CVS is testing a program in Boston offering free delivery on most drug prescriptions and online purchases, access to a pharmacist helpline, a 20 percent discount on all CVS-branded products, and a monthly $10 coupon, reports CNBC . A CarePass membership costs $48 annually or $5 monthly, which is less than half the price of an Amazon Prime membership. "We think it's a one-of-a-kind in the marketplace, but the reason for doing it is the direct response of the interest that our customers have shown us in the program," says CVS Pharmacy President Kevin Hourican. He notes the goal is to make CVS more enticing to customers than other retailers. CarePass has gone live in more than 350 stores in the Boston area. The company will experiment with the program to see what appeals most to customers, and a future version could include a MinuteClinic offering. "We want this to expand nationwide," Hourican acknowledges. "But we also want to make sure we are ready and prepared and that when we do roll it out nationwide, the program is one that customers can have a great experience with."

A shortage of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Shingrix shingles vaccine due to overwhelming demand is aggravating seniors and providers, reports HealthDay News . Demand skyrocketed after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) designated Shingrix as the preferred shingles vaccine. The CDC's recommended dosage is two administrations two to six months apart for persons 50 and older, even if they previously received the Zostavax vaccine. To help cope with the shortage, GSK has an online tool to help consumers find pharmacies and providers who have offered Shingrix. For those who have never had a shingles shot and Shingrix is unavailable, but need immediate vaccination, Zostavax remains an option. The CDC says the older vaccine may still be used in healthy adults 60 and older. GSK estimates that more than 3 million doses of Shingrix had been administered in the United States through June. "We expect to vaccinate significantly more patients against shingles this year than were vaccinated in total in 2017," says GSK's Sean Clements.

Occupancy rates for senior housing were at 87.9 percent in the second and third quarters of this year, the lowest since 2011, according to The Real Deal . Still, there are plenty who are bullish on the market. A prime example is Related Companies, which announced this past month that it is partnering with manager Atria Senior Living to build $3 billion worth of high-end urban rentals aimed at seniors over the next five years. Overzealous building is a concern, though, as many boomers likely won't move into this housing until they start reaching around 80 years old, which isn't until 2026. "Everyone sees the demand, and they can't quite figure out exactly when to time it," observes Brookdale Senior Living CEO Lucinda Baier.

More than one in three (35 percent) Americans freelanced in 2018, according to a survey of 6,001 working adults by Upwork and Freelancers Union cited by Business Wire . The freelance workforce has grown from 53.0 million to 56.7 million, or 7 percent, in five years. The nonfreelance workforce, meanwhile, grew just 2 percent (from 103.0 million to 105.3 million) in five years. Sixty-one percent of freelancers now freelance by choice compared to 53 percent in 2014. This is driven especially by growth among the younger generations and full-time freelancers. In fact, according to the research, the younger generations are freelancing more than any other generation in the workforce. Full-time freelancers now make up 28 percent of freelancers (up 11 percentage points since 2014).

Although there are a number of clinical drug trials targeting Alzheimer's underway, millions of seniors who would qualify to participate are unable to do so because of a language barriers, reports WABE . Few Alzheimer's studies have recruited medical interpreters to help applicants complete the specialized neuropsychological testing component required. A study published in Clinical Neuropsychology says a key challenge is that clinicians and researchers have warned against the use of interpreters to facilitate neuropsychological testing based on clinical experiences, observations, and anecdotal evidence that they affect outcomes. Obstacles to Alzheimer's trials may have the most profound effect on U.S. Hispanics, with U.S. Census estimates that nearly 6 million Americans are 60 or older, including about 2.2 million Spanish speakers who are 65 or older and are not English-fluent. LatinosAgainstAlzheimer's Executive Director Jason Resendez expects such challenges to worsen in coming decades. "We know Latinos will make up a bigger and bigger share of the community living with Alzheimer's in the future," he says. "And we know that we don't have the workforce pipeline in place to accurately diagnose and enroll these folks into cutting-edge research."

Arbors Memory Care Community in Sparks, Nev., is using new technology to help seniors with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, reports KOLOTV . The It's Never 2 Late (IN2L) program offers cognitive stimulation as well as wellness programs for residents. "It can be individualized so that if Jane was from Oklahoma, we can take them all the way to Oklahoma," says Arbors' Viki Lowrey. "Or if Jeff likes to play certain games, it makes it very individualized." Arbors intern Jennifer Marshall notes customization and individualized care can help improve memory. She says, "It's really cool. It sparks their memory, and we go off on that with more meaningful interaction."

A study published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology found a link between excess high or low body mass index (BMI) measurements and a higher risk of morbidity from a broad spectrum of major diseases, reports CNN . London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Professor Krishnan Bhaskaran says the goal of the research is "to help researchers, healthcare recipients, and doctors better understand how underweight and excess weight might be associated with diseases such as cancer, respiratory disease, and liver disease." According to the researchers, maintaining a BMI in the range of 21 to 25 kilograms per square meter is connected with the lowest level of morbidity, while BMI outside this range had a "J-shaped association" with nearly all causes of death. BMI of 30 or more, or obesity, was associated with a higher prevalence of heart disease and cancer. "BMI higher than 25, the upper end of healthy, is linked to most cancers, most cardiovascular diseases, respiratory disease, and liver and kidney conditions," Bhaskaran notes. Meanwhile, being underweight was linked to a "surprising wide range of deaths," such as dementia, Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease, and suicide.

A tight labor market is causing U.S. companies to boost pay and benefits packages in a bid to attract and retain employees, according to a recent poll of 275 firms conducted by consultancy Willis Towers Watson and cited by the Wall Street Journal . Two-thirds of the businesses surveyed have enhanced their employment packages, which include compensation and retirement and financial benefits, among other perks. Practices vary widely between firms, reports Carole Hathaway, Willis Towers Watson's global rewards head. Just 49 percent of respondents said they understood which total rewards offerings their employees valued. "The economic situation is having an impact equally as the competition for scarce talent," Hathaway said. Sixty-one percent of the firms surveyed said they are considering providing workers with greater flexibility in connection to benefits, career options, and/or working arrangements.

The Administration for Community Living (ACL), in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and other national partners, is hosting a technical assistance webinar series showcasing innovative strategies and approaches states are taking to implement the federal settings criteria for home and community-based services (HCBS). The series is designed to help ACL's networks, partners, and external stakeholders identify strategic ways for engaging in their state's continuous HCBS systems transformation efforts. One webinar will detail an overview of innovative state strategies in establishing assessment, validation, and remediation of HCBS environments; training/technical assistance models states have launched to ensure providers can make modifications to comply with the rule; and ways to continuously monitor HCBS settings. Another webinar concerns a review of promising practices that states are using for provider transformation, and their strategies to build provider capacity to enhance community integration and availability of non-disability specific settings. The final webinar will review creative instances of state policy reforms, reimbursement/rate reordering, and meaningful stakeholder engagement activities to enable ongoing HCBS systems-change.

A study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society focuses on exercise's impact on reducing the risk of falls among people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia, reports ConsumerAffairs . The researchers estimated that more than 60 percent of people with AD/dementia fall every year, and are twice as likely to fall compared to those without AD/dementia. The goal of the analysis was to determine whether AD/dementia subjects with neuropsychiatric symptoms were less likely to fall when exercise was a regular part of their routines. A comparison was made between participants who had community care without exercise with those who participated in group or home exercise. The findings indicated that participants with severe neuropsychiatric symptoms—such as depression or anxiety—had a higher risk for falls, although exercise proved to be beneficial. Moreover, those who had less severe symptoms, but did not exercise, still had a high risk of falling. People in the exercise cohorts were at less risk for falls, the reverse of those not in the exercise groups. The researchers think incorporating exercise into a routine of persons with AD/dementia will likely lower the risk of falls.