Blog

When President John F. Kennedy established Older Americans Month in 1963 there were just 17 million Americans over the age of 65. Today, that number is 54 million, and growing rapidly. Then as now, the needs of older Americans are too often not fully appreciated or acted upon.

While it’s no secret preventive measures are essential to keeping people healthy, many seniors wait for their annual wellness visit to gain updates on their health status. For individuals with chronic conditions like diabetes, preventive and diagnostic screenings and services provided as part of an In-Home Health Evaluation (IHE) can help fill the gap between office visits and serve as a hub for the continuum of care.

To fulfill its vision to achieve the highest level of health and well-being and to eliminate disparities in health care quality and access for all they serve, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) supports a range of initiatives designed to provide equitable, cost-effective, and person-centered care. This vision is ambitious, but achievable if all within the extended care team – and the organizations that support them – collectively embrace initiatives that meet the medical and nonmedical needs of beneficiaries in cost-effective ways. 

Time has a special meaning in geriatrics, for both patients and the geriatricians like me that treat them. Older patients are focused on maintaining their function and independence so they can enjoy every day-week-month as happily and healthily as they can. Geriatricians know that to achieve those goals, we need time to connect with patients on both a personal and professional level. Doctors have traditionally been lucky to spend even 15 minutes with their patients — just enough time to cover the chief complaint and maybe some chronic disease basics. 

May is Older Americans Month, and this year we should use it as a time to think big about changes we can make for how seniors receive their health care. Coming out of the pandemic, we have an opportunity to embrace the lessons we learned about what is possible. Millions experienced their first home visit, their first doctor’s appointment by telemedicine, their first sharing of biometric data remotely to improve care management or even their first admission to the “hospital” at home.