Helen Kales, founder of the Program for Positive Aging at the University of Michigan, has developed a behavioral approach to dementia care that puts the caregiver first and emphasizes training and support for them as much as for the person with dementia, reports NPR . "We think about dementia as a problem with memory, but it's really behavioral," says Kales, who points to the limited effectiveness of psychiatric medications often prescribed to manage behavior in individuals diagnosed with dementia. "We realized we needed to do something different," Kales says. "We just can't train enough physicians to provide dementia care. Instead, we need to take the daily treatment and management of these individuals out of the hands of physicians and put it into the hands of the caregivers themselves." The trick seems to be training family caregivers to spot triggers of behavior and problem-solve around those triggers, to look for underlying causes, and then to creatively craft strategies, Kales says. Kales has developed DICE, an acronym representing the four main steps of the process: Describe a behavior, thinking about what happens and the context in which it occurs; Investigate its possible causes; Create and implement a plan to address the behavior; and Evaluate the results to determine what worked.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has received reports about a scam designed to trick people out of their personal information by telling them that they need to "reactivate" their supposedly "suspended" Social Security Numbers (SSNs). The scammers say the SSN was suspended because of some connection to fraud or other criminal activity. They provide a number to call to clear it up, where they will ask for personal information. SSNS, however, do not get suspended, says the FTC .

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is waiving some Medicare and other insurance requirements, opening healthcare coverage special enrollment opportunities and taking steps to ensure dialysis patients aren't deprived of services as Hurricane Florence threatens the Eastern seaboard, reports Healthcare Finance News . "We are coordinating with federal and local officials to make sure that our beneficiaries, many of whom are some of America's most vulnerable citizens, have access to the healthcare they need," said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. As part of the effort, CMS has issued a number of blanket waivers and other provider-specific requests for specific types of hospitals and other facilities in North Carolina and South Carolina. The agency has also opened special enrollment periods for all Medicare beneficiaries and certain individuals seeking health plans offered through the federal health insurance exchange. CMS is enabling continued access to dialysis services through the Kidney Community Emergency Response program, which has been activated and is working with the End Stage Renal Disease Network of the South Atlantic to assess dialysis facilities in the potentially impacted areas with regard to such things as generators, alternate water supplies, education and materials for patients. Additionally, Medicare beneficiaries who lose or sustain damage to their durable medical equipment such as prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies as a result of the hurricane will see the agency waive certain requirements to ensure beneficiaries regain the medical equipment and supplies they need.

Legislation that would give long-term part-time workers access to workplace retirement savings plans and add spousal protections for defined benefit plan participants was introduced Wednesday by Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The proposed Women's Pension Protection Act would also support financial literacy programs and other measures to enhance retirement security for women, reports Pensions & Investments . The measure has 16 Senate co-sponsors and has been endorsed by several advocacy groups, including the AARP. For long-term part-time workers, the legislation would amend the minimum participation standards for defined contribution plans, allowing them to participate when they reach age 21 or one year of service or at least 500 hours of service for two consecutive years. Plans failing to permit participation could be subject to a civil penalty of $10,000 per year per employee.

Among Americans aged 65 and older, the poorest are the most likely to have used prescription opioids, according to a study published by the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences . The poor had about double the rate of opioid use compared to wealthier groups, largely because they could not afford alternative treatments, reports MarketWatch . There are long-term risks from use of opioids even when they are used exactly as prescribed, noted Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk, an assistant professor in the University at Buffalo's sociology department and the study's author. These risks include increased risk of depression, suppressed immune systems, and an increase in mortality from causes other than overdose, including cardiovascular and respiratory events. "Policies and practices should make sure that disadvantaged groups receive information about the risks of opioids and have access to alternate pain treatments," said Grol-Prokopczyk.

A measure designed to boost emergency preparedness for assisted living communities was recently signed by California Governor Brown and will take effect January 1, 2019. The measure will require: * Initial and annual training on emergency preparedness plan for all staff * Drills, at least quarterly, under varied emergency situations, for each shift * Annual plan review and updates as needed * Evacuation chairs for multistory buildings (effective July 1, 2019) * Identification of two evacuation sites with one being outside the immediate area * Procedures for confirming location of residents * Staff access to resident information and vehicle and facility keys * Designated assembly point(s) for use during an evacuation * Identification of utility shut-off locations * Location and operation of generators, if used * Communicating with the Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) during an emergency * Two methods of communicating during an emergency, and resident/family awareness of those methods * Staff knowledge of their role during an emergency * Encouraging residents to participate in drills Click here for more details.

The older adult population in the Los Angeles area is larger than in 41 states, and between 2010 and 2030, its population of people over 65 is expected to nearly double to 18 percent, from 1.1 million to 2.1 million. About two years ago, the leaders of Los Angeles and L.A. County unveiled Purposeful Aging Los Angeles, a plan to make the city "the most age-friendly" place in the world, reports Next Avenue . The Purposeful Aging Los Angeles team received 14,105 responses to a survey of residents 18 and older and local government staffers identifying community priorities. It held "listening sessions" led by AARP and two Older Adult Summits; recruited research scientists to analyze data; convened community leaders and experts; created a task force to prevent and respond to wandering by residents with memory-related impairments; and launched the Dementia Friends USA campaign as well as the Aging Mastery Program to engage older adults in their communities. Recently, Purposeful Aging Los Angeles released a 104-page report laying out an action plan based on its learnings, with 34 recommendations to start turning the idea into reality between now and 2021.

Social Security is broadly progressive, meaning it is relatively more beneficial for lower-income recipients, reports the Los Angeles Times . But that is changing, mostly due to a widening gap in life expectancy between rich and poor. Although higher-income individuals receive lower monthly benefits relative to their lifetime earnings than lower-income workers, they collect benefits for longer periods on average simply because they live longer. The trend has triggered a debate among Social Security advocates about how to restore the program's traditional balance. Among the ideas being debated is reducing the credit for delayed retirement. The delayed retirement credit has been getting more attention as a means of redressing the mortality imbalance in part because it is so clearly a boon for wealthier workers. But the people who would be most disadvantaged tend to have the strongest political voice. It is also true that many retirees and near-retirees have made their retirement choices based on the existing credits and penalties, and it would not be fair to change the rules for them. That means that any alteration probably cannot be implemented in the near term.

With Hurricane Florence predicted to hit the North Carolina coast on Friday, health officials are scrambling to keep older adults, seen as the most vulnerable demographic, out of harms way, reports Kaiser Health News . In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, an analysis of 986 Louisiana residents who died showed the mean age of victims was 69, and nearly two-thirds were older than 65. And last year, after 12 residents overheated and died at a nursing home in Hollywood Hills, Fla., in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Irma, the state passed legislation requiring nursing homes and assisted living communities to have backup generators capable of keeping residents cool. Studies suggest, however, that the lessons may not have been learned countrywide. A study from the National Academy of Sciences found that "we are only marginally more prepared to evacuate vulnerable populations now than we were during Hurricane Katrina," according to Lauren Sauer, director of operations at the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response in Baltimore. Meanwhile, states are taking steps to ensure older adults are protected from Florence. For example, about 204,000 Medicare recipients in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina rely on home ventilators, oxygen concentrators, intravenous infusion pumps, and other electrically powered devices, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The CMS has created a tool called emPOWER 3.0 to help states check up on them. Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina will open emergency shelters for people with special medical needs. These shelters provide "limited support," but not medical care, for people with special needs, according to the South Carolina Emergency Management Division.

When Simon McDermott's father, Ted, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2013, everything changed, reports the New York Post . Ted began getting aggressive with his wife as a result of the disease, prompting Simon to take action. Moving back home, Simon began creating "Carpool Karaoke"-style YouTube videos of him and his dad singing popular ditties. Ted had made a career for himself as a club singer, and amazingly, he could still remember the words to those old songs. Simon also noticed that his father seemed happy when he was singing. The series quickly went viral. Their most popular video has more than 4.5 million views and has raised more than £250,000 for Alzheimer's Society. In November 2016, Simon and his father were awarded a Pride of Britain Award for their fundraising efforts.