TIME is reporting that nursing homes have become last-resort housing for many older adults whose needs could be met in other settings. It said health reporter Michele Cohen Marill examined potential solutions to the long-term care crisis, drawing on the experience of occupational therapist Caitlin Synovec, who worked in medical respite care and saw people in their 50s and 60s whose lives shifted permanently after a stroke or other serious medical event. TIME said many of those patients lost their jobs and then their housing during extended treatment, and that some ended up on the streets or in shelters despite efforts to find them permanent housing. It said a surprising number of older adults instead find themselves in nursing homes even when they do not need or want that level of care. According to research from the United Health Foundation cited by TIME, one in 11 people in nursing homes have low-care needs, meaning they do not require physical assistance for bed mobility, transferring, using the toilet or eating. TIME said the ratios vary by state, from a low of 2.5% in Hawaii to nearly 23% in Oklahoma.
Separately, TIME said Beth Mole at Ars Technica described problems in a Trump Administration pilot program that uses artificial intelligence to authorize or deny certain types of care for patients with Medicare.
TIME also said Megan Fahrney at Good Morning America told the story of a 78-year-old Scottish grandmother whose love of Fortnite made her the world's oldest female streamer. It said Leo DeLuca at Smithsonian traced the history of the bedpan, from Florence Nightingale to a man with more than 250 of them in his basement.