The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) forecast that average monthly Medicare Advantage premiums will hit their lowest point in 13 years in 2020, reports Modern Healthcare . The agency also projected that enrollment in Advantage plans would continue to appreciate as more seniors opt for Advantage over traditional Medicare. Average monthly premiums should fall 14.4 percent from $26.87 in 2019 to $23 next year, marking the lowest premium since 2007. Seniors enrolling in Advantage plans will have more options, with the average number of plans per county rising to 39 plans next year from 33 plans this year. Meanwhile, Advantage plan enrollment should reach hit 24.4 million in 2020, a 9.9 percent gain from 22.2 million now. Advantage enrollment has increased steadily as baby boomers age into Medicare and favor Advantage plans over traditional options. Advantage plans typically offer more benefits such as dental care, eyeglasses, and gym memberships — although beneficiaries must see doctors within the plan's network. CMS estimated that about 250 plans will offer access to non-medical supplemental benefits in 2020, reaching about 1.2 million beneficiaries.

The U.S. Supreme Court has been advised to rule that employees who sue federal agencies for age bias must prove only that discrimination was a factor, and not the only reason, for an employment decision to win their claims, reports Reuters . In-house attorneys for the National Treasury Employees Union and AARP filed separate amicus briefs arguing the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) imposes a lower burden on government workers claiming age discrimination than on private-sector workers. A ruling otherwise would permit unregulated ageism by federal agencies, according to the attorneys.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is advancing a four-part framework of evidence-based care for Americans older than 65, recognizing 162 hospitals and physician practices for participating in the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, reports Health Leaders Media . "What's drawn health professionals to the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement is that it offers an organizing framework of evidence-based care that can be practiced reliably," said IHI Senior Director Leslie Pelton. "And it all starts with knowing and acting on what matters to the older adult." Knowing what matters "gets you to services that offer value in the beneficiary's eyes," according to IHI's Kedar Mate. The second element of the framework is medication, while the third element is mentation benefits derived from treating delirium in the inpatient setting. "Delirium ... is extremely costly both on the human cost side with complication rates and lengths of stay, and the financial side," Mate noted. The fourth framework component is mobility, and Mate said "functional impairment is a big impediment in older adults' lives in achieving what matters to them, and it costs us a ton of money as a society."

The US Labor Department announced Tuesday that it had finalized a rule expanding overtime pay eligibility to up to 1.3 million workers, reports the New York Times . Under the new rule, most salaried workers who earn less than about $35,500 per year will be eligible for time-and-a-half overtime pay, up from the current threshold of about $23,700. The rule is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1.

A new U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) quality measures might not indicate the actual care beneficiaries receive, according to Modern Healthcare . CMS lacks processes to ensure that the indicators actually quantify what the agency says it cares about in its strategic objectives. The office learned CMS carries over large amounts of unused funds each year for activities related to quality measurement, and does not keep tabs on all its quality-measurement funding. The GAO said the agency ought to create standard practices to evaluate the measures that it is weighing to ensure they are aligned with strategic quality objectives, as well as track progress in realizing its goals by developing and using performance metrics. The GAO also recommended CMS should retain comprehensive and rigorous data on its quality funding. The Department of Health and Human Services concurred with these recommendations.

A study published in Annals of Internal Medicine analyzed data from nearly 6.4 million Medicare beneficiaries who had participated in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, reports MedPage Today . The researchers concentrated on more than 700 U.S. "commuting zones," or clusters of counties developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that detail economic and social activity. The researchers found older adults with low incomes are healthier if they live in affluent communities. "Areas with poor health in the low-income, older adult population tend to have a high prevalence of most chronic conditions," the authors noted. Overall prevalence ranged from 72.2 per 100 adults for hypertension to 0.6 per 100 for post-traumatic stress disorder, while the five most prevalent chronic conditions were hyperlipidemia, anemia, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, ischemic heart disease, and diabetes. The researchers deemed social and other community-related factors to more likely be the cause of these findings rather than access to healthcare services. "Many conditions that we examined are chronic, lifelong diseases related to daily health investments throughout someone's life, so it is very unlikely that differences can be attributed to differential availability or access to formal care," said Stanford University Professor Maria Polyakova. The study concluded that healthier areas of the country are healthier across all dimensions.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) admitted that a "process error" caused about 411,000 seniors who pay Medicare Part B premiums directly from their bank accounts to be billed twice this month, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . Fort Bragg resident Jade Tippett noticed two withdrawals of $135.50 last week when looking at his credit union checking account, and Medicare told him when they were informed that the error may not be corrected until Oct. 1. "The Treasury Department is working to reverse the duplicate charge," stated CMS. "Approximately 20 percent of the duplicated transactions have been returned by financial institutions, and if the remaining duplications are not returned by Wednesday, Sept. 25, Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Service will begin to reverse the remaining transactions to complete the reimbursement." Medicare Part B monthly premiums range from $135.50 per individual for most beneficiaries to $460.50 for those in the highest income bracket. People receiving Social Security retirement benefits have their Medicare premiums deducted from monthly payments, and CMS said they were not double-billed if all of their premiums were deducted from Social Security. Medicare enrollees older than 65 who are receiving Social Security must pay premiums directly, with many deductions automatically made from their checking or savings account via the Easy Pay system. All beneficiaries who pay this way were double-billed.

It can be a challenge to coax employees to engage with the company through corporate social media accounts, due to their view that social media is private and personal, reports Social Media Today . One expert recommends that employers should first explain to workers the logical reason why they should interact with the company's social accounts. CanvasPeople General Manager Jason Yau says workers should not feel as though they are blindly following demands. A second suggestion is to make social posts that go behind the company scenes, sharing milestones for team members, outings, and office celebrations, which tend to encourage more engagement on all platforms. A third enticement is to designate employees experts, and give them opportunities to advertise their expertise through the corporate social accounts. A fourth strategy is to post weekly emails designed to encourage engagement by workers. For example, Powerblanket's Emma Pollock sends out weekly emails to her team, where she showcases their social media posts, and links to each of their profiles. "I try to highlight or link to posts that would be fun to share with family and friends on the employee's personal social media accounts in each email," she says.

Harvard University Professor Dorene Rentz has included her husband, Ray Berggren, in a 4.5-year clinical trial on an Alzheimer's treatment that she helped design, reports the Wall Street Journal . The Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's (A4) study is testing whether the drug solanezumab can retard memory loss in people with elevated levels of amyloid plaque in their brains. The drug failed in previous trials in individuals already diagnosed with symptomatic Alzheimer's, but scientists hope the A4 trial will prove more successful through earlier interventions and quadrupled doses of solanezumab. A total of 1,169 participants 65 to 85 years old are receiving infusions of either solanezumab or a placebo. The double-blind, randomized control trial ensures neither participants nor researchers know who is administered the drug or placebo. Rentz's husband gets treated once a month, and undergoes cognitive testing to assess memory, executive function, and speed of processing in three-month increments. "I can't work in this field for 30 years to help find a cure for Alzheimer's disease and then not be able to help the person I love," Rentz says. The failures of previous anti-amyloid drugs have made the A4 trial particularly significant for researchers.

The U.S. Senate Special Aging Committee will hold a hearing on "Promoting Healthy Aging: Living Your Best Life Long Into Your Golden Years" Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 10:15 A.M. Witnesses will include Rudolph Tanzi, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital's Genetics and Aging Research Unit; Susan Hughes, co-director of the University of Illinois-Chicago's Center for Research on Health and Aging; and Brian Long, lead coordinator of the Pennsylvania Link to Aging and Disability Resources Service Area 13.