As you know, we have great BBQ's this time of year in our magnificent park at Regency Park in Hazlet.
Take a look at this photo I captured of our BBQ today, from our rooftop!
Nearly 27 percent of people over 65 have some form of diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association, putting cardiovascular, cognitive and functional health at risk.
In a four-year study led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), researchers found that increasing coffee intake by just one cup a day reduced the risk of Type 2 diabetes by 11 percent.
The study also found that if coffee consumption was decreased, the risk of Type 2 diabetes increased by 17 percent. For the study, a cup of coffee was defined as eight ounces, black or with a small amount of milk and/or sugar.
The study also found that decaffeinated coffee and caffeinated tea consumption were not associated with changes in the risk for type 2 diabetes.
“These findings further demonstrate that, for most people, coffee may have health benefits. But coffee is only one of many factors that influence diabetes risk. More importantly, individuals should watch their weight and be physically active,” said Frank Hu, senior author and HSPH professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH, in a release.
Source: LTL
The Clark Fork Valley Hospital (CFVH) in Plains, MT has put forth an impressive, new model for treating lung-related diseases through the launch of its new Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program in March, which seeks to serve patients with a wide range of diagnoses, including COPD, pulmonary hypertension, obesity-related lung disease, and sarcoidosis.
Due to the diversity of diagnoses, the program aims to provide a multidisciplinary team approach in treating the community, including the patient’s primary care provider, respiratory, and physical therapists. Following the patients needs, a treatment plan is developed where patients primarily work with respiratory therapists who coordinate and monitor their progress during course sessions.
The sessions are twice per week for up to two hours, depending on the topic and treatment, and include both education and exercise. The new program, which could very well come to be adopted elsewhere in the United states, seeks to cover the most relevant topics in treating and living with diseases such as COPD and Pulmonary Hypertension, such as breathing techniques, emotional well being, nutrition and activity of the patient.
On the other hand, for exercise, patients can use a treadmill, elliptical machine, recumbent bike, ergometer, and weights. Even when patients enrolled in pilot courses that introduce best practices for well being with PH and CPD, the strategy has been quite successful when helping the patients to be able to solve some of their own needs by themselves. As TaLoni DuBois, respiratory therapist and cardiopulmonary services manager, explains, “Patients are taking away so much more than exercise techniques from these courses, they are benefiting from a supportive environment and a new perspective. A lot of our patients have friends and family members who are so worried about them that they coddle them resulting in inactivity and co-dependence.”
With this program, patients are encouraged to complete their course and improve their situation in a safe, educational environment. Even after the course is over (after an average of 12 to 15 weeks), CFVH has started an extension of the program as an extra effort, making post-pulmonary rehabilitation exercise lab and therapist assistance available in case the need arises.
This type of oversight can only help Skilled Nursing Facilities lower their re-hospitalization rates.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has dramatically increased the number of low-income non elderly adults eligible for Medicaid. Starting in 2014, states can elect to cover individuals and families with modified adjusted gross incomes below a threshold of 133 percent of federal poverty guidelines, with a 5 percent income disregard. We used simulation methods and data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to compare nondisabled adults enrolled in Medicaid prior to the ACA with two other groups: adults who were eligible for Medicaid but not enrolled in it, and adults who were in the income range for the ACA’s Medicaid expansion and thus newly eligible for coverage. Although differences in health across the groups were not large, both the newly eligible and those eligible before the ACA but not enrolled were healthier on several measures than pre-ACA enrollees. Twenty-five states have opted not to use the ACA to expand Medicaid eligibility. If these states reverse their decisions, their Medicaid programs might not enroll a population that is sicker than their pre-ACA enrollees. By expanding Medicaid eligibility, states could provide coverage to millions of healthier adults as well as to millions who have chronic conditions and who need care.
A new blood test that predicts the onset of Alzheimer's disease and mild dementia could lead to more effective management and even prevention of these conditions, according to newly published research.
The study involved 525 participants who were at least 70 years old. They gave blood samples throughout the trial period, and investigators tracked which participants developed Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment.
An analysis of 10 lipids in the blood reveals with 90% accuracy which people will develop one of these conditions within two to three years, the researchers discovered. They say this could allow for more effective early-stage interventions and help researchers develop drugs that would “delay or prevent” these cognitive disorders.
"The preclinical state of the disease offers a window of opportunity for timely disease-modifying intervention," said study author Howard J. Federoff, M.D., Ph.D., of Georgetown University Medical Center.
The blood test also could be used to help patients and their families prepare for future healthcare needs, Federoff added. He and his colleagues already are designing a clinical trial that would use the lipid panel to test a therapeutic agent, he noted.
I love creativity because at Regency Nusring, we are so good at forward thinking and being creative 'outside the box.'
This from Long Term Living:
All post-acute care (PAC) facilities want to reduce hospitals lower readmission rates. While the benefits to patients are obvious, keeping them healthy also helps hospitals rein in Medicare fines levied against them for preventable readmissions. PAC providers can better position themselves in the marketplace by being proactive in reducing relapses. Those who aren’t addressing common readmission causes risk being left out of health systems’ referral networks. CHE (Catholic Health East) Trinity Senior Living Communities, based in Livonia, Mich., positioned itself to be good partners to hospitals by reducing these occurrences.
While many factors contribute to hospital readmissions, good nutrition can prevent many of them. With its foodservice provider, Unidine Corporation, Trinity has been working to reduce nutrition-related causes of readmission—namely, dehydration, urinary tract infections and unintended weight loss—among PAC patients. Overall, the initiatives have succeeded, lowering Trinity’s rate of hospital readmissions by about three percent.
In long-term care (LTC), staff efficiency and facility efficiency are directly linked. Communities—especially their administrators—can take six steps to build effective teams that not only benefit the facilities but also benefit the individual employees who make up the teams within the facilities. Staff satisfaction is at the foundation of it all.
Perhaps the easiest thing an administrator can do is simply get to know his or her employees. The more the administrator is familiar with staff members, the better the employer will be able to serve them.
Certainly, the opposite is true as well: The better an employee understands the priorities of his or her employer, the more likely he or she will be able to meet the employer’s needs, and the better the employer will meet the employee’s needs.
It is not inappropriate to be aware that certain staff members’ children play sports or the violin or to know other personal snippets about employees and their families. It can mean much to an employee when the administrator stops to ask about the outcome of a son’s game or a daughter’s dance recital. Such exchanges enable employees to see the administrator as a real person with feelings, a person who cares about employees’ individual welfare.
Families who are anticipating having a loved one discharged from a hospital to a skilled nursing facility for Postacute care are often faced with many complicated decisions at an already difficult time.
At Regency, we are extremely sensitive to this and we do everything possible to alleviate all fears and concerns.
I recently found a fantastic resource online with valuable information on how to cope with any traumatic experience or event.
Are requirements of the nation's new healthcare law driving up out-of-pocket costs for people buying their own insurance?
In some cases, yes. But the law also eliminated some of the largest deductibles, or the amount a consumer pays for actual medical care before an insurance company begins paying.
The Affordable Care Act's cap on out-of-pocket costs — $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family — did away with some whopping deductibles in plans previously offered to people without employer-provided coverage. Deductibles as high as $10,000 for an individual and $30,000 for a family were features of policies sold on the individual market in Illinois 11 months ago, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
