HomeCare Editors’ Top 5: Week of September 19

Adult Children Dread Discussing Senior Living with Aging Parents
The most-dreaded topic of discussion that adult children have regarding their aging parents involves the older adults’ perceived need for assisted living and long-term care, according to respondents to a recent poll. (Lois A. Bowers/McKnight’s Senior Living)

Final CMS Emergency Prep Rule Hits Home Health
Under a new final rule, home health agencies and other Medicare-certified providers will be required to meet emergency preparedness standards—or face the risk of losing national payer reimbursements. (Amy Baxter/Home Health Care News)

Pain in the Wallet: How to Protect Against Medical Identity Theft
Someone steals your wallet and uses your health insurance card to buy prescription painkillers. Or a family member “borrows” your insurance coverage and racks up medical bills that you’re stuck with. Or someone pilfers your Medicare card to fraudulently access federal benefits in your name. (Claudia Buck/The Sacramento Bee)

Study: Elderly’s Family Caregivers Need Help Too
Elderly Americans’ well-being is at risk unless the U.S. does much more to help millions of family caregivers who sacrifice their own health, finances and personal lives to look out for loved ones, reported a study released Tuesday. (Rachel Bluth/Kaiser Health News)

How Tens of Thousands of Patients Who Weren’t Actually Dying Wound Up on Hospice Care
Hospice patients are expected to die. The service, after all, is intended for the terminally ill. But over the past decade, as a 2014 Washington Post investigation found, the number of patients who outlived hospice care in the United States has risen dramatically, in part because hospice companies earn more by recruiting patients who aren’t actually dying. (Peter Whoriskey/The Washington Post)