Michelle Seitzer

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There’s no shortage of research touting the therapeutic benefits of the human-animal connection. Here, we’ll share stories and statistics that show just how helpful and healing animals can be to their humans.

There’s no shortage of research touting the therapeutic benefits of the human-animal connection, whether it’s through an official pet therapy program or via the four-legged fur babies under your own roof. Here, we’ll share stories and statistics that show just how helpful and healing animals can be to their humans.

With more plan choices, lower premiums and increased access to additional benefits, the expansion of Medicare Advantage is welcome news in uncertain times.

For a widow who has outlived many of her friends, loneliness can make managing a chronic condition even worse. This is the case for Cynthia, a 75-year-old patient with a new diagnosis of congestive heart failure and stage 3 renal disease.

Emerging risks to senior health—like COVID-19 —mean there’s no time like the present to boost support for the nation’s 11 million seniors. With the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act (OAA) on March 12, seniors who experience vulnerability and food insecurity will be provided the services and support that they need.

Maureen Schaeffer, 73, is currently in her suburban Philadelphia home planning a trip to Switzerland from her laptop. But it’s not her first time abroad: She’s been to Europe 15 times since launching into later-life travel.

A renewed emphasis on creating a clean line of communication between patients and their providers during the discharge process was finalized last September with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Discharge Planning Rule.
The final rule tasks providers with giving patients the information required to make an informed care decision, engaging them throughout the discharge planning process. The goal? Better care coordination from beginning to end: from the time of the acute event...

It was a cold March day when my daughter Naya and I returned home from a post-op checkup with her ENT doctor, who just a few weeks prior had surgically inserted larger ear tubes — her fourth set — and removed her overgrown adenoids for the second time in four years. I walked through the front door, flopped down on the couch — not even removing my winter jacket — and didn’t move from there until my husband got home from work.

Meditation may bring to mind images of spirituality and solitude—of quiet, candlelit rooms in sacred spaces with music playing softly in the background. But the beauty of meditation is in its simplicity and accessibility: The benefits touch people of all ages, wherever they are able to find time and space to practice it.
Research shows more people are finding the time and space to practice meditation: American adults’ use of meditation more than tripled between 2012 and 2017, from 4.1% to 14....

This past September, CMS provided preliminary target prices and baseline claims data to organizations that participate in or applied to participate in BPCI Advanced Model Year 3. For some organizations, this will be the first time that post-acute care (PAC) network utilization and details have been available to review. These new insights will be an important component of your organization’s care redesign plan to improve outcomes and reduce expenditures.

Better quality patient care is the goal of the new order of value-based care, and it’s an important mission of which most patients and providers agree upon — in theory. Realistically, this shift in vision and in the way care is managed delivers great challenges and case managers in particular are feeling the pinch of these growing pains.
Case managers already juggle a host of responsibilities, as they work tirelessly to steward patients on the better road to recovery.

When BPCI Advanced went live on October 1, more than 1,500 providers across the US committed to the new bundled payment program model. As reported last month, about 16% of those participants decided to withdraw from BPCI Advanced. For many reading this, this spring provides an exciting opportunity to expand participation in the program and commit more fully to value-based care.
Recently, CMS announced that the Model Year 3 application period for BPCI Advanced would open in April and they do n...

After 20 years supporting families through senior living moves, Benchmark understands how challenging this time can be. Our goal for this series is to open these challenging conversations in a way that has not been done before.

This post was contributed by Michelle Seitzer, a freelance writer who has specialized in elder care content for eight years and prior to writing, worked in the field for more than a decade.