Limited Health Literacy and Hearing Loss Among Older Adults.

Background: Effective communications between health care providers and patients are critical for high-quality health care.

Objective: This study sampled adults age 65 years and older to explore (1) characteristics associated with limited health literacy (LHL) and (2) medical costs and gaps in care based on health literacy, hearing loss, and hearing aid use status.

Methods: The study included 19,223 adults age 65 years and older who completed a health survey that was linked to his or her medical claims that were generated after medical care provided in the year prior to survey completion.

Self-Reported Hearing Loss in Older Adults Is Associated With Higher Emergency Department Visits and Medical Costs.

Hearing loss is common among older adults. Thus, it was of interest to explore differences in health care utilization and costs associated with hearing loss and hearing aid use. Hearing loss and hearing aid use were assessed through self-reports and included 5 categories: no hearing loss, aided mild, unaided mild, aided severe, and unaided severe hearing loss.

Characteristics and Health Outcomes Associated With Hearing Loss and Hearing Aid Use Among Older Adults.

This study recruited older adults to explore physical and psychosocial conditions and other health outcomes associated with hearing loss (HL) and hearing aid use. Survey data were used to categorize 20,244 participants into five groups: no HL, unaided mild HL, aided mild HL, unaided severe HL, and aided severe HL. Individuals with unaided severe HL were more likely to report poor-fair self-rated health and were less likely to leave the home, or exercise 4 to 7 days per week, while there were no such associations for those with aided mild or severe HL.

Quality of care provided in a special needs plan using a nurse care manager model.

Objectives: To comprehensively evaluate the quality of care provided in special needs plans (SNPs; Medicare Advantage plans that aim to provide specialized care for complex older adults) and specifically the nurse care management model in the community setting.

Design: We adapted 107 process-of-care quality measures across 12 conditions from the Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders set to obtain a clinically detailed evaluation of the quality of care received by complex older enrollees in a dual eligible Evercare SNP. We abstracted 13 months of primary care medical records to delineate quality of care provided by physicians and whether there was value added from the nurse care manager model.