Study Finds Few Baby Boomers Receiving, Few Healthcare Practices Prepared to Offer Medicare Wellness Visits

TeleVox, a high-tech engagement communications company that provides automated voice, email, text and web solutions that activate positive patient behaviors through the delivery of a human touch, recently released a study combining consumer and healthcare provider opinion entitled “Healthcare Change: The Time is Now” [1]. The report, which addresses the healthcare industry’s essential shift away from primarily treating illness to keeping people healthy, reveals that the majority of healthcare practices across the country aren’t prepared to meet the demand of the 46.6 million Medicare beneficiaries who are now eligible for wellness visits.

TeleVox Healthcare Change the Time is Now

Berries May Help Prevent Age-Related Decline of Brain Function

With humans living longer than ever before, diseases associated with aging are becoming a major focus of medical research. Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, are a major source of concern to aging adults. This is because such diseases not only lead to death, they do so through a particularly frightening route that includes loss of independence, memory, function, and personality. All adults experience a decline in certain aspects of brain function as they age. Memory, speed of cognition, and reasoning are among the functions most affected [1]. The effects of aging on cognition appear to be due to atrophy of brain tissue in particular regions, especially the prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex [2], as well as decreased neurotransmitter levels.

New Go4Life Campaign Focuses on Fitness for Older Adults

Being physically active is vital to maintaining health and independence as we age, and a new federal campaign for people 50 and older will help them to get active and keep going. Introduced today by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Go4Life campaign encourages sedentary older adults to reap health benefits by making physical activity part of their daily lives. Only 25 percent of people aged 65-74 say they engage in regular physical activity.

GoForLife

Brain Awareness Week: Staying Sharp

As Brain Awareness Week comes to a close here at Highlight HEALTH, we wanted to leave you with a video from the Dana Foundation that addresses the science behind the healthy brain practices that may help us stay sharp as we get older — the lifestyle factors that may contribute to the maintenance of cognitive function.

Don’t forget that we’re giving away several publications for Brain Awareness Week; in particular, the bookmark was created to be paired with the Staying Staying Sharp booklet (link below) and video (below).

Brain Awareness Week

Dr. Jordan Grafman, chief of the Cognitive Neuroscience Section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and a member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, is your guide as we cover what to expect from the aging brain and what you can do to “stay sharp”.