Aging Practice Tools

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is removing Social Security numbers from Medicare cards to protect the identity of beneficiaries. Read this Practice Alert for the latest information about the New Medicare Card initiative and to learn how you can help your clients obtain and use their cards.

Interdisciplinary collaboration can be one of the most rewarding, yet challenging, aspects of social work practice. This resource offers ways for NASW members to work more effectively with other disciplines.

Art making is a form of human development, at any age, and it works its agency through the shifting of what an individual perceives as possible. As long as there is possibility, there is hope; in its absence, there is only despair. The sense of the possibility, complexity, and essential mystery of the world is what keeps the soul engaged with reality.

The aging of the population presents social, economic, and political implications for families, the social work profession, and the global community. Families often struggle to provide physical, emotional, financial, and practical support to their aging members. NASW Standards for Social Work Practice with Family Caregivers of Older Adults are designed to enhance social work practice with family caregivers of older adults and to help the public understand the role of professional social work in supporting family caregivers.

Beginning January 1, 2006, prescription drug coverage will be available to all Americans with Medicare. Every person with Medicare, no matter how they get their health care today or whether they have existing drug coverage, will be eligible for drug coverage under a Medicare prescription drug plan. Insurance companies and other private companies will work with Medicare to offer these drug plans. Medicare prescription drug plans will be available throughout the country, and all plans will cover both brand names and generic drugs.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is set to launch the Medicare Modernization Act’s (MMA), new prescription drug benefit (Part D) for Medicare beneficiaries. October 1, 2005 marked the official beginning of the marketing and outreach phase, during which the various drug plans are permitted to distribute informational materials on their formularies and services. This includes plans that work with traditional Medicare coverage and plans that work with Medicare Advantage programs, which include prescription drug coverage and other services.