long-term care

Members of the Special Committee on Aging are asking residents and their families to submit their bills and are calling for a Government Accountability Office study.

Roughly 8 million people 65 and older have dementia or need help with two or more activities of basic daily life, like getting out of bed. Facing a severe shortage of aides and high costs, caregivers often cobble together a patchwork of relatives and friends to help.

Without financial and legal planning done in advance, experts say aging seniors and their loved ones are left with fewer options in today's elder care system.

Florida ranks 43rd in the nation for overall quality of long-term care for aging adults and people with disabilities, according to an AARP report.

The measure would allow CNAs to become “qualified medication aides” and free up registered nurses to provide other needed care to residents.

Two Republican bills would limit lawsuits by survivors' families against nursing homes in cases of neglect or wrongful death.

The industry has long relied on immigrants to bolster its ranks, and they’ll be critical to meeting future staffing needs, experts say. But as the baby boom generation fills beds, policymakers are slow to open new pathways for foreign workers.

The Health & Human Services Committee approved the proposal, which came as nursing homes say they are grappling with staffing shortages that, in some cases, have forced them to leave beds unused.

Lawmakers are considering proposals to provide families more access to their loved ones in hospitals and long-term care facilities. They want to address isolation patients endured as a result of visitation restrictions implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The AARP’s state director Jeff Johnson spoke to WMFE’s Joe Byrnes about nursing homes and long term care facilities, and other issues that could affect seniors this session.

A bill being considered by legislators would cut the required time that a nurse or certified nursing assistant spends with a patient in a long-term care facility from 3.6 hours to one hour. It would also permit nonmedical staff to replace CNAs for 2.5 hours every day.

COVID-19 has highlighted how older Americans are cared for, the special vulnerabilities they face, and the challenges families have to confront when making caregiving decisions.