HHS recently announced $88 million in grants for programs that provide visits from nurses, social workers and other health professionals to the homes of at-risk families, HealthLeaders Media reports. The Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program — part of the federal health reform law (PL 111-148) — enables providers to evaluate families’ needs and connect them with health and child development services, social work, educational and child abuse prevention programs, parenting skills education, and nutritional assistance. The reform law allocates $1…

In a letter signed by 58 patient advocacy groups and home medical equipment associations, the American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) urged Congress to pass H.R. 3790, a bill to repeal the Medicare competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment in a budget-neutral manner. The bill currently has 252 cosponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives. View the letter here…

New research from the University of Michigan reveals racial and ethnic differences in the emotional attitudes of caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease patients. James McNally of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, part of the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR), found significant variations in the emotional reactions of blacks, whites, and Hispanics to both caring for and grieving for Alzheimer’s patients. McNally presented his research at a meeting of the Alzheimer’s Association’s International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease in Honolulu…

“Support for carers must be increased as a matter of urgency”, said Dr Paul Darragh, Chairman of the BMA’s Northern Ireland Council as the BMA launched its policy ‘Supporting carers and young carers in Northern Ireland’ today, at the start of the BMA’s annual conference in Brighton. There are around 185,000 people throughout Northern Ireland who provide help and support to frail or ill family and friends. This saves the Northern Ireland economy approximately £3.12billion…

Aine Brady, T.D., Minister for Older People, yesterday spoke at the Caring for Carers Ireland AGM. Caring for Carers is a national non-government organisation which aims to promote the health, well being and quality of life of family carers and those for whom they care. Speaking at the opening Minister Brady said the Government is committed to supporting carers and to ensuring they receive whatever supports possible to enable them to continue to care…

To recognize the millions of family members caring for loved ones across America, Homewatch CareGivers, the largest, most experienced international provider of full-service home care, launched its “Family Caregiver of the Year” award program today. Nominations will be accepted through July 31 at http://www.homewatchcaregivers.com or by submitting a nomination form to one of the company’s 170+ offices nationwide. In addition to local awards, nominees have the opportunity to win scholarships to Homewatch CareGivers University and a $5,000 grand prize…

UNISON, the UK’s leading public sector union, today slammed private homecare companies for exploiting staff and leaving elderly people without the care and support they need. Private care companies routinely employ staff on zero hours contracts, that often means huge swings in paid hours for staff. By refusing to pay for travel time between visits, many home carers are effectively paid below the minimum wage. They are not offered even basic training, including how to administer medicines, despite having to give them out as a part of their work…

Nursing home residents who used videoconferencing to keep in touch with family members felt it enriched their lives, according to a study in the June issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing. Thirty-four residents from ten nursing homes took part in the study. The 18 women and 16 men had an average age of 75. All of them said the experience enriched their lives, just under two-thirds said it was the second-best option to family visiting and a third said it gave them a true picture of family life…

Family caregivers (UK: carers) require support throughout the entire illness of their dying loved one, because they witness and share much of the patient’s experience, says a study published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) today…

Kantar Health, a leading healthcare-focused global consultancy and marketing insights company, has won “Best Poster” in the new investigator category at the 2010 ISPOR (International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research) Annual International Meeting. The poster, “Health Status, Resource Utilization, and Work Productivity for Caregivers of Adults with Epilepsy: A Propensity Score Analysis of National Survey Data,” was developed in conjunction with a major pharmaceutical company and co-written by Marco DiBonaventura, Ph.D…