Three European retirement communities are using a robot that reminds older residents where they have put things and helps them exercise as part of a trial to counter cognitive decline in later age, reports Horizon . This robot assistant was developed under the ENRICHME project, with the University of Lincoln's Nicola Bellotto noting the goal of the initiative "was to assist and monitor people with cognitive impairments and offer basic interactions to help a person maintain their cognitive abilities for longer." The robot travels around providing reminders about medication and offering regular physical and mental exercise, while it also can keep track of items that are easily misplaced. In each community where it was deployed, the robot helped one or more residents, and was connected to sensors installed throughout buildings to monitor the movements and activities of participants. "All this information was used by the robot," Bellotto says. "If a person was in the bedroom or kitchen the robot could rely on the sensors to know where the person is." The robot also was equipped with a thermal camera to measure the temperature of a person in real time, and calculate their respiration and heartbeat to determine whether they were experiencing high levels of stress related to a particular activity and inform the machine to take appropriate action.

Companies have stubbornly withheld salary increases over the last several years, opting to "fatten the bonus pool" instead, reports the Boston Globe . Now, a new Aon Hewitt survey shows many firms are taking those bonuses away and ever-so-slightly hiking salaries. "Companies allocated 3 percent of their budgets to raises — a high since the recession — and they plan on allocating 3.1 percent of their budget to salary next year," Aon Hewitt researchers report. This finding is consistent with a Willis Towers Watson survey from earlier in the year. Meanwhile, bonus pay has decreased in 2018 and, along with it, total spending on compensation. Last year, companies allocated 15.7 percent of their total budgets to salary and bonuses, compared to 15.5 percent this year. Aon Hewitt polled 1,026 employers in June and July for its results.

Mounting evidence detailed in a study from the JPMorgan Chase Institute suggests the so-called gig economy may not deliver the financial returns many workers are expecting, reports the Associated Press . The study casts doubt on earlier predictions that freelancing would comprise most U.S. employment by 2027, noting for example that among drivers, 58 percent work only three months or less each year via online economy websites. JPMorgan Chase's review of online platforms providing home improvement work estimates that 33 percent of their employees perform gig work for only three months a year or less. "People aren't relying on platforms for their primary source of income," says the Institute's Fiona Grieg. Furthermore, a slowdown in gig workers is evident due to declining salaries among freelance drivers in response to fierce competition. The study found in March 2018, about 1.6 percent of families participated in the gig economy, versus 1.5 percent last year. The Institute observed transportation's increasing dominance in the gig economy, with driving accounting for 56 percent of all gig work, up from 6 percent in 2013. Meanwhile, selling items via online sites has dived from 72 percent to 19 percent. "It's really those transportation platforms that have grown tremendously and now represent the lion's share of the dollars and participation," Grieg notes.

A study published in The Gerontologist found older adults at risk for falls are less likely to require fall-related hospitalizations when they have a "fall plan of care," reports Medical Xpress . "Fall prevention activities such as raising awareness about fall risk, identifying individual risk for fall, discussing fall risk prevention strategies, and providing referrals to fall risk reduction programs in the community for older adults were shown to reduce fall-related hospitalizations," says Binghamton University Professor Yvonne Johnston. "As a result of these interventions, older adults may be more conscious of conditions that contribute to falls, take steps to modify their home environment to reduce fall risk, and participate in falls prevention programs and physical activities that improve strength and balance. These steps, what we called development of a Fall Plan of Care, likely contributed to the observed lower rates of fall-related hospitalizations for older adults who were identified as being at risk for fall." The team classified older adults screened for fall risk into three groups, including at-risk and no Fall Plan of Care (FPOC), at-risk with a FPOC, and not-at-risk. They showed that older adults at-risk for fall with a FPOC were 0.6 times less likely to have a fall-related hospitalization compared to those without a FPOC, and their post-intervention chances were similar to those who were not at risk. Johnston says the work demonstrates that healthcare systems can successfully deploy fall prevention screening and referral for older adults in the primary care setting.

A new study from the AARP Foundation found that 35 percent of older Americans experience loneliness, with the over-45 lonely population having grown significantly since 2010, reports Time . AARP determined people who were physically isolated and who had small social networks were most likely to be lonely, while loneliness was less likely among those who reported large and diverse social groups; regular contact with friends, neighbors, and relations; participation in community and religious groups; marriage; and regular sexual activity. Good mental and physical health also correlated with lower levels of loneliness, and adults with higher levels of education and income were less likely to be lonely. In addition, loneliness levels were found to decline with age, with 46 percent of adults ages 45 to 49 classified as lonely, versus 24 percent of those older than 70. A key finding of the study is that more social contact reduces loneliness, as subjects qualifying as lonely tended to have fewer people with whom they said they could "discuss matters of personal importance" or turn to for support. Moreover, frequent interaction with acquaintances on social media appeared to modestly boost a person's likelihood of being lonely. Also of note is that loneliness does not seem to be caused by a single event.

A new alert from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) advises retirees to check to see if they are having enough taxes withheld during the year, as part of a Paycheck Checkup campaign to lead taxpayers to the agency's online withholding calculator to double check, reports the Washington Post . According to the IRS, retirees who receive a pension or annuity check might have to revise the amount of federal income tax withheld, because if they do not have enough taken out they could owe taxes and perhaps be penalized. "Among other reforms, President Trump's new law changed the tax rates and brackets, increased the standard deduction, removed personal exemptions, and limited or discontinued certain deductions," the alert warns. "As a result, many taxpayers may need to raise or lower the amount of tax they pay in during the year." The withholding calculator is mainly for people getting a paycheck, but pensioners can use it as well to estimate their total income, deductions, and tax credits for this year. The IRS recommends calculator users treat their pension as if it is wage income, entering the gross amount of each payment, how often they receive a payment, and the amount of tax withheld so far in 2018. "A little-noticed effect of last year's tax overhaul is that many pension payments are now larger, reflecting the new lower tax rates in effect for 2018," notes the Wall Street Journal's Laura Saunders. "But this bump-up increases the risk that recipients will be underwithheld at tax time next year — and therefore owe a penalty. To avoid this, retirees should immediately check their withholding and adjust it if necessary."

A recent alert from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) details how investors can identify and protect themselves from investment scams associated with the cleanup or recovery of areas devastated by Hurricane Florence, reports Financial Advisor . "In addition to charity frauds, we often see investment scammers try to exploit a variety of hurricane-related opportunities," says FINRA's Gerri Walsh. The regulator says financial advisers need to be cognizant of the fact that investors, particularly seniors, may be targeted by aggressive sales tactics and unsolicited emails, texts, phone calls, messaging apps, and social media communications promising high returns, lucrative contracts, cutting-edge technology, or other claims tied to thriving after the disaster. The most frequent types of scams pitch the stocks of companies that claim to be associated with cleanup and rebuilding efforts, often promoting alleged breakthroughs in science and technology to address current and future flood-related issues. "Investigate before you invest," FINRA recommends. "Never rely solely on information received in an unsolicited email, text message or cold call from an 'analyst' or 'account executive.'" State securities regulators also have issued an advisory that investors be aware of opportunistic investment or charitable scams in the wake of the widespread damage caused by Hurricane Florence.

A 2017 survey by the National Safety Council estimated that 70 percent of employers reported their businesses had been affected by prescription drug abuse among workers, reports the New York Times . Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found a minimum of 217 workers died from an unintentional drug or alcohol overdose while at work in 2016, up 32 percent from 2015. Workplace overdose deaths have been rising at least 25 percent annually since 2010, not counting the overdoses that do not end in death or accidents caused primarily or partly by drug impairment. Unfortunately, many employers ignore addiction within their workforce, or are poorly equipped or unwilling to address the issue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined construction workers had the highest numbers of heroin- and methadone-related overdose deaths from 2007 to 2012, and many workers become addicts when they take a prescription intended to help get them back to work after an injury. Theoretically, employers are uniquely positioned to confront opioid misuse via random testing and spotting erratic behavior or absenteeism, and they could amend their health insurance policies to limit opioid prescriptions to five days and waive deductibles for addiction treatment.

A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found 40 percent of older adults who leave the hospital are discharged to home care or a long-term care community, which, combined with where they lived prior to hospitalization, affects their risk of readmission, reports News-Medical . "The information from this study will contribute to a better understanding of the extent to which complicated transitions to and from hospital influence readmission among older adults, which is essential for system planning, performance measurement, and the targeting and testing of interventions to improve transitions and reduce readmissions," notes the University of Alberta's Andrea Gruneir. The researchers examined 701,527 hospitalized adults over 65 in Ontario, determining that 31.5 percent were discharged to home care and 9.5 percent to long-term care, with 3 percent newly admitted to long-term care. More than half were women and 40 percent had five or more chronic conditions. Ninety-eight percent had visited a doctor at least once during the year before hospital admission, 47 percent had visited the emergency department, and 10 percent had been admitted. Persons discharged with home care were the most likely to be readmitted, and when readmitted, 19 percent were there for two or more weeks and nearly 20 percent were designated as alternate level of care (ALC), the longest of any study cohort. Conversely, people who were discharged to long-term care as a new admission were least likely to be readmitted, but their first hospital stay was most often for dementia. More than 80 percent were in the hospital for two or more weeks and were designated as ALC, which means they no longer require acute hospital care but cannot be discharged as the appropriate level of care required is not available in another setting.

A new study from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) finds opioid-related hospital stays and emergency department (ED) visits for persons 65 and older rose 54 percent and 100 percent, respectively, between 2010 and 2015, reports the American Hospital Association . Analysis of data from AHRQ's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project determined the 124,300 hospital stays and 36,200 ED visits in 2015 for seniors with opioid-related diagnoses also exceeded the average cost for seniors with other conditions and were more likely to lead to discharge to a post-acute care center. A second AHRQ study estimated about one in five seniors filled at least one outpatient opioid prescription in 2015-2016. "The statistics in these reports provide important new insights into the opioid crisis and its impact on one of the nation's most vulnerable populations," said AHRQ Director Gopal Khanna. "The information is essential in supporting the Department of Health and Human Services' and HHS Secretary Alex Azar's ongoing efforts to confront the epidemic."