featuring work by myself and @mcgarrybe.bsky.social i know there are a lot of other pressing policy disasters happening, but this one isn't going away either and it's going to get worse. who is going to take care of your parents once they get too sick to manage themselves?

KFF Health News@kffhealthnews.org · last mo.

The number of nursing homes has fallen by nearly 900 in the last decade. Low Medicaid reimbursements and staff pay challenge their survival amid the growth of alternatives. https://kffhealthnews.org/aging/new-old-age-nursing-home-beds-scarce-capacity-baby-boomers-workforce/

Don't forget to submit papers for the October NBER Emerging Challenges in LTC and Caregiving meeting by 7/31/26! Details are at the link below. @corinamommaerts.bsky.social @nber.org www.nber.org/calls-papers...

Emerging Challenges in Long-Term Care and Caregiving

nber.org

featuring @mcgarrybe.bsky.social

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 3mo ago

Senior living facilities in the U.S. are in distress as immigrant caregivers are pushed out because of Trump administration policies.

Featured in the latest Bulletin on the Economics of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias: Institutional Special Needs Plans for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia www.nber.org/ba/202601/in...

Excited for tomorrow's #ASHEcon #ASHEcon2026 session chaired by Kosali Simon! @talgross.bsky.social will present new work our team is doing on nursing home payment and quality of care (discussant: Brian McGarry) ⏰ Monday 8:30-10am 📍Hyatt Regency Lakeshore B 1st Fl ashecon.confex.com/ashecon/2026...

I love this so much 🎁 link cc @joannespetz.bsky.social @jarminyeh.bsky.social @betsywhite25.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/w...

Japan’s New Care Workers: Bodybuilders, Wrestlers and M.M.A. Fighters

nytimes.com

What happened after the weird Sept 2025 White House press conference on autism? 📉 Tylenol use in the ED dropped >10% among pregnant patients 📈 leucovorin rx jumped 93% among kids 5-17 immediately afterwards new @thelancet.com today with @jeremyfaust.bsky.social www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Changes in paracetamol and leucovorin use after a White House briefing

Changes in federal prescribing recommendations follow deliberate and transparent processes involving US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists, which normally include input from stakeholders an...

thelancet.com

Open call for papers, Emerging Challenges in Long-Term Care and Caregiving. Conference to be held in Cambridge, MA on October 2, 2026. Submit papers by 11:59pm EDT on July 31, 2026. More information: www.nber.org/calls-papers...

Are you a PhD Student curious about working in topics of health and aging? Do you feel like you may need extra support? I have a program for you! A one-day mentoring workshop hosted by yours truly and Jetson Leder-Luis (BU) through @nber.org www.nber.org/calls-papers...

Mentoring Program on Aging and Health Economics Research

nber.org

Sure, WSJ. Shame on me for worrying about patient access to care and taxpayer spending over for profit companies. As long as the system works for the wealthy it must be fine with you. Enjoying the comments on the piece, though. Trouble With MedPAC - WSJ share.google/M9VyVAt9V255...

Opinion | The Trouble With MedPAC

A federal advisory board tries to undermine Medicare Advantage.

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More immigration into the US raises the number of health care workers and saves the lives of older Americans, from David C. Grabowski, Jonathan Gruber, and Brian E. McGarry www.nber.org/papers/w34791

“We measure the impact of increased immigration on mortality among elderly Americans, who rely on the immigrant-intensive [health care] sectors… [we find] striking effects on mortality: a 25% increase in the steady state flow of immigrants to the US would result in 5,000 fewer deaths nationwide.”

Immigrants save Americans' lives: "...a 25% increase in the steady state flow of immigrants to the US would result in 5,000 fewer deaths nationwide. We identify reduced use of nursing homes as a key mechanism driving this result." www.nber.org/papers/w34791

Major news outlets: Please consider prominently reporting what this all-star team of researchers has found. www.nber.org/papers/w34791

SNF capacity is the bottleneck that keeps people waiting in ER hallways and make-shift hospital rooms. SNF beds are crucial to our health system. Since 2020, capacity is down 5%, with less slack, due to staffing shortages. @jamainternalmed.com @mlbarnett.bsky.social: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Skilled nursing facility operating capacity in the US declined by 5% since 2019, with the largest losses in rural counties and areas reporting staff shortages, impacting hospital discharge and access to facility-based postacute care. ja.ma/49LZK1E

More on dementia & finances: similar to credit outcomes, we see declines on asset side start about 6 years before dementia onset, patterns are consistent with mistakes driving declines, not healthcare spending or spenddown

NBER@nber.org · 9mo ago

Household wealth begins to decline six years before the onset of dementia, largely because of poor financial decisions, from Jing Li, Kathleen M. McGarry, @lhnicholas.bsky.social, and Jonathan S. Skinner www.nber.org/papers/w34659

New work from @mlbarnett.bsky.social, Andrew Wilcock, Ashvin Gandhi, Fangli Geng, David Grabowski, & me in @jamainternalmed.com documenting declines in SNF capacity in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Changes in US Skilled Nursing Facility Capacity Following the COVID-19 Pandemic

This cross-sectional study assesses changes in skilled nursing facility capacity after the COVID-19 pandemic primarily using Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data from 2019 to 2024 on Medi...

jamanetwork.com

Nursing home effort fluctuates with the inspection cycle, affecting patient survival. Unpredictable inspection schedules may boost effort and save lives, from Ashvin Gandhi, Andrew Olenski, and Maggie Shi www.nber.org/papers/w34491

Medicaid “spend down” — how we force individuals to impoverish themselves to qualify for Medicaid coverage of long-term care — is one of the most messed up things I’ve learned about the US health care system In a new paper, we look at how often spend-down happens in nursing homes specifically

Asset Spend-Down and Medicaid Enrollment in Nursing Homes

This cohort study examines the rate of Medicaid spend-down among nursing home residents enrolled in traditional Medicare and assesses what factors are associated with Medicaid spend-down among these r...

tinyurl.com

Next up at @SHESG2025, Katherine Wen presents work on employment and vaccine mandates. Katherine and her colleagues study the impact of vaccinations mandates surrounding COVID. You may remember that there was significant push-back from workers about the mandates at the time.

Excited this paper is out. Medicare Advantage is driving longer hospital lengths of stay, especially for patients discharged to SNFs. This has important implications for patients' access to post-acute care and hospital patient flows as MA becomes dominant type of Medicare coverage

Michael L. Barnett@mlbarnett.bsky.social · last yr.

New paper w/ Brian McGarry, Ashvin Gandhi, and Drew Wilcock in @jamainternalmed.com! Hospitals are complaining across the US that patients are "stuck" waiting for rehab beds at nursing homes when they are medically stable and ready for discharge. What is going on?? jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Eric Roberts and @joefigs.bsky.social led a groundbreaking new study on Medicaid and Medicare, out today in NEJM. I’m lucky to have been a part of it. Medicare saves lives. But is it enough to save lives of the most vulnerable Americans? The study suggests no; Medicaid still matters. (1/11)

Loss of Subsidized Drug Coverage and Mortality among Medicare Beneficiaries | NEJM

A total of 14 million Medicare beneficiaries receive the Low-Income Subsidy (LIS), which reduces cost sharing in Medicare Part D. Losing the LIS may impede medication access and affect mortality. U...

nejm.org

Placing a "soft" spending limit on physical therapy reduces unnecessary care, but also introduces inequities based on how well providers can navigate paperwork requirements, from Ashvin Gandhi and Maggie Shi https://www.nber.org/papers/w33722

We are hiring! HSR, health policy, health Econ jobs.academyhealth.org/jobs/view/as... Happy to chat! #econsky #policysky

A key problem is there's a Hotel California aspect to MA: once you're in, it's hard to leave. In nearly every state, after your initial eligibility period @65, you can't revert to traditional Medicare without facing medical underwriting for Medigap plan that cover your out-of-pocket obligations.

As the baby boom generation enters its prime years for long-term care needs, its difficult to come up with a more challenging backdrop than an immigration system about to be cut off at its knees (think: nursing home aides) and states having to fill in funding gaps from Medicaid spending shortfalls.

Joan Alker@joanalker1.bsky.social · 2y ago

As press reports continue to highlight the debate within GOP Congressional leaders as to whether they should block grant Medicaid to pay for their tax cuts, it is worth highlighting that there are 11.7 million seniors/PWD on Medicare + Medicare. The so-called "Dual-eligibles".