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AARP recently released an article exploring the evolving landscape of telehealth within Medicare, spotlighting its transformation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With telehealth adoption soaring to 40% among Medicare beneficiaries in 2020, the article accentuates the significance of audio-only visits and the imminent legislative choice regarding post-2024 coverage. AARP also discusses the importance of these virtual services in ensuring comprehensive healthcare access while addressing potential challenges like accessibility, cost implications, and concerns of misuse.

The Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN) has released a toolkit highlighting the significance of promoting mental health equity in the workplace, particularly for underserved communities. The organization's recently updated Mental Health Toolkit offers a structured approach, centered around the "4 A's" framework—awareness, accommodations, assistance, and access—to help employers create a mental health-supportive workplace culture. The toolkit addresses challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasizes strategies for acknowledging and addressing systemic issues, providing summaries of research, case studies, and accessible resources for initiating workplace mental health initiatives.

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has released an article examining the Medicare coverage options available to dual-eligible individuals, a population of 12.5 million enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. The content outlines various coverage avenues designed for this population, including traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans, and Dual eligible special needs plans (D-SNPs). It emphasizes data analysis of enrollment patterns by demographic factors like race, age, and geographic location, offering insights into the complex landscape of dual-eligible coverage.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has developed a series of practical guides centered around housing and home equity for aging adults. Given the complexities of retirement, debt, and savings, these guides cover essential subjects including managing changes in health, passing down homes to children/heirs, utilizing home equity for financial needs, and addressing the loss of a spouse/partner. These guides offer insights and considerations to assist older individuals in making informed decisions regarding their homes and financial security in later stages of life.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) presents an analysis focusing on the status of women with disabilities within the labor market. Drawing from various surveys and data sources, the report explores disability prevalence, employment trends, earnings, poverty rates, occupational distributions, telework patterns, and barriers to employment, with special attention to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This resource provides insights into the evolving dynamics of labor market participation, shedding light on the experiences and challenges faced by women with disabilities.

August marks National Immunization Awareness Month, and during this time, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH) are emphasizing the significance of immunizations in protecting individuals from a range of diseases. Despite vaccination recommendations, disparities persist in immunization rates, particularly among minority populations due to access and historical factors. Efforts to improve these rates involve addressing social and health inequities, supported by initiatives such as the Inflation Reduction Act that bolster coverage and affordability of vaccines. In an effort to improve vaccine accessibility and uptake, CMS OMH has launched the “National Immunization Awareness Month” webpage...

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is partnering with the HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to offer free COVID-19 test kits to aging and disability networks, ensuring continued access for older adults and individuals with disabilities. State Units on Aging (SUAs) and Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) can directly order test kits from ASPR's Office of Industrial Base Management and Supply Chain (IBMSC) for distribution to the people they serve. Currently, test kits from various manufacturers (Siemens, Ellume, or Quidel) are available, with a minimum order of 200 kits. Registration is open until September 15, 2023...

The ASPE recently issued fact sheets for each state and the District of Columbia highlighting health care cost savings as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Savings from Medicare Part D out-of-pocket costs, insulin, vaccines, and Marketplace premiums, and the latest enrollment data for Medicare, Medicaid and Marketplace are featured.

On July 31, at the AIRS Discovery Conference and 50th Anniversary Celebration, the organization announced a new name and brand that will carry the association into the next fifty years. The Alliance of Information & Referral Systems (AIRS) is now Inform USA. Inform USA is the professional membership association for Information and Referral services, providing standards, program accreditation, and practitioner certification for the field.

AARP recently released a fact sheet describing the prevalence of food insecurity among adults aged 50 and older in 2021. The fact sheet reveals that over 9 million Americans in this age group (approximately eight percent) experienced limited or uncertain access to nutritious food. Moreover, this fact sheet highlights the impact of food insecurity on the health of older adults, showing a higher prevalence of health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, asthma, and depression among food-insecure individuals. The report also explores important variations in food insecurity based on factors such as age, race, ethnicity, income, and educational attainment.