessment and the coverage decision?  Stay tuned.

Sad News: The Passing of Civil Rights Advocate Lani Guinier, Reportedly of Complications of Alzheimer's

I read the news late on Friday of the passing of Lani Guinier and it was especially sad to learn that family members reported her death, at just 71, was due to "complications of Alzheimer's disease."  That report made me realize that I hadn't heard from her on the important civil rights issues of the last few years -- and this history probably explains why.  Nonetheless, her teaching, her writing, her advocacy in court and in the field on behalf of civil rights, on voting rights, on student empowerment (often on behalf of women in law school classrooms, urging them them to speak out) will continue to impact the nation.  In her 2002 book, The Miner's Canary -- sitting nearby on my shelf --  cowritten with Gerald Torres, the conclusion resonates with equal strength in 2022:   

We credit the civil rights movement and the liberal legal model to the extent that each created a space for progressive politics and reduced racism as conventionally defined.  This tolerance model has made alliance possible that were once unthinkable.  But the civil rights movement too often seems to measure progress by looking backward; we want to shift the focus to where we are going, not how far we have come.  In the past, conventional ideas of race were deliberately tied to issues of social policy in order to make programs of general concern sound like special pleading.  Our response is to reclaim race in order to "complete" democracy."  

With grateful feelings, and remembering her as a role model for so many, we will miss her.