Meeting the Moment: Preparing for the Aging of America

Over the coming decade, our healthcare industry is poised to confront a mounting collection of issues that will challenge who we are as an industry and, in many cases, even who we are as a society.  Some of these concerns we have been wrestling with for years including cost, access and quality — the holy trinity of anxieties.  New alarms are already ringing as well, but in this sea of uncertainty no domestic challenge will be greater than caring for the aging of America’s baby boomers. 

Thanks to incredible new technologies, wonderous pharmaceuticals and an increased awareness of healthy lifestyle habits, boomers are living longer than any past generation.  Estimates are that Medicare enrollment will see a 60% increase from 65 million to 105 million by 2031 and will double by 2040; more seniors are already aging into Medicare (11,000 a day) than ever before.

As the CEO of one of America’s leading providers of senior care, I have watched with both pride and frustration as our industry attempts to grapple with the voluminous challenges our aging society will bring.  There are many initiatives to be undertaken that can help smooth the bumpy road ahead.  Here are three to which attention must be paid.

1.     The truth is that most seniors chose to remain in their home for as long as it is safe to do so.  In addressing that want, we need to expand community based services in ways that allow seniors to age in place.  That means finding ways to make homes safer and more functional for our seniors while offering customized and dignified rehab services, therapies, and appropriate interventions that keep seniors healthier for longer.  Expanding these programs will not only allow seniors to age in place but will, when viewed through a wider lens, provide relief to busy hospitals and overcrowded skilled nursing facilities so they can care for those of greater need, including older, sicker people.   

2.     Our nation is facing a caregiver crisis as the number of qualified caregivers is diminishing in direct proportion to the number of seniors in need of these services.  Loving family members often help fill this void – and their value should not be understated — but there are limits to what their time, energy and skill set will allow.  We need to address this through a three-pronged strategy.  First, we need to create public policy that motivates and incentivizes people to enter the noble and critically important caregiving profession. Second, individual states need to start to educate more caregivers while, at the same time, reexamine their regulations that limits what nursing assistants, pharmacists and other allied health professionals are licensed to do. And third, the private sector needs to do its share by developing teaching programs such as the Kline Galland Academy that offers free classes for those interested in earning a Nursing Assistant Certification.  

3.     We need to place an even greater emphasis on palliative care and not be so bashful in openly discussing end of life. One hundred billion people have lived to date and every single one of them has died.  Time is undefeated and we have a responsibility to help people comfortably pass from this world to the next, yet so many in our profession experience paralysis when it comes to meaningfully addressing this topic.  We need to get over this hurdle so we can make sure that people live their last days with dignity and that their final wishes are respected.  Healthcare providers, and especially those who care for seniors, need to be “shape shifters” in transforming the end of life discussion from one that is uncomfortable to one that is indispensable.

The aging or “graying” of America will bring with it many other significant societal challenges as well, but smartly addressing these three would be a good start towards providing the supportive, compassionate and empowering environment our new seniors will need and which they so richly deserve.