The Mental Health Status Of Elderly Patients

The final article I analyzed was titled “Aging Parents of Adults with Serious Mental Illness” and was written by Jennifer Van Pelt. This article sought to address the type of support parents caring for special needs adult children require as they age. It discussed how parents are the primary caregivers to children with a severe mental illness, or SMI, throughout the majority of the child’s life. The amount of care provided to adults with SMI by their aging parents is so substantial that if parental caregivers stopped providing care, public programs could never handle it. The author of this article wanted to put more focus on assisting the aging caregiver population, increase their emotional well-being, and lower their stress burden through the use of a social work home-based intervention program. In the pilot study, families received instruction on problem-solving techniques, education about the adult child’s particular mental illness, and sessions that included cognitive therapy, stress management, behavioral management, and future planning. This initial study yielded promising results, including greater life satisfaction and less emotional stress reported by aging parents. The author concludes the article by discussing the importance of planning for the future and how the adult child with SMI will be taken care of after the parents’ deaths.

Statistically, the majority of older adults require continual health care for at least one chronic condition, half of this group for multiple chronic conditions, and more than half are managing multiple prescription medications. In older adult groups without chronic illness, there is still a high demand for health care access for “acute conditions as well as for extensive preventative care services recommended by evidence-based guidelines, such as medical screenings and vaccinations” (Thorpe et al., 2011, p. 2). Education from research is necessary to address the efficacy of health care delivery within the communities nationwide, and to mitigate the disparities within a flawed system. “As this vulnerable population is expected to double by the year 2030, efforts to identify and eliminate disparities in access for older adults are among the most pressing health care issues for the 21st century” (Thorpe et al., 2011, p. 2). Ultimately, through exploration of predictive risk factors in the older adult population, along with implementation of various approaches for intervention and policy, health care accessibility for this vulnerable population can be greatly improved.

For Plan A the periodic health exam is not covered and for Plan B it says to see the brochure. I would use a periodic health exam as a healthy adult as a check up to make sure everything's running smoothly.

The third weeks of my level II FW has been good. I got to meet new two to three of the old Senior plus member who had not be coming since I started my FW. Howard County Office of Aging is designed for seniors from 18 years and above with mental or physical disabilities. However, the seniors must be independent or need Min A in some area. The seniors live in different places such as, long term care facilities, communities, live independently or with families and attend the program for socialization in order to maintain their present level of functioning. More so, they have different diagnoses such as Parkinson’s disease, Dementia, Intellectual Developmental

According to California legislature, Bill AB-470 Medi-Cal: specialty mental health services: performance outcome reports was passed by the Senate in September 2017. California Pan Ethnic Health Network is sponsoring this bill, and offer full support. It is currently on the state of California’s Governor's desk for completion. This Bill proposes to offer and enhance mental health screenings for medicare eligible patients 21 years and younger. The Bill requests that there be a performance outcome system in place for those with mental illness.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a radical healthcare reform that aims to provide affordable, quality healthcare for all US citizens. This increased scope of coverage would allow millions more of Americans to use the system. In order to drive down costs from many more individuals, the ACA has planned to increase incentives for preventative public health interventions including primary care physicians. Although this is a fine beginning, I believe the greatest challenge to the long-term success of this reform remains the shift in mindset from a focus in treatment to an equal focus in prevention. Preventative services are vital to a healthcare system. However, the effects of prevention are often long term, and thus are traditionally underappreciated by those who have the disease being prevented. Individuals with the disease also undervalue prevention, as it does not affect their health state. With this mindset, prevention is undermined and will continue to be a challenge for the progression of the ACA.

The basic premise of any doctor’s assessment is to address the patient’s concerns, perform lab work, diagnose the condition, perhaps administer medication, and monitor the patient for improvement or problems associated with medication. In general, patients are expected to follow the advice of a certified physician; however, mental illness challenges the rudimentary design of doctor and patient relationships. Psychiatry entails assessments that are elaborate and while often reducing patient symptoms, continue to pose challenges to the psychiatric field due to the level of maintenance and the evolution of recovery (Jacob, K., S. 2015.) Moreover, the approach to recovery in mental illness patients does not end with medication as management and continuous care dominate the mental illness landscape.

Access to Medicare services to the implementation of Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, some say that some will have difficulty finding doctors to accept new Medicare patients and to think that the service provided to Medicare beneficiaries will decline is also a myth. Looking at the findings from the 2011 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey Access to Care research files, one can see the care given to Medicare beneficiaries. In 2011, 96.7 percent of surveyed Medicare beneficiaries claimed that they were satisfied with the quality of care given, which is an increase from 95.1 percent, just ten years ago (CMS, 2012). Giving their doctors good to excellent ratings for the services they provided to them while in their care. These beneficiaries are those who have private health insurance and also expect access to healthcare when Obamacare is implemented next year. But Medicare is gearing up to keep with the coming changes with plans to help beneficiaries. First thing beneficiaries should know is that Medicare is protected, so beneficiaries have the same coverage they had this year, regardless if it’s traditional Medicare or Medicare Advantage Plan. Medicare now covers certain preventive services, like mammograms or colonoscopies, without charging you for the Part B coinsurance or deductible, to include free wellness visits (Medicare, 2013). This is not the only good news; Obamacare ensures Medicare protection for another 12-year through 2029. Doctors will see more support from CMS programs through new initiatives and resources to support care coordination (Medicare,

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) is a new health care legislation law passed by the American government in 2012 to reform the United States health care system. All the states will enact this legislation, however, selected will limit the provision provided to their citizens (Kaiser Commisson, 2013). According to Spares, (2011), the ACA opens the door for many 47 million nonelderly uninsured Americans who have never been eligible for affordable health care insurance including many of the 1.8 million uninsured Georgians. The ACA health care reform law’s goal is to decrease the number of uninsured community and increase health care regulations so that health care quality increases in a cost efficient way (Sparer, 2011). Part of the ACA’s provisions will be to increase wellness care for a healthier America to prevent costly chronic disease treatment (Knickman & Kovner, 2015).

Wellness Visit. If you are on Medicare for more than 12 months, you are entitled to what is known as a “Wellness” visit free of charge. This visit is an annual benefit and takes place at your family doctor.

Statement of the Problem/Issue: Providing geriatric patients with better options for mental healthcare is an ongoing issue in long-term care statewide. Under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1987, congress made a Preadmission screening and resident review program (PASRR), to help alleviate worries that numerous individuals with genuine emotional instability and mental impediment were living in nursing homes that lacked sufficient assets to suitably meet their needs. PASRR enactment obliges state Medicaid organizations to implement programs that screen and distinguish nursing facility applicants and residents with chronic mental illnesses (Shea & Russo, 2001).

This assessment also corresponded with competence #1, “Incorporate professional attitudes, values, and expectations about physical and mental aging in the provision of patient-centered care for older adults and their families”(Touhy & Jett 2012).

Mental disorders are becoming more prevalent in today's society as people add stress and pressure to their daily lives. The elderly population is not eliminated as a candidate for a disorder just because they may be retired. In fact, mental disorders affect 1 in 5 elderly people. One would think that with disorders being rather prevalent in this age group that there would be an abundance of treatment programs, but this is not the case. Because the diagnosis of an individual's mental state is subjective in nature, many troubled people go untreated regularly (summer 1998). Depression in the elderly population is a common occurrence, yet the diagnosis and treatment seem to slip

The program that will be evaluated is a closed ten-week psychotherapy group focused on increasing support and connection around the aging process. Several topics will be discussed during this ten-week period. These include: increasing

According to the American Psychiatric Association “Studies show that seniors are at greater risk of some mental disorders and their complications than younger people, and many of these illnesses can be accurately diagnosed and treated.”(American Psychiatric Association, 2015, para. 1). Although many of the illnesses can be treated, many go undiagnosed due to the fact that many individuals do not understand mental illnesses and some seniors are reluctant to seek psychiatric care due to being ashamed or believing that their symptoms are a part of aging that everyone experiences. It is not just the seniors and their family or friends that fail to recognize symptoms of mental illness, even their doctors may mistake a symptom of mental illness for another illness or problem associated with older adults.