The demographic picture of the homeless has shifted markedly over the last 20 years, with a marked increase in the average age of homeless persons. Currently, nearly 1/3 of the homeless are over the age 0f 50.

A remarkable study paints a concerning portrait of the struggles faced by the aging homeless. It was led by Geriatrician Rebecca Brown who conducted the study while a Geriatrics Fellow at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Brown is currently our colleague in the UCSF Geriatrics Division. The senior author was Harvard Senior Life Geriatrician, Dr. Susan Mitchell. The study was published in the Journal Of General Internal Medicine.

Ken Covinsky previously posted on GeriPal a while back about the dangers of hospitalization in older adults.   Ken notes in that post that hospitalization is a vulnerable period leading to major new disability for many older adults.  More recently, Ken, GeriPal contributor Bree Johnston, and honorary GeriPal member Edgar Pierluissi authored a terrific article about hospital-associated disability in one of those pre-blogging era, old-fashioned periodicals...JAMA.

I'm not going to be able to sum up this meaty piece of scholarship in this post.  Let me say only that if you care for hospitalized older adults, and can only read one article that changes for the better how you care for them, this would be that article.   Let me relay some of the disruptive perspectives offered:

Quality indicators are used to measure the quality of health care delivered to patients. Quality indicators are used extensively in the VA health system, and efforts are underway in Medicare to tie reimbursement levels to performance on quality indicators.

The motivations for using quality indicators are guided by the best of intentions. There are many problems with the quality of health care in the US, and quality indicators aim to improve this care. When put to their best use, quality indicators can improve care.

However, a recent commentary in JAMA from our UCSF colleagues, Geriatricians Sei Lee and Louise Walter raise serious concerns about unintended harms from quality indicators. Lee and Walter make a compelling arguement that quality indicators, when used indiscriminantly, can actually harm the quality of care provided to the older persons. This is particularly true for the most frail and vulnerable elders.

Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Because of their higher rates of illness and impairments, older prisoners incur medical costs that are three to nine times as high as those for younger prisoners.

The 104-page report, “Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States,” includes new data Human Rights Watch developed from a variety of federal and state sources that document dramatic increases in the number of older US prisoners.

Caregiving is hard. Caregiving and working is really hard. In our free e-book, The Working Family Caregiver, we offer some quick, simple tips to help you manage two demanding roles that can complicate life. We hope the tips help you manage your experiences so you have minimal regrets.

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Compared to similar people who don't take them, nursing home residents with dementia who take average doses of a class of drugs used to treat depression are three times more likely to have an injurious fall. These are the findings of a new study from The Netherlands published online in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology on Wednesday.

CDC is currently previewing a new online interactive system that helps quickly translate state-level, disability-specific, data into information that can be used by state health departments, national disability and health organizations, and policymakers.  With Disability and Health Data System (DHDS), users can customize how they view disability and health data throughout the country, making it easy to understand health disparity information, identify trends, and support the development of fiscally-responsible, evidence-based programs, services and policies.

Empa engineers, together with the firm 'r going', have succeeded in developing an ergonomic seat for electric wheelchairs which encourages the user to move around frequently. True to the motto 'life is movement' the aim is to enhance the freedom of movement of wheelchair users with a range of disabilities.

Nursing home transition services may be complex and sometimes perplexing, but there is both a tried and true science and an art to providing them. Here is an opportunity to learn from some of the most experienced and effective CIL experts in the country. They will give you valuable tips, strategies and insights for developing a relationship with nursing facilities, assisting individuals to identify their needs, using checklists and tools for planning, maximizing the success of moving day, providing advocacy after the move, and much more.

Join Us in Houston to Learn How to:

• Use the ADA and the Olmstead Decision to support nursing facility transition
• Locate and assist individuals in assessing their needs and preferences for community-based living
• Assist individuals in developing and implementing a transition plan
• Conduct effective post-transition activities to support individuals in maintaining their lives in the community

Target Audience:

Managers and front line workers new to transition, more experienced staff who would benefit from interactive problem-solving sessions, and participants in the ABCs of Nursing Home Transition webinars who want a more comprehensive and interactive experience.