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"In California, reports of deceptive sales practices for Medicare Advantage and drug plans have been the top complaints to the state Senior Medicare Patrol for the past two years, said Sandy Morales, a case manager for the group. The patrol is a federally funded program that helps seniors untangle insurance problems." "Nationwide, the Senior Medical Patrol has sent 74% more cases in the first nine months of this year than in all of 2020 to CMS and the Health and Human Services Inspector General for investigation, said Rebecca Kinney, director of the Administration for Community Living’s Office of Healthcare Information and Counseling at HHS, which oversees the patrols. She expects more complaints to come in during Medicare’s open-enrollment period. And last month, CMS officials warned the private insurance companies selling Medicare Advantage and drug plans that federal requirements prohibit deceptive sales practices." more »

Julia Sneden wrote: 'But what of the more immediate kind of memory trouble? I'm referring to the sort that finds me standing in front of the refrigerator, suddenly wondering why on earth I opened the door, or going down to the basement pantry for paper towels and coming up with a jar of salsa instead. Those things are, I think, more a matter of losing focus than of true memory. I've always been distractible, but these days it's as if the problem has gone onto steroids. It does help to stay calm and try to recreate the moments just before I undertook whatever it was I've forgotten, but while I can often repair the damage to the errand, it's harder to repair the damage to my self-esteem." more »

It is widely expected that children, ages 5-11, will soon become the latest group to be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination in the United States. The federal government is also partnering with over 100 children’s hospitals across the country to set up vaccination clinics through the end of the year. As such, children could become eligible as soon as November 3 or 4. In anticipation, the White House and CDC have engaged in operational planning with state and local jurisdictions. However, when the doses for children become available and how rapidly the rollout translates into shots getting into kids’ arms nationwide remain to be seen. At least in the near term, there could be some unique challenges to this new vaccination effort as well as a repeat of some of the difficulties faced during previous COVID-19 vaccination phases. more »

"As fully transparent medical records proliferate, many questions remain unanswered. Such uncertainties create anxiety and apprehension among doctors at a time when many already feel overwhelmed. In an effort to ease the transition to what we believe will be a widespread and ultimately beneficial practice, we draw on over 5 years of the authors' clinical experience and conversations with clinicians around the country to offer suggestions for creating notes that can work for all concerned. Patients have unprecedented online access to their medical records. More than 6 million Americans can now read their doctors' notes via patient portals, and continued rapid growth is likely." more »