An international panel of experts recently released new definitions of malnutrition to help healthcare workers and others identify and treat malnutrition. Before the new definitions, there was little agreement about how to define the different causes and forms of malnutrition. A 2000 study found that 35% to 85% of nursing home residents could be considered [...]

The health care reform bill signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010 includes important provisions to prevent abuse of long term care residents. The Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act, included in the bill, requires facilities to provide more information to the public about risk factors for negligence, abuse, and neglect such [...]

University of Iowa researchers found that people with memory loss “remember” feelings associated with happy or sad experiences, even though they don’t remember the experience itself. The lead author, Justin Feinstein, stated the findings demonstrate that a friendly visit or phone call may make a person with Alzheimer’s happy after the visit or phone call [...]

A recent review by the Washington Post showed that many nursing homes are “up-coding” billing for care of residents. The nursing homes bill using a special billing category intended to be used only for the five percent of nursing home patients who need highly specialized care and rehabilition. One nursing home chain has billed sixty-four [...]

The Massachusetts Attorney General, Martha Coakley, is reportedly taking steps to end overprescription of antipsychotics in the elderly. She has joined a federal lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Risperdal, charging it with boosting sales of Risperdal to nursing homes through the use of kick-backs. She also promises to closely monitor antipsychotic use [...]