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Note: The next CAAR report will be issued Friday, Apr. 21, 2000.
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CAAR (Current Awareness in Aging Research) is a weekly email report
produced by the Center for Demography of Health and Aging at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison that helps researchers keep up to date
with the latest developments in the field. For more information, including
an archive of back issues and subscription information see:
http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cdha/caar/caar-index.htm
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I. Data:
1. SSA CURRENT OPERATING STATISTICS UPDATES: The following Social Security
Administration Current Operating Statistics have been updated through
December 1999. Note: all tables are provided in Adobe Acrobat .pdf
format:
1B1, 1B2, 1B4, 1B5, 1B6, 1B7, 1C1, 1C2, 1C3, 1C4, 1C5, 3A1
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/pubs/index.html?main=/statistics/cos/index.html
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2. HRS/AHEAD DATA ALERTS:
A. The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research Health and
Retirement Study announced a data alert: "Corrected Supplement for
HRS
Wave 3 1996 Preliminary Release," on Apr. 10, 2000. Note that this
data
alert is misdated and should be dated 04/10/2000.
http://www.umich.edu/~hrswww/center/alerts/epre009.html
B. The UM ISR Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old study
announced a data alert: "New Data Alert posted for AHEAD 1995 preliminary
release: Codebook Correction: Earnings Previously Reported."
http://www.umich.edu/~hrswww/center/alerts/dpub006.html
HRS/AHEAD Data Center:
http://www.umich.edu/~hrswww/center/center.html
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II. Reports and articles
3. DHHS REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT: "Prescription Drug Coverage, Spending,
Utilization, and Prices," (April 2000, .pdf format, 209p.).
>From the Executive Summary:
On October 25, 1999, the President directed the Secretary of Health
and
Human Services to study prescription drug costs and trends for Medicare
beneficiaries. He asked that the study investigate: price differences
for
the most commonly used drugs for people with and without coverage;
drug
spending by people of various ages, as a percentage of income and of
total
health spending; and trends in drug expenditures by people of different
ages, as a percentage of income and of total health spending. This
report
is the Department's response to that request. It represents the work
of
individuals and agencies throughout the Department, including the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA),
and
the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE).
http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/health/reports/drugstudy/index.htm
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4. NCHS REPORT: The National Center for Health Statistics has released
"The National Nursing Home Survey: 1995 Summary," by Celia Gabrel and
Adrienne Jones (Series 13, No. 146, (PHS) 2000-1715, April 2000, .pdf
format, 91p.).
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/series/sr13/pre-141/sr13_146.htm
Click on "View/Download PDF" for full text.
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5. ARTICLES VIA MEDSCAPE: Note: Medscape requires free registration
before
providing articles:
A. "The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit: How Will the Game Be Played?"
by Haiden A. Huskamp, Meredith B. Rosenthal, Richard G. Frank, and
Joseph
P. Newhouse (_Health Affairs_, Vol. 19, No. 2, March/April 2000, p.
8-23).
>From the Abstract:
Most recent proposals to add a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare
program suggest using pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to control costs
and promote quality. However, the proposals give little detail on the
institutional arrangements that would govern PBM operations and drug
procurement. The recent Congressional Budget Office cost estimate of
the
Clinton administration's proposal reflects this lack of detail on how
PBMs
would function. We sketch an approach for structuring PBM operations
that
focuses on competition among PBMs, manufacturers, and distributors;
incentive pricing; and risk sharing with PBMs.
http://www.medscape.com/19876.rhtml
or
http://www.medscape.com/ProjHope/HA/2000/v19.n02/ha1902.03.husk/ha1902.03.husk-01.html
B. "Diagnosis and Management of Alzheimer Disease," by Mel P. Daly
(_Journal of the American Board of Family Practice_, Vol. 12, No. 5,
September/October 1999, p. 375-384).
>From the Abstract:
A comprehensive and systematic review of the literature published between
1985 and 1998 about diagnosing and treating Alzheimer disease was
conducted, using "dementia," "Alzheimer's disease," and "treatment"
as
search strategy key words. Data and information that reported significant
conclusions were critically reviewed. Potentially important new data
about
new agents that might be of benefit when caring for patients with
Alzheimer disease are discussed.
http://www.medscape.com/19847.rhtml
or
http://www.medscape.com/ABFP/JABFP/1999/v12.n05/fp1205.04.daly/fp1205.04.daly-01.html
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6. _NEJM_ ARTICLE ABSTRACT: "Relation of Race and Sex to the Use of
Reperfusion Therapy in Medicare Beneficiaries with Acute Myocardial
Infarction," by John G. Canto, Jeroan J. Allison, Catarina I. Kiefe,
Contessa Fincher, Robert Farmer, Padmini Sekar, Sharina Person, and
Norman
W. Weissman (_New England Journal of Medicine_, Apr. 13, 2000, Vol.
342,
No. 15). Note: This is a link to an abstract for the article. _NEJM_
is
electronically available to print subscribers.
http://www.nejm.org/content/2000/0342/0015/1094.asp
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7. _JAMA_ ARTICLE: "Estrogen and Progestin, Lipoprotein(a), and the
Risk
of Recurrent Coronary Heart Disease Events After Menopause," by Michael
G.
Shlipak, Joel A. Simon, Eric Vittinghoff, Feng Lin, Elizabeth
Barrett-Connor, Robert H. Knopp, Robert I. Levy, and Stephen B. Hulley
(_Journal of the American Medical Association_, Vol. 283, No. 14, Apr.
12,
2000, p. 1845-1852).
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v283n14/full/joc91843.html
This page links to the abstract and full text in HTML and .pdf formats.
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8. _SCIENCE_ ARTICLE: "Intimations of Immortality," by John Harris
(_Science_, Apr. 7, 2000, Vol. 288, No. 5463, p. 59).
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/288/5463/59
This page is the abstract, which links to full text. Note: Your
organization may have access to electronic full text of this article.
Check your organization's library.
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9. RAND LABOR AND POPULATION ISSUE BRIEF: "Grandparents Caring for
Grandchildren: What Do We Know?" (Rand Corporation Research Brief No.
5030, 2000, HTML format).
http://www.rand.org/publications/RB/RB5030/
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III. Working Papers
10. NBER: "Social Security Incentives for Retirement," by Courtney Coile,
and Jonathan Gruber (National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper
W7651, April 2000, .pdf format, 49p.).
>From the Abstract:
We present a detailed analysis of the incentives that Social Security
provides for continued work at older ages. We do so using information
on
older males from the Health and Retirement Study over the 1980-1997
period
to calculate the changes in the present discounted value of Social
Security entitlements from additional work at each age. We find that
the
median male worker faces a small tax on work at ages 55-61, a near
zero
tax at ages 62-64, and a large tax at ages 65-69. However, there is
significant heterogeneity in tax rates. We also document significant
non-monotonicities in the accrual of Social Security entitlements with
additional work, and suggest a more appropriate measure of incentive
effects that considers accruals over not just the next year but future
years as well.
http://papers.nber.org/papers/W7651
Click on "PDF" for full text.
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11. BOSTON COLLEGE CENTER FOR RETIREMENT RESEARCH: "Assuring Retirement
Income for all Workers," by Daniel I. Halperin and Alicia H. Munnell
(CRR
WP 2000-05, March 2000, .pdf format, 63p.).
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/csom/executive/crr/wp/Abstracts/ab00-05.htm
Click on "For full paper in PDF format, click here" for full text.
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IV. Journal Tables of Contents (check your library for availability)
12. Ageing and Society (Vol. 20, No. 2, March 2000). Click on titles
for
abstracts. Note: Your organization may have access to full text from
abstracts. Check your organization's library.
http://www.journals.cup.org/owa_dba/owa/issues?sjid=ASO&svid=20&siid=2
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13. The Gerontologist (Vol. 40, No 2, April 2000). Note: This journal
is
available in electronic full text in the ProQuest Research Library.
Check
your library for the availability of this database and of this issue.
http://www.geron.org/journals/tgcontents.htm
Click on April 2000.
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14. Journal of Gerontology--Psychological Sciences B (Vol. 55B, No.
2 and
3, March and May, 2000). Note: This journal is available in electronic
full text in the ProQuest Research Library. Check your library for
the
availability of this database and of this issue.
http://www.geron.org/journals/psycontents.html
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15. Journal of Gerontology--Social Sciences B (Vol. 55B, No. 3, May
2000).
Note: This journal is available in electronic full text in the ProQuest
Research Library. Check your library for the availability of this database
and of this issue.
http://www.geron.org/journals/soccontents.html
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16. Journal of Marriage and the Family (Vol. 62, No. 2, May 2000).
Note:
This journal is available in electronic full text in the ProQuest Research
Library. Check your library for the availability of this database and
of
this issue.
http://www.ncfr.com/jour_high.html
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17. CARL Uncover Journal Tables of Contents. Follow the instructions
below
to access tables of contents. CARL Uncover provides fee based document
delivery services for selected journals.
A. Point your browser to:
B. click on "Search Uncover"
C. click on "Search Uncover Now"
D. Type the Journal Name in the search box and click the radio button
"Journal Title Browse"
E. click on the journal name
F. click on "journal issues"
G. click on the issues identified below
American Economic Review (Vol. 90, No. 1, March 2000). Note:
This journal is available in electronic full text in the ProQuest Research
Library. Check your library for the availability of this database and
of
this issue.
American Sociological Review (Vol. 65, No. 1, February 2000). Note:
This journal is available in electronic full text in the ProQuest Research
Library. Check your library for the availability of this database and
of
this issue.
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V. Books
18. NBER: _The Economics of Aging_, edited by David A. Wise (National
Bureau of Economic Research, forthcoming conference volume from a
conference held May 6-8, 1999). At present, five chapters are available
(.pdf format) at the site.
http://www.nber.org/books/wise599/index.html
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VI. Legislation Information Updates
19. HOUSE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND
INVESTIGATIONS: Third Party Billing Company Fraud: Assessing the Threat
Posed to Medicare, a hearing held Apr. 6, 2000.
A. Hearing Testimony:
http://com-notes.house.gov/cchear/hearings106.nsf/action?OpenView&Start=1&Count=60&Expand=1
scroll to "April 6, 2000: Oversight & Investigations Hearing"
B. GAO Testimony:
1. "Medicare: Concerns About HCFA's Efforts to Prevent Fraud by
Third-Party Billers," by Leslie G. Aronovitz, Associate Director for
Health Financing and Public Health Issues, (General Accounting Office
Testimony T-HEHS-00-93, April 2000, .pdf format, 8p.).
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/he00093t.pdf
2. "Medicare: Improper Third-Party Billing of Medicare by Behavioral
Medical Systems, Inc., by Robert H. Hast, Acting Assistant Comptroller
General for Special Investigations, (General Accounting Office Testimony
T-OSI-00-9, April 2000, .pdf format, 7p.).
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/os00009t.pdf
Note: GAO Internet addresses are valid for only a limited period of
time.
After that time, documents can be found by searching the Government
Printing Office:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces160.shtml
and searching on title or report number.
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20. SENATE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING: Funerals and Burials: Protecting
Consumers from Bad Practices, a hearing held Apr. 10-11, 2000.
Apr. 10, 2000 Hearing Testimony:
http://www.senate.gov/~aging/hr48.htm
Apr. 11, 2000 Hearing Testimony:
http://www.senate.gov/~aging/hr49.htm
Video Transcript of Apr. 11 Hearing (RealPlayer plug-in or helper
application needed):
http://www.senate.gov/~aging/funeral2.ram
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VII. Websites of Interest
21. SOCIAL SECURITY RETIREMENT PLANNER: The Social Security Administration
has launched a Retirement Planner website. Highlight of the site is
a
collection of retirement benefits calculators, including a detailed
calculator that is available as a downloadable program.
http://www.ssa.gov/retire/
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22. MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH WEB BOOK: The Max
Planck
Institute for Demographic Research has recently made electronically
available, with the permission of Odense University Press, _Exceptional
Longevity: From Prehistory to the Present_, edited by Bernard Jeune
and
James W. Vaupel (Monographs on Population Aging, 2, 1995). It joins
four
other Odense Monographs on Population Aging (_Development of Oldest-old
Mortality, 1950-1990: Evidence from 28 Developed Countries_; _Population
Data at a Glance: Shaded Contour Maps of Demographic Surfaces over
Age and
Time_; _The Force of Mortality at Ages 80 to 120_; and _The Advancing
Frontier of Survival_) at the Max Planck website. Note: Your browser
must
support frames to view these monographs.
_Exceptional Longevity: From Prehistory to the Present_
http://www.demogr.mpg.de/Papers/Books/Monograph2/
Odense Monographs on Population Aging
http://www.demogr.mpg.de/Papers/PapersPres.htm
Jack Solock
Data Librarian--Center for Demography and Ecology and Center for
Demography of Health and Aging
4470 Social Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI 53706
608-262-9827
jsolock@ssc.wisc.edu