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Planning Health Care for an Aging Population: What Strategists Need to Know

By The SHSMD Team posted 10-20-2020 02:17 PM

  


This guest blog is written by Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D. a thought leader regarding health care and other factors related to aging in America. Dychtwald is featured in an article offering healthy aging solutions in SHSMD’s Futurescan 2020-2025: Health Care Trends and Implications. He is also the co-author of What Retirees Want: A Holistic View of Life’s Third Age.

As retirees make up a greater proportion of the U.S. population than ever before in history, hospitals and health systems must understand their needs and concerns in order to deliver a good consumer experience and build a relationship of trust. This blog post addresses four very common problems where treatment and technology are available but underused. Delivering the right treatment and resources can make an enormous difference in the daily lives and well-being of older adults.

Living with Everyday Health Problems

Some of the most common health problems of aging Americans cause everyday discomfort or impairment. While remedies exist today, we expect that market forces will bring many more –
some effective and others snake oil. For most consumers, since so much of what’s coming will emerge on the outskirts of traditional medicine and nutrition, it will be hard to know the difference. This underscores the need for older adults to entrust their care to expert providers.

Pain

One in three Americans over 55 has a diagnosed pain condition, commonly associated with arthritis. The majority of Americans rely only on over-the-counter (OTC) medications to treat it and about 20 percent use prescription drugs. One fast-emerging trend in self-managed pain treatment is CBD (cannabidiol) which is said to have anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effects. CBD was legalized across the United States in 2018. The global CBD market, roughly half of which represents medical uses, was estimated at $4.6 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow to $23.6 billion in 2025.

We’re finally aware that far too many people have been prescribed opioids for their pain, and many have become tragically addicted or have died. Increased awareness of the opioid epidemic is driving a decline in prescription pain medication use. Among Americans with reported pain, 21 percent used a prescription in 2017 compared to 35 percent in 2013.

Sleep disorders

Regular and adequate deep, restful sleep is vital to physical and mental health. The lack of sleep is associated with a variety of chronic medical conditions including hypertension and diabetes. In Sleep Revolution, Arianna Huffington writes, “Scientists are resoundingly confirming what our ancestors knew instinctively: that our sleep is not empty time. Sleep is a time of intense neurological activity…Getting the right amount of sleep enhances the quality of every minute we spend with our eyes open.” However, nearly half of Americans aged 65 to 80 report that they regularly have trouble falling asleep. An estimated 22 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea. Its prevalence increases with age and an estimated 80 percent of cases are undiagnosed.

More older Americans means more sleepless Americans. The market for OTC sleep remedies nearly doubled between 2011 ($217 million) and 2015 ($420 million). Global sales of sleep aids and technology, including smart beds and pillows, are expected to grow from $60 billion in 2018 to $95 billion in 2025.

Hearing impairment

Nearly 25 percent of those aged 65 to 74, and 50 percent of those 75 and older, have disabling hearing loss. Although many could benefit from hearing aids, fewer than one in three (30 percent) has ever used them due to concerns about being stigmatized as “old.” However, hearing aids have come a long way since they debuted in 1956. Thanks to advances in miniaturization, some of today’s options are virtually undetectable because they’re positioned largely or completely in the ear canal or hidden away right behind the ear. Soon, they will do more than assist hearing.

For example, companies specializing in wearable biometric sensor technology and micro-acoustics and micro-mechanics technology are partnering on a biometric sensor hearing aid. In addition to improving hearing, it will measure heart rate, activity levels and energy expenditure, and provide a platform for future innovations in health monitoring. All that sounds promising, but Medicare doesn’t cover hearing aids, and supplement plans are unlikely to cover the most advanced and expensive kind. Unequal access to this technology could well exacerbate unequal health outcomes.

Falls

Slipping and falling is not, of course, a medical condition. But it’s a major cause of serious injury among older people, as well as a cause of general decline when injuries from a fall reduce overall mobility. Three million older Americans are treated in emergency departments for fall injuries each year and falls are contributing to the steady rise in hip and knee replacement surgeries around the world.

A 2018 Centers for Disease Control study estimated the medical cost of falls at $50 billion annually, including $38 billion paid by Medicare and Medicaid. Yet basic interventions – home modifications like handrails in the shower, better medications management, or doing Tai Chi exercises – could prevent falls and avert medical costs. The U.S. market for “ambient-assisted living technology,” primarily fall detection and emergency alert systems, is expected to grow from about $450 million in 2017 to nearly $2 billion by 2022.

More Resources

To learn more about my views on how hospitals and health systems can deliver better outcomes for older Americans, you can read A Five-Part Solution to Healthy Aging in America. by ordering a copy of SHSMD’s Futurescan 2020-2025: Health Care Trends and Implications. Another resource available to you is What Retirees Want: A Holistic View of Life’s Third Age, a book Dychtwald co-authored with Robert Morison that covers other issues of healthy aging.

SHSMD members can view the presentation slides or read Customizing the Health Care Experience for Seniors from Spectrum, SHSMD’s magazine for health care strategists. SHSMD’s collection of information and education on consumer and patient experience can help health care strategists to develop better outcomes for patients.,
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