24 May 2000. Revised 9 April 2004. AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, offers research findings and other resources on a variety of topics related to aging. Research reports cover topics such as health and long term care, economic security and work, independent living, consumer issues, demographics and more. The Center also provides access to the research databases, AgeLine (see separate annotation) and AgeSource Worldwide, as well as reference materials such as Acronyms in Aging. Connect here to find this official DHHS site. It offers fact sheets, articles, reports, speeches, statistics and more. 18 January 2002. Revised 6 December 2002. The (U.K.) Centre for Policy on Ageing offers a bibliographic database containing information about books, articles, and reports on gerontology issues. The database also provides information about gerontology organizations in the United Kingdom, Europe and the world. Access is available by subscription only. 31 October 2001. Revised 22 July 2005. This AARP database contains abstracts and bibliographic citations of materials on issues related to aging. Coverage primarily extends back to 1978, although there are some older publications. Sources include books, journal and magazine articles, research reports, and videos from the gerontology collection of AARP's Research Information Center, as well as selected articles from 600 magazines and journals. AARP facilitates obtaining copies of full-text articles by giving searchers the option of ordering documents directly from Infotrieve. 10 February 2003. This law firm Web site offers commentary, case summaries, a glossary, and more on the topic of age discrimination in employment. Case summaries cover the U.S. Supreme Court and 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The glossary includes employment law terms. 27 May 2003. Revised 22 July 2005. AARP offers this database of information about Web-accessible resources around the world that focus on aging issues. Many of the resources contained in this database are databases. Others include libraries, clearinghouses, directories and portals or large Web sites. You can search or browse AgeSource Worldwide. Listings provide extensive information about resources, including the host or sponsor, contact information, description, subjects covered, price or fees and Web site link. Technical note: The site did not render well in Firefox when we tested it. 14 October 2004. Financial and retirement consultant Mike Gamble provides information on a variety of topics related to elder care. Find checklists, advice, commentary, definitions, resources and more. Topics include the basics of care giving, safety and elderly drivers, nursing home assessment, home safety, living arrangements, symptoms of major health conditions and Medicare. The site also provides a detailed table of contents. 31 August 2000. This site offers a report by the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, which conducts statistical research on older Americans. The report, entitled "Older Americans 2000: Key Indicators of Well-Being, provides statistics and information on the elderly including the "population, economics, health status, health risks and behaviors, and healthcare." Visitors may download the entire report as a PDF file, or read various segments of it online or in PDF. 2 March 2000. Supplied primarily with data collected from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) and SK&A Information Services, this site offers a mix of free and fee-based information. Typical hospital entries in the free category include hospital name, address, telephone number, Medicare provider number, organization type (e.g., voluntary nonprofit), number of beds, subproviders and distinct units, services, limited financials (gross patient revenue, non-patient revenue, net income/loss), and inpatient/outpatient utilization statistics.
9 January 2001. Revised 29 October 2004. Harvard Law School maintains this database of summaries of legislation, constitutions, court decisions, and other official government documents from countries around the world. It contains information from 1974 to the present about population policies, reproductive rights and health, women's status and rights, children and adolescents, HIV/AIDS and related topics. You can browse the database by topic or search it by country, keyword or date. Results include the name of the relevant country, the title and date of the document, its source and a summary. If more information is available on the Web, the results also include a link to the source Web site. 22 February 2000. Revised 23 October 2007. This advocacy site offers information about current developments in the area of mental health. Find legislative alerts, information and documents pertaining to Americans with Disabilities (ADA), fair housing, and more. 11 August 2005. A care management company that focuses on services for the elderly, chronically ill and disabled, CareGuide offers a wealth of information about a variety of issues. Find articles and resources on health and well-being, the mind and memory, care at home, living alternatives, legal and financial issues, caregivers and child care. 6 November 2001. The health-related agencies of the U.S. government provide offer CHID Online, a collection of bibliographic databases of health awareness and education materials. The databases cover 16 topics, including Alzheimer's disease, alternative medicine, diabetes, epilepsy, kidney diseases, rare disorders, weight control, and others. 14 September 2001. The site offers samples of medical images and sells medical legal exhibits, anatomical models and illustrations. It conveniently arranges its samples into browseable categories including medical specialties and parts of the body. 1 March 2005. Novato, California-based law firm Brayton Purcell maintains this Web site on elder abuse issues. It explains how to recognize and avoid abuse, the legal rights of care facility residents and how to report abuse. Sections of the site deal with pain management, under-medication as abuse and choosing a nursing home or other care option. It also provides news analysis on legal, legislative and medical issues related to elder abuse. 15 March 2001. Revised 9 April 2004. Elder Law Answers, created and managed by attorney Harry S. Margolis with the Boston-based law firm Margolis & Associates, targets both consumers and lawyers. Find information about estate planning, wills, trusts, long-term care, Medicaid, Medicare, and other senior law related issues. The site also offers an attorney look-up tool, discussion forums, FAQs, information about books on senior issues, a glossary (selections from the Dictionary of Eldercare Terminology, 2nd edition), online calculators, checklists and more. 11 August 2005. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration on Aging offers this locator tool for finding information about services for seniors. Search by topic and location to find contact information about helpful programs and services. Topics available include elder abuse prevention, health insurance counseling, legal assistance, long-term care and prescription assistance. Technical note: While the site offers 3 font-size settings (bottom of home page), it did not render well for us in either Internet Explorer or Firefox. Karen Stevenson Brown, CPA and Senior Manager for McGladrey & Pullen, LLP, Bloomington, IL offers this excellent source of information pertaining to seniors. The site offers numerous articles covering a vast range of issues including, but not limited to, Alzheimer's disease, death and bereavement, assisted living, senior housing, and viaticals and accelerated benefits.
The site includes annotations to other Web resources, information about organizations devoted to specific issues, and information about elder care legislation.
7 December 2004. Started during 2003 by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, EPERC services are now carried on by the Medical College of Wisconsin (hosts the EPERC Web site) and the American Association for Hospice and Palliative Medicine (maintains the literature database). The Web site provides educational materials arranged by delivery format (forms, cases, self-study guides, Web sites, etc.), one-page outlines of key information on end-of-life clinical topics (Fast Facts), a bibliography of articles on various death and dying issues, links to related resources and educational guides (Starter Kits). The site also provides a monthly e-mail newsletter. 7 December 2004. The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine maintains a database of peer-reviewed literature on death and dying issues. You can search by keyword using simple Boolean or review resources by pre-selected categories. The database provides bibliographic information about books, journal articles and videos and CDs on topics such as care of the dying, bereavement, pain management, policy guidelines and more. 16 November 2000. This site offers a database of extended care providers. Search by location or provider name to find acute care hospitals, adult day services, assisted living residences, psychiatric facilities, home care support services, hospice care, nursing homes, retirement communities, and more. Data offered includes facility name, address, phone, fax and type, number of beds, applicable licenses, and number of units. Also find commentary on aging and related issues, news, and more. 9 April 2001. The government portal site, FirstGov, now offers a government portal for senior citizens. Visitors find current news and legislation on the home page. All sources point back to government sites. Users also may sign up for email delivery of news stories. On the home page, find easy access to federal and government agencies concerning aging issues. HCFA’s Web site targets both consumers and professional researchers. It provides data related to Medicare, Medicaid and child health. Information for legal professionals includes PRRB decisions, administrative rulings, advisory opinions, Medicare payment resources, program manuals, and more. 22 September 2004. LexisNexis offers this resource containing news summaries and select publication updates pertaining to health care law. News topics include the Family Medical Leave Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, insurance, long-term health care and elder care. Use of the site is free and all information appears in full-text. Revised 21 May 2004. American Health Lawyers Association offers a wealth of resources. Find health law news and commentary, a free weekly health law news update service, a collection of documents related to health law issues, and more. Access to some parts of the site requires membership with the association. Additionally, the use of some resources requires payment. 22 February 2002. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers this database of bibliographic citations to articles, published between 1986 and 1996, on "the study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual and community decisions that enhance health." Diseases and health behaviors covered include cancer, heart disease, mental health, substance abuse, and more. Populations, settings, and communication media covered include the elderly, schools, workplaces, interpersonal communication, new media, and more. Search by a variety of criteria, including author, title, topic, and others, or select a pre-defined query. 5 February 2001. Cornell Legal Information Institute offers a database containing the Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation's (a unit of the Office of Hearings and Appeals of the Social Security Administration) procedural manual entitled Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law Manual. 13 April 2006. The American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging makes available a legal information guide for seniors. It provides an overview of 10 topics, including age discrimination, retirement rights and benefits, Medicare, housing and long-term care. Each chapter consists of a separate PDF document. 14 October 2004. Florida attorney Jason E. Havens provides a directory of resources with research guidance on the topic of estate planning. The guide covers estate planning research generally, national estate planning Web sites, state and local Web sites, literature sources and estate planning practice tools. Havens annotates most of the resources in the guide. 16 May 2000. Lido.com, a subsidiary of Adam.com, Inc., an online health and medical information provider, offers this subscription-based Web site for searching and downloading over 10,000 medically accurate illustrations. The site offers royalty-free use of the illustrations to subscribers.
In addition to the medical images database, the site promises a future database of "detailed anatomical images, including illustrated, fully dissectible male and female bodies (in anterior, lateral, medial and posterior views)." It also promises access to Adam.com's medical encyclopedia. Free trial subscriptions are available.
5 February 2001. Cornell Legal Information Institute offers a database containing reference materials relevant to social security law. It offers commentary, bibliographic references to additional articles, and links to primary materials including laws, regulations, key cases, social security rulings, and the POMS. MedicineNet, a network of U.S. board certified physicians and health professionals, offers this index of medical terms. Medical professionals write and edit this resource. The Health Care Financing Administration offers this site devoted to Medicare. Find a number of publications on topics like choosing a nursing home, advance directives, hospice benefits, medical savings accounts, and more. MedicineNet, a network of U.S. board certified physicians and health professionals, provides health-related news and articles, articles and information about diseases and treatments as well as various medical procedures and tests, detailed information about drugs including much of what researchers can find in Physicians Desk Reference, a medical dictionary, information about how to provide first aid, and a directory of American Association of Poison Control Centers certified poison control centers.
Medical professionals write and edit all content.
MEDLINEplus, a National Library of Medicine Web site, opened during Fall 1998. As a research guide, it suggests Web, online, paper and other sources of health-related information. Merck offers the second edition (1995) of its Merck Manual of Geriatrics. A text on geriatric medicine, the manual covers topics like "Medicare, nursing home and home care, ... the roles of nursing, social services, and rehabilitation." This edition adds "information about normal and abnormal aging, diagnosis, management, and treatment of disease" and expands on clinical legal and ethical issues.
Elsewhere on the Merck Web find The Merck Manual of Medical Information, Home Edition (1997) and The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy (1999).
19 May 2000. The National Aging Information Center offers this bibliographic database of materials pertaining to elder issues. Some of the topics include elder abuse, discrimination, health and wellness, housing, and long-term care. The database covers the years 1982 to 1998. 11 September 2003. The Web site of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees provides information about federal employees' and retirees' benefits. Find information about NARFE's legislative program, legislative issues and retirement issues. Members receive access to additional legislative and retirement benefit information, and also to NARFE Magazine, a monthly journal on federal employee retirement benefits. 8 May 2002. Funded by the National Institute on Aging, NACDA collects and disseminates data pertaining to gerontological research. Search NACDA's holdings to find detailed descriptions of surveys and studies, which include links to publicly-available data files for downloading. 13 April 2006. Administered by the non-profit National Association of State Units on Aging, the National Center on Elder Abuse provides information on the rights of the elderly for law enforcement and legal professionals, public policy leaders, researchers and the public. You will find an overview of elder abuse, information about laws and legislation to protect seniors, statistics and more. The National Library of Medicine provides this new search interface to all resources within its collection. Perform keyword searching for books and other library resources. Medical researchers may search by MESH subject headings. Features include ability to track search query history. Revised 22 February 2002. A government report suggests the site does not publish all the violations data it receives.
This resource by the Health Care Financing Administration provides information about nursing homes in the United States. Search by home name or by jurisdiction. Data includes home name, address, and phone, ownership, number of beds, date of last inspection, and information about health deficiencies and requirements not met during the last inspection.
This CancerWEB resource "is a searchable dictionary ... [that] contains terms relating to biochemistry, cell biology, chemistry, medicine, molecular biology, physics, plant biology, radiobiology, science and technology. It includes: acronyms, jargon, theory, conventions, standards, institutions, projects, eponyms, history, in fact anything to do with medicine or science." 8 May 2002. The Center for Health Law Studies at Saint Louis University and the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics (ASLME) team to provide this Web site devoted to legal issues involving pain management and palliative care. It offers commentary, including news items, articles from ASLME and other quality journals, direct links to relevant data in commercial databases (pay-to-access) like Lexis and Westlaw, case summaries with links to the full-text in free and commercial sources, and more.
Revised 18 January 2002. Formerly, Choice in Dying, this right-to-die organization offers much of possible interest – state-specific advance directive packages, information about recent state legislative activities and case law developments, articles, and more. Revised 9 May 2008. Site message indicates that access to the PDR Desk Reference will no longer be offered to those who are not medical professionals.
Consumers and health professionals alike will find useful information at this Medical Economics Company site. Except for access to Physician's Desk Reference and Stedman's Medical Dictionary, researchers may browse content here free of charge. The site does require registration. Free content includes a medical encyclopedia, a guide to prescription drugs, health industry news, five health-related databases of the National Library of Medicine, clinical trial and related information, physician bios, and more.
30 May 2002. The Department of Health and Human Services offers poverty guidelines from 1982 to present. Guidelines include Federal Register references or text. Also find additional information and references; for example, an explanation of the difference between poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines.
5 February 2001. Cornell Legal Information Institute offers a database containing excerpts from the Social Security Administration's POMS manual. It is current through December 1998. 16 May 2000. The American Psychological Association offers this pay-per-use bibliographic database of psychology literature. Revised 5 November 2001. The National Library of Medicine provides access to MEDLINE -- a database of bibliographic information about articles in the medical sciences published since about 1966 -- and citations to newer publications not yet appearing in MEDLINE.
David Goldfarb of the law firm, Goldfarb & Abrandt, contributes SeniorLaw, a site where professionals and consumers may discover information about elder law. The site features Medicare and Medicaid updates, articles, and links to estate planning resources. The Social Security Administration offers rulings pertaining to old-age and survivors’ insurance benefits, the Social Security Handbook, international agreements, and rules and regulations. 11 September 2003. Texas lawyer Jeanne Pi comments on news and information about pending health and long-term care legislation, Medicaid, nursing facilities, social security, financial matters and more. She also provides an extensive list of Web-based resources covering federal and Texas state law pertaining to matters of interest to elder law attorneys. The RSS news feed appears to contain the same content as the Weblog. 20 November 2002. Attorney Timothy L. Takacs offers commentary, a weekly newsletter, and a news bulletin pertaining to elder law issues. The commentary targets seniors and covers issues like "Navigating the Medicaid Maze" and "What the Salespeople Don't Tell You About Living Trusts." The newsletter covers issues of interest to attorneys as well as the public, and is also available via email. Especially for lawyers, the bulletin is published by LexisNexis and appears to be available free of charge by email. It consists of news summaries with links to full-text documents. A current issue covers "Inflation-Adjusted Tax Items for 2003," the "Use of Psychotropic Drugs in Skilled Nursing Facilities" and many other topics. The site maintains an online archive of the bulletin, which you can browse.
26 June 2001. This nonprofit organization advocates for "timely and humane treatment for Americans with severe brain disorders who are not receiving appropriate medical care." Its Web site offers briefing papers (articles) and fact sheets about various mental disorders as well as treatment and diagnosis issues. It also provides an index of links to related general, legal and medical resources, information about the activities of states and hospital closures. A very useful database -- called Preventable Tragedies -- provides summaries of incidents of abuse and other crimes, suicide, and victims.
18 January 2002. Revised 11 February 2005. The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) offers this database of bibliographic citations and abstracts on violence-related literature. Covering journal articles, books, reports and literature reviews, the database provides information about research and literature on many topics, including school violence, workplace violence, road rage, domestic abuse and elder abuse. 26 June 2001. The American Board of Medical Specialties offers a free unofficial database for verifying a doctor's certification. This resource appears to replace the former Certified Doctor Verification Service. Search by name or practice type to obtain information about certification. The ABMS also offers an official version of the database with more information about a doctor at BoardCertifiedDocs. 1 March 2005. Gerry W. Beyer, a law professor at St. Mary’s University School of Law, comments on developments in estate planning. Many of the comments refer readers to general interest news stories. On the day I read it, there was a mix of comments for professionals and the public. The Weblog offers both an RSS and Atom feed. |
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