- Dr. Lewis A. Lipsitz, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, wrote an op-ed last month in the Boston Globe about the need for geriatricians and the role they play providing health care for aging Americans. (Thanks to Ken Covinsky at GeriPal for highlighting the piece.)
Geriatric medicine cuts across all diseases that contribute to the functional problems an older adult might have. An older patient typically goes from one specialist to another, with each doctor treating a single problem, but often not looking at the patient as a whole. The patient may receive treatment, but quality-of-life goals are rarely discussed.
- The California Health Foundation has published a brief on various types of aging in place, including:
- Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs);
- Living At Home/Block Nurse Programs;
- Villages;
- Senior Cohousing; and
- Senior Cooperative Housing.
California's seniors want to remain in their homes and communities as they age, a healthier -- and less expensive -- solution than institutionalization. Successful aging within the community requires economic security, adequate and affordable housing, and access to health care.
Examples of programs using these models are described in terms of governance and structure, target population, annual fees, entry age, staffing, and funding. The report also discusses national and state policy issues. As the population ages, it will be increasingly important to find healthy and affordable solutions for community living for seniors.
- Paula Span discusses continuing care retirement communities (C.C.R.C.'s) again on the New Old Age blog, emphasizing the confusion over costs.
C.C.R.C.’s, remember, allow residents to transfer from independent living apartments to assisted living to a nursing home, all on the same campus or in the same building, as their needs increase (though in the event, they seem as reluctant as other seniors to actually move ). “Yes, being able to take that burden off your kids is wonderful,” a reader, Alice Payne, commented. “But I suspect that the costs are going to prohibit most from taking advantage of such care.”
To which I can only reply, after many phone calls: That all depends. The reason it is hard to know what a C.C.R.C. costs is that price tags vary enormously, reflecting not only regional costs of living and amenity levels (communities range from modest to luxurious), but also contract types. Unlike assisted living facilities or nursing homes, C.C.R.C.’s around the country — there are about 1,900, after a period of growth largely squelched by the recession — offer fundamentally different products.
