Devoted Health of Massachusetts has signed a contract with Apple, in which customers enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans will be offered up to $150 for the purchase of an Apple Watch, which also can be used to cover exercise and nutrition classes, reports MetroWest Daily News . The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has approved the contract, with Devoted saying its goal is to give seniors as many tools as they need to stay healthy even outside of the doctor's office. Gemphire Therapeutics CEO Steve Gullans said this program challenges the traditional healthcare paradigm. He noted access to large amounts of beneficiary data is required from providers, which means more tools will be commercialized and the healthcare system can change from an emphasis on disease treatment to prevention. However, Gullans noted providers may be unwilling to share this information. Meanwhile, Framingham State University's Stephen Lemire questions whether Medicare will reimburse the Apple Watch's costs fully or partly.

A report from The Points Guy website cautions that Southwest Airlines is discontinuing discounted senior fares, according to Travel and Leisure . Travelers older than 65 have up to now been allowed to buy tickets for "Anytime Travel" with a small discount — tickets that were refundable in the event of a cancellation. However, Southwest has announced on its website that it will phase out these fares as of Dec. 11. Other features like refundable fares will still be included with the Anytime tickets and Business Select. The Points Guy said there are other options for seniors. Passengers of any age can still book cheaper flights with Southwest's "Wanna Get Away" fare, and those traveling with children can still book with the airline's "Child's Fare." Travelers aiming to use that discount must call the airline to book by phone.

Starting today, seniors across the country can choose their best option for a 2020 Medicare plan by going online and using the redesigned Medicare.gov plan finder website. Many older adults, though, are finding fault with the redesign, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Users have complained about the omission of helpful features that the previous site had. The old site included plan sorting by total cost, while the upgraded site requires users to sort Medicare Advantage plans by premiums, then separately sort drug cost. "That makes it much more cumbersome, to add those numbers up and figure out which one will be the best value," said Murrysville, Penn., retiree Les Anticich. Another issue is that users can no longer probe prescription drug lists anonymously without re-inputting their drug list each time they return to the site — which raises privacy concerns. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last week started circulating a list of 14 Medicare.gov "improvements" that it plans to implement by today's launch, at least some of which either will or may address these complaints. CMS has since reinstated the combined premium-plus-drugs cost comparison feature. However, experts are skeptical that all of the promised improvements will be incorporated in time for the start of the Medicare open enrollment period.

Texas startup BrainCheck offers a cognitive healthcare product to help doctors evaluate and track the mental health of their customers, and it has tapped $8 million in Series A funding co-led by S3 Ventures and Tensility Venture Partners, reports TechCrunch . BrainCheck CEO Yael Katz says their product digitizes and gamifies cognitive assessment tests usually handled by neuropsychologists, and made them available to wider range of professionals, including neurologists and primary care physicians. Assessment is performed via iPad and takes roughly 10 minutes. "They're typically administered in a doctor's office by medical technicians," Katz notes. The tests are objective tasks, such as connect the dots, that measure speed and accuracy. Doctors subscribe to the product on a monthly basis, through a tiered pricing model measured by volume. BrainCheck also has a solution that uses the output of cognitive tests to provide clinical support so doctors can manage customers' cognitive health, with scalable personalized recommendations.

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine based on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health Interview Survey found vaping did not gain traction among older U.S. adults from 2014 to 2017, while e-cigarette use among 18- to 24-year-olds increased from 5.2 percent in 2017 to 7.6 percent in 2018, reports CNN . Between 2017 and 2018, increased vaping prevalence was seen in men, individuals who identified as non-Hispanic Asian, persons with family incomes at least four times over the poverty level, and former cigarette smokers. The authors confirmed: "A significant increase between 2017 and 2018 occurred among young adults, but no such increase occurred in middle-aged or older adults."

Older adults with cognitive impairment will face increasing difficulty in using smartphones, computers, and other everyday communications technologies, reports the Washington Post . Optum's Robert Zorowitz suggests computer skills may decline even "before older adults misplace keys, forget names, or display other more classic signs of early dementia." The Pew Research Center estimated that 73 percent of adults 65 and older used the Internet this year, up from 43 percent nine years ago — while 42 percent of older adults owned smartphones in 2017, versus 18 percent in 2013. Some doctors are factoring in such trends in their treatment strategies: Johns Hopkins Medicine Professor Halima Amjad now asks older adults if they use a computer or smartphone and are having problems like forgetting passwords or getting locked out of accounts. "If there's a notable change in how someone is using technology, we would proceed with a more in-depth cognitive evaluation," she notes. Meanwhile, Rush University's Neelum Aggarwal says older adults are citing problems with technology as a "nonthreatening way to talk about trouble with thinking." If using technology has become aggravating, Aggarwal advises deleting apps on cellphones and programs on computers. Penn Medicine's Cynthia Clyburn says safety issues should prompt family members to take action — such as counseling older adults against giving out their Social Security or credit card information through email to avoid financial fraud.

A study in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology demonstrated that exercise can benefit physical ability and mental health for older people with heart disease, reports Medical News Today . Regular exercise can slow the heart, lower blood pressure, ease stress, improve morale and oxygen efficiency, and shed excess body weight. Exercise also can promote faster recovery and even lessen the need for medication. "Aging is associated with several factors, such as increased inflammation or oxidative stress, which predispose people to cardiovascular diseases," the study authors noted. "As a result, seniors are usually less fit than their younger counterparts, and deconditioning is accelerated once cardiovascular disease is established." In addition, exercise is especially beneficial for people older than 65 who are suffering from depression. "These improvements will surely have a great positive impact on persons' independence and quality of life and might help both clinicians and beneficiaries to realize how beneficial exercise rehabilitation can be," concluded Gaëlle Deley at the University of Burgundy Franche-Comté.

A benchmark delirium prevention program for hospitalized older adults is about to undergo a major expansion through the American Geriatrics Society (AGS), reports News-Medical . The AGS CoCare program will be enhanced into the AGC CoCare: HELP program. Original program developer Sharon K. Inouye said "we now have bandwidth through the AGS to demonstrate to more health systems than ever before how collaborating with geriatrics leads to improved health, safety, and independence for us all." The expanded program will broaden access to tools and hands-on guidance for implementing delirium prevention locally and for individuals. Institutional subscriptions provide access to a comprehensive implementation toolkit, an online educational curriculum for HELP personnel and volunteers, a certification program, scheduling for routine coaching calls, and an online community round the clock. These resources also help standardize best practices while supporting work to keep them at the leading edge of delirium prevention science. HELP offers a structured system to manage delirium and delirium prevention markers, with training to understand the value and practical implementation of daily visits, therapies, early mobilization programs, procedures to optimize sleep and hearing/vision, and opportunities for smoothing transitions between care settings.

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is moving forward on the establishment of a National Volunteer Care Corps, reports the Tampa Bay Times . The program would have healthy retirees and young adults take seniors to doctor appointments, grocery shopping, help with household tasks, or visit a few times a week. Younger participants could receive class credit at a community college or small stipends, while older volunteers could find a sense of purpose. Seniors would get companionship and relief from social isolation, while caregivers could have some of their burden relieved. Four organizations will lead the Care Corps project — the Oasis Institute, which operates the largest U.S. volunteer intergenerational tutoring program; the Caregiver Action Network; the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging; and the Altarum Institute. ACL's Greg Link says the Corps will receive an initial grant of $3.8 million, and this fall project leaders will invite organizations across the country to propose services to meet non-medical needs of older adults and younger adults with disabilities. The Oasis Institute's Juliet Simone said up to 30 organizations will receive 18-month grants of $30,000 to $250,000 next spring, with the overriding goal of finding innovative, effective programs that provide services to diverse communities that can be duplicated in multiple locations.

The U.,S. Senate Special Committee on Aging is set to host a hearing titled "Falls Prevention: National, State, and Local Solutions to Better Support Seniors" on Oct. 16. The session will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill. Sen. Susan M. Collins (R-Maine) will be presiding. Witnesses will include Peggy Haynes, Senior Director, Healthy Aging at MaineHealth; Kathleen A. Cameron, Senior Director of the Center For Healthy Aging; and National Osteoporosis Foundation CEO Liz Thompson.