No Chapter 51 For Alzheimer's In Wisconsin

A Wisconsin State Appeals Court on Wednesday April 27, 2011 ruled patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease cannot be committed against their will for treatment under chapter 51. In Wisconsin Alzheimer's disease is not a qualifying condition for involuntary civil commitment.

Chapter 51, involuntary commitment is the practice of placing a person to inpatient psychiatric service against his or her will, in compliance with mental health laws. Commitment is time limited and requires evaluation at fixed intervals. The purpose is intense rehab to stabilize and return to an appropriate setting.

The courts argued a chapter 51 commitment was only permissible for persons diagnosed with a mental illness that can be treated. The court confirmed a lack of established, effective treatment for the Alzheimer's disease process. The court stated their are no techniques that can be employed to bring about rehabilitation from Alzheimer's disease, going further to say a person diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease cannot be rehabilitated.

Persons with Alzheimer's disease can still be involuntarily committed for residential care and custody under chapter 55. This custodial form of care includes involuntary administration of medications to manage challenging behaviors.

Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com encourages seniors to follow this legislation as it unfolds.

Cough It Up And Look At It Home Care Path

What are you coughing up. A cough initiated from a fluid mass in the passage by which (Lower Airways) air enters and leaves the lungs may produce sputum. Sputum is the name given to the mucus that is coughed up from the lower airways in the chest.

Look at the sputum you are coughing up. Yellow, green, or brown sputum usually signifies a bacterial infection. Clear or white sputum can indicate the absence of a bacterial infection.

A light, or soft yellow tone can indicate allergy. An intensity in the yellow color and amount of the sputum can indicate infection.

The more sputum the airway produces requiring increased coughing up, the higher the likelihood for infection. Usually a cough without sputum production means that a bacterial infection is not present.

Blood in the sputum is usually associated with bronchitis ( inflamed airways) and pneumonia.

These observations are not to be used in place of the medical advice your primary doctors office can provide.

Monitor Parents Bank Account Online For Security

Electronic banking services have become available nation wide. The computer allows a child to access a parents account information anytime, anywhere.

Senior parents do not always know when they are being scammed. When it happens, it is often by people the senior knows. Big checks being written for friends or acquaintances can be a red flag.

Protect your senior parents by requesting online access to monitor banking activity. Signing a parent up for online banking involves developing an access ID often sent by mail to the parents residence. A password is selected and can be altered periodically to insure security.

The password and access ID allow you to review the account activity. Once a month or so, take a look at the withdrawals from the bank account. Watch for money going to new places. Checks for newspaper or magazines when the senior has limited or no vision. Checks to insurance offices for duplicate types of coverage. Larger than normal checks written for charatable organizations. Checks for home remodel, or repair especially in rented dwellings.

Reviewing the account balance and viewing the tranasactions will help reduce loss with scams. Home Care Path coordinates elder home care assistants in south central Wisconsin www.homecarepath.com

Wisconsin Tourism Fears Economic Indicators Home Care Path

The Consumer Price Index is rising and not expected to stop soon. The (CPI) consumer price index is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. Financial analysts use the consumer price index as a lead economic indicator. The price consumers pay to purchase gasoline and groceries continues to rise. As prices increase the purchasing power of the dollar declines. More of the household dollar is going to essentials like gasoline and groceries. This means less of the families money is available for non-essential discretionary spending. Wisconsin tourism depends on disretionary spending. The rising consumer price index simply means households will have less money to spend vacationing in Wisconsin's toursit attractions. Connect with elder home care assistants in Wisconsin Dells www.homecarepath.com

Wisconsin Senior Care Drug Program Emerges Budget Neutral

Under the guidance of The Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups , changes would allow seniors to continue to experience the benefits of the Wisconsin Senior Care Drug Program. The process change involves the State splitting medication costs with enrollees immediately. The senior would no longer have to meet the 500.00 or 850.00 deductible to begin receiving the medication for just the 5.00 or 15.00 copayment. Seniors would have co-insurance on the first 1000.00 or 1700.00 paying half the cost of each medication until co-pays can begin. By the State paying more of the money for the medication in the beginning, it will be eligible for increased money in the form of rebates. Last year drug company rebates paid for 80 million of the 115 million or about 70 percent of the cost. Altering the process, and categorizing the systems appropriately will bring more money in the Senior Care Drug Program, and the cost to Wisconsin and participating seniors (budget neutral) will be the same. Recall Senior Care serves a population in excess of 90 thousand in the State Of Wisconsin. This is a hugely popular program with Wisconsin health consultants.

Ryan Medicare Vouchers Shift Cost Home Care Path

Congressman Paul Ryan is facilitating legislation to change Medicare to a voucher based program. Medicare receiptients deserved benefits would be guided through private health insurance organizations contracted to accept Medicare money in the form of a subsidy (premium support) for service. Remember the purpose of Congressman Paul Ryans effort is to save the federal government money. Under federal authority the Medicare money would be shifted toward private health insurance organizations who have contracted to provide service. The contract locks the private health insurance organization in to providing service over a defined period of time, at todays cost. Medicare would reimburse the private health insurance plan at todays contracted cost, despite any fluctuation in actual cost. Health consultants expect the actual cost of medical services to continue to rise, often called medical inflation. If the actual cost of providing the service is rising higher than the federal government has agreed in a Medicare contract to reimburse (voucher)the private health insurance organization, the federal government considers this savings. So the private health insurance organization is required under contract to accept the actual cost (medical inflation) increase, while receiving the lower fixed Medicare reimbursement. The private health insurance organization cannot continue to provide the service without increasing revenue through an alternative (private payer) pay source . The proposal Paul Ryan is facilitating may not be economically sound and require changes to quality and quanitity of care to experience continuation. Home Care Path encourages seniors to follow this legislation as it unfolds.

Tricks To Manage Risk Stock Picks Home Care Path

For the last five years the market has reminded us of the risks in stock investing. Here are some of the tips seniors have given us with picking a stock for investment. Managing risk at the point of stock investment selection. 1. Look for a known company. Known indicates a history that would lend itself to additional investigation. 2. Strong brand. Does the brand seem immediately recognized. Do you get a sense of the size of the targetted buyer population. Does the brand easily communicate things about the product or service. 3. Does the company appear to be growing. It is always nice to be part of something that is growing. Utilizing some valuation sensitivity, is the accumulating revenue becoming larger despite (variables) expectations of costs. 4. Resonable price. Here you are putting an effort in to minimizing what you will pay for a stock. Is the stock appropriately priced in relation to (interdependencies among variables) projected growth. How does the cost of increased business effect accumulated revenues. 5. Remember above all this is about paying less for improved earnings. Seniors are encouraged to consult with an investment professional before putting money in to a stock. Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com coordinates elder home care assistants in Madison Wisconsin.

Why Have Health Care Costs Increased? Home Care Path

Cuts to federal and state health programs can be attributed to the rising cost of health care. Many forces can be identified as lead indicators contributing directly to the increase in health care cost. Below are identified causes to increasing health care costs. 1. Increased pharmacy expenses. Collected money is being used for research and development of new drugs. The per dose cost of drugs increases. 2. Expensive new technologies. Local health providers have purchased the newest technological advances for diagnostic testing. The transformation to computerized information has cost money. 3. Aging of the population. Collected census data indicates an increased number of seniors with insurance that assures access to health care services. 4. Increased consumer demand. The United States as a whole has recognized the value to early detection and preventive measures . U.S. citizens want regular visits with medical providers. 5. Broader managed care networks. Managed care networks depend on having large numbers of individual users as members. Managed care survives by getting the user population the health care benefits they need. Managed care simply means increased utilization by the population. 6. Provider consolidation. Consolidation is large health care organizations using the market to compete for patients with a valid pay source. Not all mergers result in improved services for the beneficiaries. Cost can be contained at the expense of quality, if an appropriate network of providers is not available. Large health organizations receive public dollars to care for a defined population. 7. Health care labor pressures. Having only the critically ill in hospitals requires adequate staffing levels with well trained employees. Hospitals, Nursing homes, Clinics, and Home Care Agencies are challenged with being able to employ an adequate amount of workers to safely serve a growing population of health care system users. Most U.S. citizens have come to realize health care is more of a need than a want. Providers of health care are not challenged to construct economic value, citizens find this inherent in the product. The challenge is to contain cost while maintaining quality and assuring inclusion. Home Care Path http://www.homecarepath.com/ coordinates elder home care assistants to help seniors remain in their homes.

Judge Mary Ann Sumi Rules Restraining Order Stands April 1, 2011 Madison

On Friday April 1, 2011 Judge Mary Ann Sumi extended the restraining order issued earlier in the week. The Order blocks State Administrative Offices from implementing the law stating the Union Bill has not been officially published. The issue involves non- compliance with State of Wisconsin open meeting laws. The open meeting law has been in place in Wisconsin since 1959. Open meeting law is known as sunshine law, which guarantees public has sunlight on processes and public is always aware of what is going on. The infraction of the open meeting law occurred on March 11, 2011. Wisconsin held a special committee meeting of lawmakes which resulted in passage of a bill that removes collective bargaining rights from workers. Dane County (Madison Wisconsin) District Attorney Ismael Ozanne filed with Dane County Circuit Judge Mary Ann Sumi to block the bill stating the legislative committee violated the states open meetings law. On Thursday March 24, 2011 a three judge panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeals sent the union bill to the State Supreme Court. Home Care Path www.homecarepath.com encourages seniors to follow this legislation as it unfolds. Home Care Path coordinates elder home care assistants to help keep seniors in their homes.