Vaccine hesitancy among senior living and skilled nursing staff members took another hit Tuesday after federal health officials recommended a pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after reports of blood clots in six women.
The Biden administration is poised to reinstate two federal rules, terminated under the previous administration, that it says are key to enforcing fair housing laws barring discrimination.
A $9 billion increase in federal funding to increase the supply and improve energy efficiency in affordable senior housing as well as to end homelessness are part of a White House discretionary funding request for fiscal year 2022 made Friday. HUD noted that the request also includes $180 million to support 2,000 units of new housing for the elderly and people with disabilities.
Last week, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), chairwoman of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, began circulating a sign-on letter to her House colleagues in support of strong rental assistance funding levels for several Department of Housing and Urban Development programs, including those that provide assistance to older adults.
Successful aging requires a range of support services and housing options. But the system is rigged toward nursing homes, with many older adults spending their later years in those institutions because regulations, payment systems and outdated models of care make options difficult to provide.
Creating a standard of dementia training for assisted living and other caregivers is the goal of proposed legislation in Florida, but a senior living organization says that not targeting training by population served is a mistake.
To remain financially viable in a post-COVID world, nursing homes need to think more broadly and consider ways that they can serve as a hub for other aging services. That’s the message presented to the long-term care industry Thursday by Stuart Butler, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. Butler spoke to attendees of a LeadingAge coronavirus update call.
The federal government is providing almost $100 million in grants to states and territories to increase COVID-19 vaccinations among older adults in independent living communities, affordable senior housing units, individual homes and other settings.
Many large employers are expecting to offer COVID-19 vaccines on-site for workers by the end of the year, finds a survey released last week by the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions. The agency surveyed 151 employers and other purchasers and found that 80% of very large firms, or those with more than 10,000 employees, anticipate offering vaccines to employees on-site.
Modernizing aging buildings, increasing affordable senior housing stock, investing in workforce recruitment and retention, and financing are key factors in a blueprint for building the national aging infrastructure unveiled Thursday by LeadingAge.
