We have attempted to provide some semblance of normalcy regarding our services and outreach after over 18 months of revamping business practices and our interactions with clients and our professional partners. We originally scheduled in-person professional appreciation events for the end of September and a client appreciation event for early December, as we have done in previous years. Unfortunately, due to the Delta variant, we decided to postpone these large in-person events and will reschedule them and/or turn these events into a virtual event. We believe we have a [...]

On Thursday, October 21, 2021, Rothkoff Law Group will host our 4th Annual Elder Care Symposium from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. The topic for this year’s virtual event is Lessons Learned from COVID-19. The agenda includes a keynote address, breakout sessions, and a panel discussion. Professionals who work with older adults and family members of senior-aged loved ones will have valuable networking opportunities and unprecedented access to critical information regarding elder care issues. The Symposium will take a hard look at the current healthcare system for seniors and [...]

The Medicare Open Enrollment Period for 2022 has arrived. Throughout the year, Medicare has different enrollment periods. The Open Enrollment Period, or OEP, is the timeframe during which Medicare beneficiaries can make changes to their Medicare plans. This year’s OEP will take place October 15 through December 7, 2021. Any changes you make to your Medicare plan during this period go into effect on January 1, 2022. During OEP, you can: • Switch from Original Medicare (Medicare Parts A and B) to a Medicare Advantage (Medicare Part C) plan. [...]

One in 10 people over the age of 65 has Alzheimer’s dementia. Since the disease has affected a beloved former employee, Lois Cohen, we’ve been walking to end Alzheimer’s every November—and this year, we want you to walk with us. Learn how you can join our team and make a donation: http://bit.ly/love4lois2021

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we live and communicate with one another in various ways, including scheduling virtual meetings, a significant reduction in travel, and reduction or elimination of large in-person gatherings. However, some important aspects of life have not changed, not all necessarily for the better. In late August, news broke that 91-year-old actor Ed Asner died. Asner became famous for his role as Lou Grant, the crusty newspaperman on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, then later as Lou Grant on his own TV drama from [...]

After almost a year and a half in a virtual setting, our team is in the process of returning to the office. We also are doing more in-person appointments. We will continue to offer virtual appointments for those who wish to meet via Zoom. Additionally, although we will be continuing with other virtual professional and consumer education series, we will be beginning to offer in-person continuing education presentations beginning this summer. We have updated our professional and consumer seminars and webinars for 2021. You may review all our updated [...]

Registration is now open for this year’s Elder Care Symposium on October 21st. The Virtual Symposium will be held on a customized virtual event platform featuring virtual presentations and an interactive exhibit hall with virtual booths. Each booth includes videos, downloadable documents, and event product information. You don’t want to miss this exciting experience! Our keynote speaker is Dr. Jason Karlawish, physician, writer, and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and the co-director of the Penn Memory Center. Breakout sessions will include institutional racism in senior healthcare, virtual reality [...]

The focus of our elder care law firm is to offer a multi-disciplinary approach to address the issues associated with the aging process. Traditional legal services such as drafting estate planning documents, trust planning, and guardianships are important legal tools that everyone should plan for. However, these purely legal tools do not prevent seniors from falling in their home and subsequently requiring a hospital stay and possible nursing home placement. As such, we provide both legal and non-legal care advocacy services to keep seniors at home, where most older [...]

COVID-19 has been devastating to long-term care residents. Although the situation has improved greatly after the availability of vaccines, family members are still hesitant to make the decision to place their loved ones in a nursing home setting. Nonetheless, there was and continues to be an important need for assisted living and/or nursing home care. Should placement in a long-term care community be necessary, it is important to adequately prepare for the significant financial costs of care. Medicaid crisis planning is a crucial step in preparing for the future [...]

As we move into the second year of dealing with the effects of COVID-19, at the present time, most of our office team continues to be hard at work with the assistance of technology. We continue to be very productive working remotely, and are at the office when needed to meet with clients or perform tasks they cannot accomplish remotely. However, as more of our clients and staff are fully vaccinated over the coming weeks, we expect to start engaging in more in-person client appointments and have more staff [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly devastating for nursing homes and their residents. Aside from the tragically disproportionate loss of life, care for surviving residents has been delayed or interrupted due to infection, facility lockdowns or other health system disruptions. As a result, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has waived two limitations on Medicare Part A skilled nursing facility (SNF) coverage during the coronavirus pandemic: The 3-day qualifying hospital stay requirement; and The 100-day benefit period. However, CMS treats the two SNF coverage expansions differently from [...]

We are excited to announce our virtual Symposium for 2021, to be held on October 21, 2021. Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Jason Karlawish, author of the new book, The Problem of Alzheimer’s – How Science, Culture, And Politics Turned a Rare Disease Into A Crisis And What We Can Do About It. Due to the uncertainty of large in-person gatherings this fall, we have decided to have the Symposium remain in a virtual setting this year. However, we have a very exciting new virtual platform we will [...]

I am into my third decade of being an elder care law attorney. Early on in my career, I realized the shortcomings of a traditional elder law practice focused exclusively on financial issues. Our clients and families needed a multi-disciplinary approach to aging and chronic care issues, which focused on helping families navigate the health care system. This is the reason we now have five geriatric social workers in our elder care law firm. In 1989, Dr. Margaret Noel, a geriatrician, founded the Center for Older Adults at Thoms [...]