Month: April 2015

Elizabeth Rolf

Too Many Doctors, Not Enough Care

In a story from The Washington Post, a geriatrician acts as a neighbor, and helps an elderly woman climb flights of stairs to her apartment. During the hour-long climb, the geriatrician learns about the woman’s multiple chronic conditions and lack of coordinated care. Quality medical care is easy to find in the United States, but care coordination is not. Read how the geriatrician helps her neighbor stay comfortably in her home and voice her wishes to her providers.

To read the full article, please follow this link to The Washington Post website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-medical-system-may-treat-you-well-but-less-so-after-you-reach-age-80/2015/04/06/466d9dce-b79c-11e4-aa05-1ce812b3fdd2_story.html

Elizabeth Rolf

Designing the Maine CARE Act

AARP Maine is working with a bipartisan group of co-sponsors to create L.D. 666, the Caregiver Advise, Record, and Enable (CARE) Act. Under this act, hospitals will record the names of caregivers of a patient to instruct caregivers on proper care instructions for their patient, inform caregivers when the patient it discharged from the hospital, and help ease the care transition process. This legislation would help protect patients from re-admittance to hospitals, and guide family caregivers through nursing tasks with ease. With nearly 200,000 family caregivers in Maine, the CARE Act will educate family members and protect patients during care transitions.

To read the full article from centralmaine.com, please click here: http://www.centralmaine.com/2015/04/01/l-d-666-gives-direct-support-to-family-caregivers/

Elizabeth Rolf

California In-Home Caregivers Get Tax Break

California’s In-Home Support Services (IHSS) pays caregivers for caring for low income elderly patients, allowing the elderly to stay in their private homes and out of nursing homes. Now, caregivers that live in the homes of their patients will not be taxed on their incomes. The IRS applies this rule to all state Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services waiver programs, including California’s IHSS. However, the caregivers often have incomes that are so low, that they need their incomes to be taxable in order to claim the income tax credit. The rule is the same for paid caregiving relatives that live in the home.

For the full article, please visit the San Francisco Chronicle website: http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Little-known-tax-break-for-in-home-caregivers-6126375.php