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October 2003


News

Nationwide Nursing Home Costs Rising

The cost of nursing home care continues to escalate nationally, with the average annual cost now up to $57,000, according to a recently completed survey.

The GE Financial Survey, which polled 2,218 skilled and intermediate care homes in all 50 states this past May, singled out Alaska as the most expensive in the country, with an average annual cost of $166,700. Among the country’s five most expensive areas, which include Alaska, New York City, Connecticut, Boston, and Hawaii, the average cost is about $85,000 per year (see table below).

“While this isn’t good news, it certainly doesn’t come as a surprise,” says Janet Wells, director of public policy for the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, Washington, DC. “Most studies show the cost of nursing care is going up. And when you consider that staffing continues to go down nationwide, along with the quality of care at many homes, the huge costs just hurt that much more.”
A similar survey by researchers at MetLife said the average national cost of a semiprivate room in a nursing home is now $158.26 per day. The researchers also noted that nursing home costs have jumped by 8% from 2002. The GE survey similarly showed a 7% increase in costs from the company’s first survey in 2001. The least expensive state in which to receive nursing home care is Louisiana, which has an average annual cost of $35,900, according to the survey. Costs for therapy, rehabilitation, and medications were not factored into the poll.
Home-Based E-Stim Good for Knee OA

A new study on the use of home-based neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) for improving quadricep strength suggests that the technique shows promise for older adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA). The study, conducted by a team of researchers led by Laura Talbot, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, studied NMES as a treatment option. The procedure sends small electrical impulses through the skin to motor units to create an involuntary muscle contraction. 

The study included 34 adults with symptomatic knee OA. Participants were given standard arthritis education with or without NMES. The NMES group used a portable electrical muscle stimulator 3 days a week for quadricep training and strengthening. Over 12 weeks, isometric contraction intensity was increased incrementally to 30% to 40% of maximum.

The results showed that knee extension strength increased in the NMES patients, and decreased in the rest of the patients. In addition, the chair rise time decreased by 11% in the NMES group, while the education-only group saw a 7% reduction. Both groups improved their walk-turn-walk time by about 7%. The severity of pain reported following intervention was the same for both groups.

Talbot’s research team concluded that a home-based treatment plan was good for increasing quadricep strength in adults with knee OA, without making arthritis symptoms worse.

The “Robot Suit” Launches in Japan

A robot-powered suit that helps people with disabilities walk and perform other activities is about to be marketed in Japan.

The “robot suit,” which is called HAL-3 (Hybrid Assistive Leg), contains a backpack with a computer and batteries, in addition to four actuators that attach to the knees and hip joints. Developed by Yoshiyuki Sankai, a professor and engineer at Tsukuba University, Tokyo, the suit enables its wearer to walk, get up stairs, and sit down without a wheelchair. Its motor-powered attachments guide leg movement, while the computer calculates the wearer’s next movement by detecting electric signals from the muscle.

Wearing the suit, a user can walk at speeds up to 2.5 miles per hour. The suit itself weighs 37 pounds, though that weight will reportedly be decreased.

More than 30 Tokyo companies have signed on to set up a joint venture with the goal of selling the product to hospitals and nursing-care facilities in Japan and internationally. The companies hope to sell 100 of the $8,440 suits every year.

University Embarks on Parkinson’s Study

Boston University’s Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences has begun a 3-year rehabilitation study of people with Parkinson’s disease.

The million-dollar study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, combines rehabilitation for self-management and exercise training sessions in a 6-week format. Participants will undergo simultaneous sessions of occupational, physical, and speech therapy to help them to develop coping skills. Therapeutic intervention will take place when participants experience problems in daily living activities. The program’s investigators hope the study will provide patients with improved skills for better long-term management of the disease.

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