Question

How can health care administrators and policy makers use the various measures of health status and service utilization? Please use examples to illustrate your answer.

Answer 1

Ans) Older Americans today have longer life expectancies.

- As the population ages, the actual numbers of older adults living with disability or illness are rapidly increasing. Many older adults live their extra years with higher rates of chronic health conditions that require vigilant care on the part of their health providers.

- As a result, older adults account for a disproportionate amount of the health care services delivered in the United States. Furthermore, because of the variety of physical and mental illnesses seen among older adults and the variety of care sites in which they receive services, the care of today’s older adults is especially complex.

- Future generations of older Americans may have different health care needs because of changes in the distribution of many demographic charac teristics, including race, socioeconomic status, and geographic location, and also because of changes in personal preferences about how they care for their health and where they receive their health care services. It is difficult to make exact projections of these needs because of uncertainties regarding the effects of changes in demographics, lifestyle, and disease prevalence.

- Utilization patterns may also change markedly because of these effects and also because of changes in the health care marketplace and innovations in medical diagnostic and treatment modalities. While projections are difficult, one conclusion is certain—that the absolute growth in the number of older Americans will strain the current health care system if patterns of care remain the same.

- If the health care workforce—already too low in numbers and competence levels to provide adequate care to the current population of older adults—is to be prepared for the coming spike in demand for services, serious reforms need to be considered. This will include redesign in the way that health care teams deliver their services. New models of care have been developed to improve the financing and organization of health care services for older adults. These models have a variety of implications for the workforce with respect to individual roles and responsibilities, scopes of practice, and payment rates.