While instances of suicide among community-dwelling seniors have fallen in recent years, the same has not been true for long-term care residents, according to a recent study.

Community-based physical activity programs cost effectively reduce instances of heart disease, stroke and other chronic diseases among residents of those communities, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Medicaid paid nursing home operators an average of $13.72 less than allowable costs per resident day in 2006. That is a shortfall of $4.6 billion overall, according to preliminary results of an annual study released Monday at the American Health Care Association's annual conference in Nashville.

Twenty-eight states will receive $36 million in grant programs to help older Americans, veterans and people with Alzheimer's receive home- and community-based care, the Department of Health and Human Services said Monday.

More than 8,000 nursing home residents have filed a federal, class-action lawsuit in Florida, claiming they are being forced to live in facilities against their wishes. Plaintiffs accuse the nursing-home lobby of pressuring state lawmakers to make it harder for individuals to receive Medicaid-covered home- and community-based care.

The draft of the Republican party's 2008 platform calls for new non-institutional long-term care options.

The Democratic Party has included long-term care reform as a plank in its policy platform.