The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has launched a ranking system for the nation’s nursing homes, giving each a “star” rating.
The ratings will be posted on its Nursing Home Compare website (www.medicare.gov/NHCompare), starting in December.
The five-star rating system is designed to complement existing nursing home reform law and quality improvement campaigns. CMS plans to work with other healthcare providers and consumers and eventually make similar rating systems for hospitals, home health agencies and other facilities.
CMS recently issued a regulation requiring sprinkler systems in all buildings housing long-term care facilities.
If you’re an older woman plagued by back pain, it may be because you’re not getting enough vitamin D.
University of Delaware researchers note, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, that women with vitamin D deficiency — linked to several health problems in older people — were found nearly twice as likely to have back pain. They speculate that lack of the vitamin can cause bone softening, which is more common in women and often manifests itself as low back pain.
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration notes that older persons have higher rates of depression than the general population, and lists signs to watch for:
- History of depression and
other mental health problems.
- Alcohol or substance abuse.
- Social isolation.
- Preoccupation with death.
- Diagnosis of serious illness.
- Recent life change, such as death or chronic illness of a spouse or child, retirement or financial difficulties.
|