Providing more options for seniors

POINT OF VIEW Project 2020
yahooBuzzArticleId = window.location.href;




-->
BY JUDY LEITNER AND JIM KILLACKEY Comments 0
Published: October 24, 2009
Keeping Oklahoma’s senior citizens healthy and in their homes and their communities for as long as possible without needing nursing home care is a primary goal of Project 2020, proposed legislation that has the backing of U.S. Rep. John Sullivan, R-Tulsa, and numerous statewide eldercare organizations.
Multimedia
Photoview all photos


Supporters say that if Project 2020 becomes part of national health care reforms, it could reduce Medicare and Medicaid expenditures by some $2.7 billion during its first five years.
Funds could be used to open more adult day care centers, establish additional senior center programs, provide meals and transportation to their doctors for seniors without vehicles, start more elder abuse-prevention programs, and offer more legal assistance to the growing number of Americans age 65 and older.
Medical equipment covered by Project 2020 could be used in the home to aid in a better quality of life. That could include items such as oxygen tents, nebulizers, sleep machines, catheters, diapers, hospital beds, wheelchairs, blood-testing strips and blood-glucose monitors for diabetics.
Project 2020 also would prevent people from spending their life’s savings to qualify for Medicaid nursing-home eligibility. It might be used, supporters say, to promote fall-prevention strategies, physical fitness activities, better nutrition and chronic-disease management for seniors.
"I believe it’s important for us to re-think the way we deliver care to the elderly. This bill provides a community-based strategy to ensure we meet long-term-care challenges ... and avoid more costly institutional care,” said Sullivan, co-sponsor of the Project 2020 initiative, which got its name because by the year 2020, one in six Americans will be 65 and older.
According to the National Association of State Units on Aging, initial estimates indicate that Project 2020 has the potential to reach more than 40 million Americans.
The bill also would help make sure the health care work force will be ready to care for an aging population; that could be done by expanding training for geriatric physicians.
No price tag has yet been attached to Project 2020.
A recent AARP report said Medicaid dollars spent on home- and community-based services can support nearly three people for every one person in a nursing home, according to Sean Voskuhl, AARP associate state director.
Another survey, Voskuhl said, showed that 89 percent of Americans age 50 or older prefer to live in their homes for as long as possible. Oklahoma has 317 nursing homes with about 18,000 residents.
In addition, Voskuhl said, Project 2020 should improve assistance for family caregivers who help seniors with daily living responsibilities.
Nearly eight in 10 Americans say they would be more likely to support a health care reform proposal if that initiative included home- and community-based long-term care coverage for seniors. Sullivan is the lead Republican sponsor of HR 2853, also known as Project 2020 and the Empowered at Home Act of 2009.
Leitner and Killackey are members of the Oklahoma the Oklahoma State Council on Aging, the advisory board to the Aging Services Division of the Department of Human Services.
Supporters say that if Project 2020 becomes part of national health care reforms, it could reduce Medicare and Medicaid expenditures by some $2.7 billion during its first five years.
Read more: http://newsok.com/providing-more-options-for-seniors/article/3411425#ixzz0V8OhNA2C

Dan Fisher RN, BSN
President
A & D Home Health Solutions, Inc
Phone: 860-667-2275
Fax: 860-667-2276

Check out these articles
http://seniorcare101.blogspot.com
www.adhomehealthsolutions.com
www.ctcarecouncil.org