2014

Back in 2014 this blog was one of the first to report on the troubled Veterans Health Administration facility in Phoenix where 40 veterans died while languishing on an eternal wait list to see a doctor. Since then, we've maintained a set of blog posts and articles that have related updates and status changes at the VA, as well as other issues that are affecting our veterans.  A subsequent investigation uncovered a system-wide inability to offer vets timely medical treatment. 57,436 newly enrolled veterans faced a minimum 90-day wait for medical care, and 63, 869 veterans who had enrolled over the past decade never received any appointment at all. In addition, a corrupt administrative culture was falsifying wait-time records in order to protect management performance bonuses and punishing whistle-blowers who tried to bring the wait-time mess to the public’s attention.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 11, 2016 St. Louis, MO – SARCOA, (Southern Alabama Regional Council on Aging), an Area Agency on Aging serving the seniors of Barbour, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Geneva, Henry and Houston counties of southeast Alabama has partnered with Global Vision Technologies, Inc. (GVT) to implement FAMCare human services software.

Having been in technical sales almost my entire 30-year career, I was used to selling to a variety of industries.  Whether it was helping banks make more money using technology or helping the Department of Defense build fighter jets and other weapons equipment, I was always in it for the money and career reputation.

In today's rapid news cycle, we tend to hop from sensational story to sensational story rarely lingering long enough to get the full picture. In the past, this blog reported on the scandalous wait times that our veterans have endured in the VA system. It was so bad that some veterans died before getting in to see their VA Doctor. When the scandal came to light, many administrative heads rolled and the entire VA system was cast in a poor light. As is so often the case, however, there is so much more to the VA story.

Improving Access to Mental Health Act of 2015 (S.2173/H.R. 3712)

As you may have noticed, I have diligently avoided politics in this blog.  Every now and then, however, a social or professional issue wanders into the arena of politics, and I cannot completely ignore the issue.

Over the holidays I volunteered at my daughters’ school.  While there I had the pleasure of speaking to one of the teachers.  During our conversation we talked about the many things happening in our local schools and here in the county. Out of the various topics we discussed, one hit me very hard.  This teacher told me of the growing number of children who are "food insecure."  A term I had not heard before.  I was aware that our school offered discounted, sometimes free lunches to families who needed help, but was alarmed at the number of children in need in a community that is considered to be thriving.

A friend of mine shared with me a personal experience that involved the loss of a friend.  I’m publishing his exact words here.  I also have a dear relative who is currently working through a debilitating illness at a hospice center.  As Frank mentions below – the professional hospice worker deserves our admiration and gratitude.  They have a tough job, however – manage to show empathy and support our loved ones – each and every day.

An Entirely New Paradigm for Post-Acute Health Care Management

The managers of residential care facilities we work with everyday report that the residential care and post-acute health care industry is changing at an alarming rate. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has shifted its focus away from simply measuring volume, toward a pay-for-performance system focused on value and quality. The implications of this shift in payment processing and compliance procedures for management in post-acute care, nursing homes, and hospice facilities are vast, complex, and daunting. Managers are scrambling to measure quality outcomes, improve compliance, and emphasize the customer experience throughout their organizations.

A grandfather and his grandson are having breakfast when the grandfather asks his grandson to hand him the newspaper.  The grandson looks up from his IPad and says “Grandpa, this is the 21st century.  We have electronic gadgets that are 100 times better than a crummy newspaper.  For instance, with my IPad here I can look at 10 different news sources in that many minutes and get 100 times more information than a paper. Here,” he says, handing his IPad to his grandfather, “I already pulled up Fox news for you.”  Let me tell you, that fly never knew what hit it.

I have a good friend who is a local Hospice worker here in my home town in Georgia.  Recently, she stopped by our local Boy Scout troop meeting to offer up some service projects for the boys.  This particular project involved creating and painting birdhouses for her patients for 2016.  In her presentation she touched briefly on Hospice, what it is and how they help.