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Tag: older adults
05/22/2023

Addiction Recovery Provider Uses AI to Monitor Telehealth Meds for Opioid Use Disorder

Article Excerpt: In senior living communities and nursing homes, it’s often a challenge to keep residents with opioid-use disorder in treatment and monitor their medications when they can’t visit the doctor. An addiction medicine practice in Indiana found a fix by creating a platform combining smartphone and AI technology to connect patients with doctors and help providers comply with treatment regulations.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/9xuzfu5y

Article Source: McKnights Senior Living

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
04/03/2023

Small Wearable Sticker to Detect Health Problems without Painful Needle

Article Excerpt: A small, sticky patch that can detect important health markers in real-time is being trialled in Brisbane. Creators of the ‘micro-wearable’ sticker believe the skin monitoring sensor will one day be used to detect “unpredictable and serious” health complications, like heart attacks. But currently, Australian company WearOptimo is trialling its hydration sensor, which could help tackle a “silent killer” that is estimated to contribute to one in four hospitalisations of elderly people.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/4vnpcxe2

Article Source: 9News

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ;
01/23/2023

Extra Belly Fat at Midlife May Increase Risk of Disability Later in Life

Article Excerpt: Scientists in Norway looked at data from about 4,500 people age 45 or older at the study’s start for an average of 21 years, and discovered that individuals who had a high waist circumference measurement at the beginning were twice as likely to be frail or pre-frail (meaning at high risk of becoming frail) than people who started out with a normal waist size…. John Batsis, MD, an associate professor of geriatric medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill also not involved with the new study, says excess belly fat can contribute to frailty. “Visceral fat promotes inflammation, which then has more widespread effects on other organs and one’s physiology — including muscle and changes in body composition, important alterations in skeletal muscle mass and strength. [These effects] often lead to frailty and mobility disability,” he says.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/284m2uck

Article Source: Everyday Health

Posted in: Epidemiology // Tagged: ; ; ;
09/07/2022

Medicare’s Annual Wellness Visits Fail to Meet Needs of Older Adult, Study Says

Article Excerpt: Medicare annual wellness visits do not adequately meet the wellness needs of the diverse population of U.S. adults, according to research conducted at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Physicians at the medical school weighed the opportunities gained and lost through the one-size-fits-all approach to Medicare annual wellness visits, according to a Sept. 6 news release. Annual medical visits address disease prevention and the promotion of health and wellness and are an important part of medical care for older adults. Medicare initiated annual wellness visits as part of the program 10 years ago. John Batsis, MD, associate professor in the division of geriatric medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said there is a missed opportunity to use the Medicare annual wellness visit in a manner to optimize quality of life and physical function among the millions of older adults in the United States.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/3yhzpx7d

Article Source: Becker’s Hospital Review

Posted in: Regulation & Policy // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ;
09/06/2022

Doctors Assess Opportunities Gained, Lost through Medicare’s Annual Wellness Visits

Article Excerpt: While medical visits that address disease prevention and the promotion of health and wellness are important parts of medical care for older adults, when Medicare was introduced in 1965, it did not address this important component of health care. Medicare took an important step to correct this deficit when it initiated Medicare annual wellness visits (AWV) ten years ago. AWV’s emphasis on disease prevention and health promotion for older adults was a huge step forward, however the current “one size fits all” approach does not adequately meet the wellness needs of a diverse population of older adults. In their recent special article in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, Patrick P Coll, MD, medical director for senior health and associate director for clinical geriatrics at the UConn Center on Aging at UConn Health, and John A. Batsis, MD, associate professor in the division of geriatric medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues reviewed the need to redesign AWV’s in order to optimally identify issues that are important to each individual patient.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/2bxppd3n

Article Source: UNC Health News

Posted in: Regulation & Policy // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ;
07/26/2022

Research Team Receives $7 Million Funding Award to Study Most Effective Way of Sharing Clinic Visit Information with Older Adults

Article Excerpt: A Dartmouth-led research group, including investigators from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, and Harvard Medical School, has received a five-year, $7 million funding award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Their project will assess the effectiveness of visit information provided to older adult patients and caregivers—as an audio recording compared to reviewing the physician note of the visit using the patient electronic health portal—on quality of life… “Providing written summaries of office visits through online patient portals is a widely adopted approach to close this information gap,” explains Principal Investigator Paul Barr, PhD, an associate professor of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, and Center for Technology & Behavioral Health at the Geisel School of Medicine… “But it hasn’t been clear if this is the best way to share information,” he says. “Visit audio recordings have emerged as another evidence-based strategy to share information. This has resulted in a decisional dilemma for patients and healthcare leaders who ask the question, ‘What is the most effective approach to communicate healthcare visit information to older adults living in the community?’”

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/shmbd3pt

Article Source: Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine News. Also posted on News-Medical.Net.

Posted in: Methodologies & Analytics // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ;
06/08/2022

Improving Behavioral Health Care For Older Americans: If Not Now, When?

Article Excerpt: Telemedicine and technological procedures have important roles in the care of older adults as this population and its demand for behavioral health care grow. Despite access limitations and some age-related health challenges such as vision or hearing problems, cognitive decline, and decreased motor skills that may make telemedicine difficult for some, older adults want to follow technological developments and can successfully adapt to telemedicine. Moreover, age-related challenges have not been shown to block older adults from successfully using telemedicine. Provider best practices have been developed and can include practice runs with specified platforms, collaborating with patient family/caregiver, using assisted technologies, and so forth. Providers can set up older adults with training and tools necessary for successful telemedicine adoption, and older adults demonstrated high stakeholder satisfaction with telemedicine.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/2p9edepd

Article Source: Health Affairs

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
05/26/2022

Meet Grandma’s New Robot Pal

Article Excerpt: New York State is giving hundreds of “companion robots” to seniors at risk of social isolation, The Verge reports. Named ElliQ, the lamp-esque robots — from Israeli AI firm Intuition Robotics — are designed to make small talk, crack jokes and more. ElliQ’s “face” pivots toward whomever it’s speaking with, lending the bots a disarming, Pixar-like quality. A companion touchscreen can display pictures and other data (like weather reports) and handle video calls. Why it matters: Researchers have linked social isolation to all sorts of negative health outcomes: Loneliness is associated with a 50% higher risk of dementia, 32% increased risk of stroke and 29% greater risk of heart disease, and “significantly increases a person’s risk of premature death from all causes,” per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/3u49dwrp

Article Source: Axios

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
05/17/2022

Geisel Researchers Receive $4 Million Grant to Improve Office Visit Interactions Between People Living with Dementia, Care Partners, and Clinicians

Article Excerpt: A team of researchers at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and New York University (NYU) Grossman School of Medicine has received a $4 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to improve “triadic” interactions between patients living with dementia, their care partners, and their clinicians. An estimated 6.5 million Americans aged 65 or older currently live with Alzheimer’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease-related dementia, and that number is projected to rise to nearly 13 million by 2050, placing an even greater burden on patients, caregivers, and the healthcare system. People living with dementia and their care partners (typically family members or friends) rely on primary care clinic visits for information about their disease, its management, and community referrals. While research has shown that quality interpersonal communication is associated with improved health outcomes, the degree to which effective communication is achieved during triadic visits is unknown, and few interventions have been developed to support it.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/yhmz8phe

Article Source: Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine News

Posted in: Methodologies & Analytics // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;