According to a new U.S. Census Bureau report, Nursing homes and residential care facilities continued to receive most of their funding from Medicaid in 2007. The entitlement program handed out $59 billion to them.

Medicaid provided at least $20 billion to continuing care retirement communities in 2007, which was up 10.1% from 2006. Homes for the elderly that do not have on-site nursing care facilities also saw a revenue increase of 7.1% up to $14.5 billion, according to the Census Bureau figures. Overall healthcare and social assistance revenue increased by 6.8% to $1.66 trillion in 2007.

While overall revenues were up, emergency relief services saw a 13.2% cut, dropping the amount of funding received to $6.9 billion. Figures were compiled from the results of the 2007 Service Annual Survey: Health Care and Social Assistance, which estimates revenues for healthcare providers and related businesses with paid employees.

Source: US Census Report

A recent study shows that seniors who moderately consume alcohol lower their odds of developing physical problems. This finding applied to seniors in good health. Subjects in poor or fair health did not see any benefits from alcohol consumption.The study did not examine the causes of these findings.In the study, “seniors” referred to men and women over age 50. Light to moderate drinkers were defined as those who consumed fewer than 15 drinks a week and fewer than five per day (fewer than four daily for women); heavy drinkers were those who consumed 15 or more drinks weekly (or five or more per day); and abstainers were those who drank fewer than 12 alcoholic drinks during the last 12 months.

The researchers, led by Dr. Arun Karlamangla, a geriatrician at the University of California, Los Angeles, analyzed data taken from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey’s Epidemiologic Follow-up Study, which included self-reported data from more than 4,200 men and women. About 92 percent of study participants were white; the average study participant was 60 years old.

You can find the study at cnn.com

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.—An 82-year-old woman is missing from an Orange County assisted living home, and a sheriff’s official calls her disappearance “highly suspicious.”
Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said Wednesday Sara Mowry left behind her walker, purse, hearing aids and medication at the home in Laguna Niguel, making it unlikely that she left on her own.

Mowry’s son reported her missing on Tuesday, when he called her and she didn’t answer, then visited the home and couldn’t find her.

Amormino says Mowry has no dementia or other mental trouble that might lead her to disappear on her own.

Authorities say they are looking at inconsistencies in Mowry’s bank accounts, and searching for a silver 2002 Toyota Tacoma pickup, but would not say how it might be connected to Mowry’s disappearance.

Senior Citizens that are able to sell their homes are increasingly turning to home care vs. assisted living. The national real estate crisis has affected all aspects of life, and long term care is no exception. For many seniors unable to sell their homes, moving to an assisted living facility is no longer financially possible. For this reason, the option of aging-in-place with retrofits is growing in popularity along with utilizing home care assistance. By using caregivers and modifying homes to be friendlier to the aging process, many seniors will be able to remain in their homes for as long as possible - which, according to an AARP housing research report, is exactly what 83 percent of older Americans would choose to do when given a choice.