ccording to a new Government Accountability Office report  the economic stimulus package Congress would boost each state’s federal medical assistance percentage  by 7.6% from the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 through the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2011.

The Medicaid funding would total nearly $87 billion over the period, the report said. State allocations would range from less than $100 million to more than $12 billion.Besides raising each state’s FMAP, the bill would provide additional FMAP assistance based on increased unemployment. It would create three tiers based on state unemployment rates, each of which would correspond to an additional FMAP increase.

To see the report, go to http://www.gao.gov

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.

Two teenage girls who worked at a nursing home have been charged with abuse, accused of taunting, spitting on and groping residents who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.According to the criminal complaint, filed Monday, 19-year-old Brianna Broitzman and 18-year-old Ashton Larson laughed earlier this year as they spit in residents’ mouths, poked and groped their breasts and genitals, and at times mocked them until they screamed.Broitzman and Larson, who worked as part-time aides at the home, have been charged as adults.

Four other teens who worked with them at the Good Samaritan Society were charged as juveniles for failing to report the incidents.
A total of eight teens were allegedly involved in the incidents, but there was no record of criminal charges being filed against two of them.

Broitzman and Larson are charged with assault, abuse of a vulnerable adult by a caregiver, abuse of a vulnerable adult with sexual contact, disorderly conduct and failing to report suspected maltreatment. All are gross misdemeanors.

The Minnesota Department of Health released a report in August showing that 15 residents with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia disorders were abused at the facility between Jan. 1 and May 1.

According to the complaint filed Monday, one of the aides said the group gathered at work or school to “talk and laugh about the incidents.”

Mark Anderson, administrator at the Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea, told WCCO-TV that the past few months have been difficult for the staff, the home’s residents and their families.”We are just really thankful that the proceedings are moving forward and hopefully can see some closure to this whole process,” Anderson said.

1. Daily Living Plan: Make sure the assisted living or senior living facility offers lots of activities that allow residents to be active. They should include great socializing events, exercise classes, educational seminars, religious services, and outings.
2. Medical Staff: Check to see who the resident geriatrician is and what credentials the nurses have. There should be an ambulance service and a quality hospital nearby with the patients’ medical charts. Also check to see that menus are approved by a nutritionist;
3. Talk to residents!!!!: Ask current residents for their opinion on the facility and services. You can get the best information for the residents! The will tell you the good and the bad of the place.
4. Room Accomidations and Facility Basics: Make sure the facility has showers with moveable showerheads, handrails, good lighting, emergency electricity generators, emergency help buttons and adequate personnel.

Approximately 3.8 million seniors reside in some type of aging services facility, according to the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. They live in roughly 17,000 nursing homes, 39,500 assisted-living facilities, 2,250 continuing care retirement communities, and other senior housing units.

The distressed housing market, and a deepening recession threaten a huge decline in the senior housing indusrty . Across the spectrum of senior housing; life-care communities, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes people at all levels of income are dealing with financial challenges.

Primary residences are the greatest source of wealth for most retirees, and the sale of those homes is the most common way to generate retirement-community entrance fees, which range from $100,000 at the low end, upwards of $500,000 and much more at the highest-end communities.

Income from pensions and investments is a major source of monthly maintenance payments across the spectrum of senior housing. Financial support from children and other family members often enables retirement home occupants to make ends meet.

Shares of Emeritus fell 15 percent today. The shares dropped from $1.56 to $8.82, their lowest level in four years. Emeritus is a nationwide provider of assisted senior housing also reported a third-quarter loss of $23.1 million.

The Seattle company, one of the largest in its field, wasn’t the only senior housing company battered by the market. Leading competitors Sunrise Senior Living and Brookdale Senior Living fell 21 percent and 18 percent, respectively.

Emeritus’ third-quarter revenue of $193 million was up from $187 million in the second quarter, while its net loss shrank from the second-quarter loss of $25.2 million.

Brookdale Senior Living Inc. shares lost more than a third of their value Thursday, plunging for a second-straight day in the wake of weak third-quarter results.

Stock in the nation’s largest provider of senior-care facilities fell $3.43, or 36.5 percent, to close at $5.96, after sinking as low as $5.89, the lowest level in Brookdale’s three years as a publicly traded company.

On Wednesday, the stock lost 15.5 percent, to finish at $9.39.Analysts raised questions about the company’s balance sheet and cost pressures and suggested its difficulties are likely to continue into 2009.

source: associated press

The average daily cost of a private room in a nursing home in the United States stayed essentially the same as last year, according to the 2008 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home & Assisted Living Costs. The average rate for a private room is $77,380 a year, or $212 a day, an increase of one dollar from last year. Meanwhile, assisted living costs increased 2.1 percent from an average of $2,969 monthly or $35,628 annually in 2007, to $3,031 monthly or $36,372 annually in 2008.

The survey also reports on the cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home, which increased 1.1 percent to $191 a day, or $69,715 a year, a 3 percent increase over last year.

Once again, the highest rates for a private nursing home room in 2008 were found in Alaska, where the cost is $577 a day on average. The lowest rates were found in the non-metropolitan and non-suburban areas of Louisiana, at $127 a day. The cost of assisted living was the highest in southern Maine at $4,708 per month and the lowest in North Dakota at $1,980 per month.

The $700 billion bailout plan signed by the president last week is likely to have a positive effect on long-term care housing, according to an expert from the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.

“The bailout should ease the credit crunch which is currently playing havoc with both the debt and equity markets that are so essential to tax credits,” affordable housing expert Nancy Libson from AAHSA, told McKnight’s.

“Many deals already in the works to build or renovate senior housing are looking for new equity investors,” she said. “Equity investors, if they stay in deals, are adjusting (reducing) their investments. When debt financing is necessary, interest rates are rising, making deals infeasible. The bill should provide relief in the debt and equity markets, providing a more stable financial system for this vital service for seniors.”

The legislation, which drew both praise and scorn from members of Congress, passed through the House after two weeks of heated debate and more than one failed vote. Finally, 172 Democrats and 91 Republicans gave their approval. The president signed it on Friday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had hoped at least 100 Republicans would vote for the measure in order to portray the bailout as being truly bipartisan