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Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Patient Safety:

Watch Out For Signs Of Elder Abuse Lurking Amongst Your Patients

Published on Wed Jan 14, 2009

More than 1 in 10 of those you treat could be suffering. Despite the increase in awareness about abuse of the elderly, the problem is still extensive and manifests in ways other than physical. Verbal abuse and financial mistreatment of seniors were hot topics in a recent study. The study, from the Gerontological Society of America, concludes that nearly 13 percent of America's aged citizens living in the community suffer some form of abuse, according to a GSA press release. Statistics: Specifically, 9 percent of adults reported they have suffered from verbal mistreatment and 3.5 percent suffer financial mistreatment. Of those surveyed, only 0.2 percent suffer from physical mistreatment, the release said. A team headed by Edward O. Laumann at the University of Chicago conducted the research, and the findings were based on the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, which conducted interviews with more than 3,000 community-dwelling residents aged [...]
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