- CMS will test a dementia care model that aims to improve quality of life for 6.7 million beneficiaries and their unpaid caregivers, the agency announced Monday. The eight-year Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience Model (GUIDE) seeks to keep Medicare enrollees outside of long-term care facilities by extending a package of local care coordination and management and caregiver education and support services. Patients diagnosed with dementia and their caretakers will have access to navigators to help them access meals, transportation, and other resources. Participating providers must offer caretakers training, a support hotline, and respite services, as well as comprehensive, personalized assessments of patient and their caregiver needs and plans for how to connect them to help. (Articles here, here, here, and here)
- The National Institutes of Health is launching clinical trials to test four possible treatments for long COVID, including administering the antiviral Paxlovid over a longer course than is used for treating new infections. The efforts, announced Monday, are part of the $1.15 billion RECOVER research initiative that seeks to define and study the long-term effects of the virus. As many as 15 percent of all adults in the U.S. reported having had long COVID symptoms at some time, but researchers only this spring defined a dozen of the most distinct symptoms. The clinical trials will test the safety and effectiveness of treatments, typically in groups of 100 to 300 patients. (Articles here and here)
August 1, 2023
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