Medicare is one of the most beneficial tools that those of 65 and older have that does not cost them anything. Medicare is that secret little weapon you pull out of your back pocket when you have fallen or suddenly become ill. It’s these little-unexpected things that Medicare serves as a helping hand as it offers a way to help cover those medical expenses and get you back on your feet without you, personally, having to worry about how you will cover those expenses. The tricky part to Medicare is understanding it and knowing how to utilize it and all of its resources to best benefit you. Medicare Part A, also known as Original Medicare, hospital insurance covers inpatient hospital care, skilled nursing facility, hospice, lab tests, surgery, …show more content…
The people controlling cost cuts and benefits and who are hired are people that do not work or have never worked on the care side, so what may look good on paper, does not always work and look good on the care side, giving nursing homes very bad reputations. Through experience, and as mentioned before, the SNF portion of a home receives more one on one care and attention versus the long-term side. Economic wise, nursing home care is viewed much like child care, the majority of care staff is women, and therefore wages are lower than say a hospital. The service is not valued as much as it should be. A nurse is a nurse, the place of employment should not affect the pay scale, just as the care should be the same. As we all know, this is not the case. Therefore, nursing homes do not place a huge impact on our economy, but do locally, even with the number of facilities around. “Given three rural nursing home scenarios, a rural nursing home may have employment, impact from 65 to 137 employees, with wages, salaries and benefits (labor income) impact from $3.0 million to $6.7 million.” Nursing homes are also regulated by CMS and state Standards, the best way to explain this is to compare it to state regulations and the FDA of food products, basic minimum standards must be met in order to operate. Many facilities do not go above and beyond. STARS or facility ratings are based primarily off of their state evaluations, which are public, and their use of restraints on patients, even the number of falls can affect STAR ratings. Also, keep in mind patients have the right to fall, you cannot hold them against their will to sit in a wheelchair or call for assistance or tell them when they can and cannot get
Evidently, the healthcare management discipline has interests that overlap (and can be used to study) the Green House nursing home model. The Green House Project offers unique insights regarding changes in nursing home management philosophies that can improve both, the health of residents, as well as the job satisfaction of CNAs. Since nursing home budgets, residents’ healthcare and CNA turnover rates, are important factors in nursing home management, the Green House Project is an excellent case study for the field of healthcare management, as
percent of all nursing facility care, and residents and their families pay for one-third. (Williams
Long-term care (LTC) covers a wide range of clinical and social services for those who need assistance due to functional limitations. These limitations usually result from complications associated with age related chronic conditions, from disabilities related to birth defects, brain damage, or mental retardation in children; or from major illnesses or injuries suffered by adults (Shi L. & Singh D.A., 2011). LTC encompasses a variety of services including traditional clinical services, social services and housing. Unlike acute care, long-term care is much more complicated and has objectives that are much harder to measure. Acute care mainly focuses on returning patients to their previous functional level and is primarily provided by specialty providers. However, LTC mainly focuses on preventing the physical and mental deterioration of an individual and promoting social adjustments to suit the different stages of decline. In addition the providers of LTC are more diverse than those in acute care and is offered in both formal and informal settings, which include: hospitals, physicians, home care, adult day care, nursing home care, assisted living and even informal caregivers such as friends and family members. Long-term care services have been dominated by community based services, which include informal care (86%, about 10 to 11 million) and formal institutional care delivered in nursing facilities (14%, 1.6 million) (McCall, 2001). Of more than the 10 million Americans estimated to require LTC services, 58% are elderly and 42% are under the age of 65 (Shi L. & Singh D.A., 2011). The users of LTC are either frail elderly or disabled and because of the specific care needs of this population, the care varies based on an indiv...
The problem is caused by finances. Hospitals claim they face declining reimbursements, and have chosen to cut nursing staff to lower their expenses.
According to the data collected and shown in chart above for 2014 and 2015 statistics hourly wage for personal care assistants, home health aides, and certified nurse 's aides the increase in hourly wage has not raised that much. The amount provided hourly barely allowed the workers to meet the cost of living requirements set for them. A program to provide better training for home health aides to increase wages and overall care of clients in their home setting. If it could be put into place for a reimbursement or a scholarship program to create a degree that is in between an CNA and an RN that would give workers better education and qualifications to receive more pay per hour and do more in the home setting for client’s then this field could be looked at as more of a stepping stone.
Medicare Part A is meant to be a major medical hospitalization plan that is offered to everybody US citizen that has turned 65 years old. It covers inpatient care in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities, hospice care, some home health care services, a semi-...
I mentioned Medicare and Medicaid a few paragraphs above. With both of these aid’s being government funded programs, there’s differences between them. Medicare has certain contributors that help others in need pay for their bills. This fund is certainly for elderly people, and people with disabilities. The individuals that are covered by this plan only pay part of the expense out of pocket. While Medicaid is provided through federal and state funds. This type of coverage also helps elders, but helps kids under 19, parents, and parent’s dependent upon their children.
There are four components to the Medicare program, part A, B, C and D. Part A of Medicare covers in patient hospital services; patients have a financial responsibility to cover a deductible that is equivalent to 1 day of hospitalization, thereafter cost is covered at 100 percent for a maximum of 60 days. This also includes nursing facilities, home and hospice care. Part B covers outpatient surgery and physician office visits. This is an elective component of Medicare in that there is a premium associated with this plan that is paid for directly through social security payments. Part C is know as Medicare Advantage and is a supplemental policy that is purchased directly from employers; one may be denied for health reasons depending one when the plan is acquired. Part D is prescription drug coverage that is eligible to all individuals that qualify for Medicare. Beneficiaries of the Medicare choose which prescription plan they want and pay a corresponding monthly premium.
Nursing home care is expensive. Although prices vary, the basic charge for a double-bed room in a typical nursing home is in the range of $20,000 to $50,000 a year. Homes in rural areas tend to be slightly less expensive than those in cities. The costs of medications and physician visits are not included in the basic charge. Also, special treatments such as physical, occupational, and speech therapy often add to the cost. There are also possible additional charges for drugs, laundry, haircuts, and extra services. Some nursing homes are operated as nonprofit corporations. They are sponsored by religious, charitable, fraternal and other groups or ran by government agencies at the federal, state, or local levels. But many nursing homes are businesses operated for profit. Individuals or corporations may own them. Sometimes they are part of a chain of nursing homes.
According to Medicare’s WebPage Medicare is a Health Insurance Program for people 65 years of age and older, some disabled people under 65 years of age, and people with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure treated with dialysis or a transplant). Medicare has two parts, Part A which is for basically hospital insurance. Most people do not have to pay for Part A. In addition it has a Part B, which is basically medical insurance. Most people pay a small monthly fee for Part B. Medicare first went into effect in 1966 and was originally administered by the Social Security Administration. In 1977 the control of it was switched over to the newly formed Health Care Financing Administration. Beginning in July 1973 Medicare was extended to persons under the age of 65 with certain disabling conditions. In 1988 Congress passed legislation to expand the program to cover health care costs of catastrophic illnesses.
3. Pesis-Katz, I., Phelps, C. E., Temkin-Greener, H., Spector, W. D., Veazie, P., & Mukamel, D. B. (2013). Making Difficult Decisions: The Role of Quality of Care in Choosing a Nursing Home. American Journal Of Public Health, 103(5), e1-e7.
Unfortunately, today’s supply of nurses is not expected to live up to the forecasted demand. It is estimated that more than 70 million Americans will be age 65 or older by the ...
The two major components of Medicare, the Hospital Insurance Program (Part A of Medicare) and the supplementary Medical Insurance program (Part B) may be exhausted by the year 2025, another sad fact of the Medicare situation at hand (“Medicare’s Future”). The burden brought about by the unfair dealings of HMO’s is having an adverse affect on the Medicare system. With the incredibly large burden brought about by the large amount of patients that Medicare is handed, it is becoming increasingly difficult to fund the system in the way that is necessary for it to function effectively. Most elderly people over the age of 65 are eligible for Medicare, but for a quite disturbing reason they are not able to reap the benefits of the taxes they have paid. Medicare is a national health plan covering 40 mi...
Medicare is a federally governed insurance program, primarily serving Americans over the age of 65, younger disabled meeting specific disability criteria, and dialysis patients having permanent kidney failure. Medicare is linked to Social Security, is not income based, and is available to every American meeting the requirements of the program. Those entitled to Medicare can select Original Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Part B (Medical Insurance) paying co-insurance and deductibles or opt to add Part C (Medicare Advantage Plans) paying a monthly premium and co-payments normally less than the out-of-pocket expenses for Original Medicare.
Bedside nurses want to change staffing levels to assure that they have enough time to both keep up with the constantly evolving health care and to provide safe patient care. Yet, healthcare employers consider that reducing nurse patient ratio is an unnecessary expense that has not been proven to improve quality of patient care (Unruh, 2008). Employers emphasize that raising nursing staffing level is not cost-effective. In fact, in accordance with ANA’s report (2013), a study, in the Journal of Health Care Finance, confirmed that reducing patient-nurse ratios increased hospital costs, but did not lower their profitability. Higher hospital costs were attributed to wages and benefits allocated to newly hired nurses. Yet, according to Cimiotti et.al (20112), it is more costly for hospitals to not invest money on nursing.