Physical Health

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMS Innovation Center) recently announced a new state-based model, Innovation in Behavioral Health (IBH), to test approaches for addressing behavioral and physical health, as well as health-related social needs among the Medicaid and Medicare populations. The IBH Model’s goal is to improve the overall quality of care and outcomes for adults with mental health conditions and/or substance use disorder by connecting them with the physical, behavioral, and social supports needed to manage their care. The model will also promote health information technology capacity building through infrastructure payments and other activities...

AARP recently released a report using qualitative and quantitative data to depict sandwich generation caregivers who are caring for Medicare beneficiaries. The combined dynamics of Americans delaying having children and younger generations taking on caregiving for older adults are leading to a new picture of what it means to be sandwiched between two generations who need daily care. Early research has shown the negative impact the compounded responsibility of caring for an older adult while still caring for young children can have on caregivers’ physical health, well-being, and financial welfare....

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is has released a request for information to assist in defining a set of key determinants of health that addresses all the elements of the whole person health model, including factors that can influence health either positively or negatively, and that encompass the full continuum of biological, behavioral, social, and environmental domains.

The National Area Agencies on Aging (n4a), the National Council on Aging (NCOA), and UnitedHealthcare released a survey that collected data through telephone interviews from 1,650 older adults and influencers on aging.The survey posed opinion based questions about the process of aging. The results reflect that 86 percent of respondents felt prepared for aging; however, 40 percent were most concerned about maintaining physical health and over 30 percent worried about mental health and memory.