Doctors Fall Short in Helping Many Seniors

When patients come to see our physicians about their dizziness and falls problems, we are often surprised by how few of the older adult patients know about their Medicare benefit called the “Annual Wellness Visit”.  It’s a topic that I wrote about last year…and detailed on the website http://www.fallpreventionclinics.com/assets/pdfs/Medicares-Annual-Wellness-Visit2.pdf

Judith Graham wrote a piece called Poll: Doctors Fall Short in Helping Many Seniors  for the 4-24-12 edition of Kaiser Health News.  In it, she highlighted a 12 month survey done by the John A. Hartford Foundation… which points out that physicians are not providing counseling or interventions that could prevent medical problems or improve the health of older adults.

Ms Graham writes, “Notably, one-third of older adults said doctors didn’t review all their medications, even though problems with prescription and over-the-counter drugs are common among the elderly, leading to over 177,000 emergency room visits every year."

"Falls cause over 2 million injuries, in people age 65 and older annually, but more than two-thirds of the time doctors and nurses didn’t ask older patients whether they’d taken a tumble or provide advice about how to avoid tripping on carpets or slipping on the stairs, the Hartford poll found."

"Similarly, depression can cause people to become socially isolated, suicidal, or stop taking care of themselves, but 62 percent of seniors said doctors and nurses hadn’t inquired about whether they were sad, depressed or anxious."

"Seven interventions examined in the Hartford study are part of Medicare’s annual wellness visit, which became a no-cost benefit available to all seniors in the government health program in January 2011. Yet 54 percent of older people surveyed by the foundation had never heard of the Medicare wellness visit while another 14 percent weren’t sure if they had."

“These are low tech, low cost interventions that are easy to do and that can have a huge impact on an older person’s medical care and their quality of life and function. But too many providers and older adults don’t realize they’re
important,” said Dr. Sharon Brangman, chairwoman of the board of directors of the American Geriatrics Society and professor of medicine at SUNY Upstate
Medical University."

"The mission of the Hartford Foundation is to improve the health of older adults. Its survey, released Tuesday, asked 1,028 people age 65 and older about their experiences with care. The study was conducted online by Lake Research Partners and had a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points."

Knowledge is power…regardless of age. Learn about the Annual Wellness Visit…Make your appointment  …and know that the lives of older adults can be improved.  As G.I. Joe used to say “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle!”

Keep moving!

Mike