Buckeye Health Plan of Ohio is supporting National Church Residences' launch of an on-site COVID-19 rapid testing program for vulnerable residents of nursing and assisted living communities around Franklin County, reports WDTN-TV Channel 2 . The Post-Acute Regional Rapid Testing (PARRT) program was developed in alliance with Leading Age Ohio and Ohio Living, and with the Ohio Department of Health, Franklin County Health Department, and Columbus Health Department. PARRT offers COVID-19 testing for symptomatic and asymptomatic residents and staffers, typically within four days of receiving the request, seven days a week.

Seventy-eight percent of employed Americans say they would not consider a job change during the coronavirus pandemic as long as they can continue to work at their current job, according to a survey of 993 employees cited by GlobeNewswire and cited by Yoh, a part of Day & Zimmermann. Almost three-quarters of employed Americans (69 percent) say they don't think they would be able to find a new job during the pandemic. Among all age groups, those 35 to 54 are most likely to say they don't think they would be able to find a new job during the pandemic (72 percent). Those 18-24 (67 percent) and 55+ (65 percent) are somewhat more optimistic. Sixty-nine percent of those 44 and younger versus 55 percent of those 45 and older would consider changing jobs during the crisis if they felt their current company was not doing enough to protect their employees.

The Indiana University Center for Aging Research's Noll Campbell and University of California, San Francisco Professor Michael Steinman recommend that doctors work with older patients to prevent the negative effects of polypharmacy, or taking multiple prescription medications, reports Healio . Steinman said building reminder tools into electronic health records to discuss drugs with patients is often insufficient, and he noted that "many of those are perceived as useless or annoying." Meanwhile, patient participation in medication management may increase when doctors add a medication review as an item on their problem list. Steinman stressed that avoiding polypharmacy is "not just about having medication information recorded somewhere," but also "about accessing patients' information on a regular basis and structuring it into the workflow during patient assessments." According to Campbell, scheduling visits dedicated exclusively to medication review, using team-based care models, and providing patients with educational resources may remove time barriers. He advised physicians to "use support personnel who have more frequent interactions with patients to identify what is important to the patient, how the patient is feeling, and what are their priorities" every three to six months.

Rising Mountains and other assisted living communities in Montana are offering musical performances to lift the spirits of quarantined residents during the pandemic, reports the Bozeman Daily Chronicle . "Music therapy is not a well-known profession, at least in the state of Montana," says certified music therapist Kirsten Wells, who has performed on guitar for residents while maintaining social distancing. She notes that "some people that can't talk with end-stage dementia can still sing with me. When they hear that song that they know from their younger years, they'll still join in signing with me and the smiles and the laughs and the engagement that you get in those times is worth it." Music therapy can be conducted either in small group sessions or in individual meetings, when Wells engages with clients on a personal level and invites those who may not have verbal abilities to play an instrument or accompany her with movement. For clients with less deteriorated cognition, she will use the songs as a conversation starter, with the goal of improving their mood or creating social engagement. 'What I look for when I interact with them is some kind of change, some kind of positive reaction of improvement," Wells says. "So, even if I just see a twinkle in their eye or that little smile, that's something I might not have gotten without adding music."

A Gladstone Institutes study found that fibrinogen, a key blood coagulation element, plays a role in a molecular and cellular chain reaction that leads to the loss of memory storage neurons within the brain, reports News-Medical . Leakage of fibrinogen from the blood activates microglia and causes them to attack and destroy neurons at the synapses. The researchers generated the first three-dimensional volumetric images of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in humans and mice, then engineered the mice to prevent fibrinogen leakage and maintain microglial dormancy, thus shielding the brain against memory loss. Surprisingly, fibrinogen's presence in healthy brains triggered the same type of changes as in AD, but without any evidence of amyloid plaques. This adds credence to the theory that two separate mechanisms could be inducing dementia. Alternatively, both pathologies could be connected, as people with AD or vascular dementia exhibit deteriorated cognition, while those with both conditions suffer far worse declines than for either disorder alone.

A 12-month study in Sleep analyzed people older than 60 with depression who visited primary care centers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh to explore the link between worsening insomnia and depression, according to U.S. News & World Report . Compared to subjects whose sleep improved, those with compounded insomnia were about 28 times more likely to be diagnosed with major depression at the study's conclusion. Participants whose sleep worsened also had nearly 12 times the likelihood of minor depression and were 10 percent more likely to report thinking of suicide. Meanwhile, those with persistent but not worsening insomnia were more likely to have lasting depression compared to those whose sleep improved — but their risk was not as elevated as whose insomnia worsened. "We can't say that the sleep disturbances we're seeing are necessarily causing the poor depression outcomes," said Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Professor Adam Spira. "But the results suggest that older adults who are being treated for depression and whose sleep problems are persistent or worsening need further clinical attention."

Researchers from Cambridge University, University College London, and Sweden's Lund University have designed an antibody for detecting toxic amyloid-beta oligomers in the brain, which induce dementia by killing healthy tissue, reports the Daily Mail . A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that this antibody could lead to the development of new diagnostic treatments to detect and contain Alzheimer's disease early on. The difficulty of spotting amyloid-beta oligomers due to their heterogeneity has led to differing views on the causes of Alzheimer's, said Cambridge Professor Michele Vendruscolo. "The discovery of an antibody to accurately target oligomers is, therefore, an important step to monitor the progression of the disease, identify its cause, and eventually keep it under control," he added. The researchers targeted specific regions of the proteins in order to generate an antibody that was three times better at detecting them than earlier attempts.

The White House announced on Tuesday that seniors with diabetes will be able to enroll in Medicare plans that cap their insulin co-payments at $35 a month starting in 2021, reports National Public Radio . The new insulin cost options stem from an agreement between the Trump administration, insulin manufacturers, and major insurers. "We brought all of the parties to the table . . . and reached an agreement to deliver insulin at stable and drastically lower out-of-pocket cost for our seniors," President Trump remarked. U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said plans that offer the insulin cap will have higher premiums, costing about $17 more monthly than the average cost of basic plans. "In exchange for a minimal premium increase, beneficiaries get a maximum fixed $35 co-pay for a month's supply of insulin," she explained. Verma added that the new option will ultimately save seniors 66 percent on insulin costs, and should this prove successful, similar policies will hopefully be applied to other costly drugs.

A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies found that 57 percent of employees plan to work full-time or part-time in retirement, reports BenefitsPro . The survey covers three age groups — baby boomers, Generation X, and millennials. Generation X had the highest percentage of those who plan to work either full-time or part-time in retirement at 58 percent, with millennials and boomers coming in second and third with 57 percent and 54 percent, respectively. Among those who only plan to work full-time in retirement, boomers had the highest percentage — 42 percent — when compared to the other generations. Transamerica also reported that 52 percent of workers across all age groups plan to work after the age of 65 or do not plan to retire at all. Among the three generations, 68 percent of boomers expect to work past age 65 or are already doing so, followed by 53 percent of Gen-Xers and 43 percent of millennials. Possible reasons for continuing work beyond retirement age include insufficient savings, and Transamerica Institute CEO Catherine Collinson said the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic is further jeopardizing retirement savings and security.

U.S. pharmacy chains are readying a major flu vaccination push for when the season starts in October, hoping to prevent scores of serious cases that could dovetail with a second explosion of coronavirus infections, reports Reuters . CVS Health is reportedly working to ensure it has vaccine doses available for an expected boost in customers seeking protection against seasonal influenza, with Rite Aid, Walmart, and Walgreens Boots Alliance making similar preparations. Drugmakers also are accelerating production to meet demand. A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 4,428 adults estimated that roughly 60 percent of U.S. adults plan to get flu vaccinations in the fall, while public health officials have said such vaccinations will be crucial to prevent hospitals from becoming swamped with flu and COVID-19 cases. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield has warned that flu and COVID-19 combined could cost Americans a heavier toll than the initial coronavirus epidemic. Experts also said creative ways are needed to ensure that people receive flu vaccinations, as they may be less likely to see doctors in person to avoid possible COVID-19 transmission. Rite Aid noted that social distancing policies may affect workplace flu clinics, but the chain may offer voucher programs to employers and is considering establishing drive-through clinics.