The Future of Health Care Is All In the Stars (and the Numbers)

Quantification of circumstance can deliver a rude awakening. The challenge faced in the U.S. as an aging population gains steam will demand aggressive solutions. But first, let’s visit the numbers:

Boomers are retiring at the rate of 10,000 per day – yes that’s each and every day.

Those over 65 are headed for a total population of 71.5 million

Add to that number those over the age of 50 and we are headed to an elderly population base of 112 million.

This is a population grouping that will post staggering numbers in: Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Diabetes, Chronic Heart Disease, COPD and hip and knee replacements.

By my actual personal count the number of different prescription drugs being advertised on TV and aimed at this group numbered 36 each with three repeats within two hours on average.  50% of adults take at least two drugs a day, 20% take five. Medication management and adherence is critical.

Clearly this is a generation in transition and, yes, it is in need of assisted car

Health care policy makers are working feverishly to address the quality of care and not just its cost. Health care models that pay more for better population health are underway. A rating system for home care services called the HOME HEALTH STAR RATING operated by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare is now actively reporting results and awarding the ‘stars’ (the stars referred to in this article’s title) to home care providers. Here numbers come once again into play. In 2014 more than 2600 hospitals faced penalties costing over $450 million dollars resulting from less than acceptable hospital re-admission rates. Get tagged with a three star rating or less as a home care provider and you are probably going to be forced out of the business.

The National Association of Health Care has reported that 75% of health care operators will be or will be approaching unprofitability by 2017. One leading researcher reports that the number of health care service firms in home care will be reduced by over 80,000 and industry employment will decline by over 400,00 by 2019.

So, not only do we have a generation in transition but we have a care service provider industry struggling to meet generational demands, lower payments, increased regulatory scrutiny, a higher wages model and a lack of qualified caregivers. It is an industry reeling and in a dramatic transition itself.

Driven by these facts and conditions I make a continuous effort to search out and vet innovative health care technologies that will enable the ‘boomer’ generation to age more securely at home, improve the quality of their lives and simultaneously empower home care service providers to become more efficient while adding a demonstrable competitive differentiator to how they compete for new business. One recent discovery is MyHomeReach. The impact that MyHomeReach can have on hospitals seeking to reduce re-admissions is significant. Towns and community governments can now get a handle on their aging population’s health status thereby reducing the burden on first responders to what will be an alarming increase in medical conditions that need attention. With a product like MyHomeReach corporations also can now have a path to assisting the growing numbers of ‘sandwich’ generation workers who are frequently late to work or become absent due to the demands of caring for aging parents. Home Care services can offer a technology that embraces their customer base.

As has been the case so often in the past, innovative technologies arrive in with save-the-day solutions. Ahaa moments! MyHomeReach is a classical case in point. It’s the right technology and it’s available at the right time. If you want to get ahead of the numbers and reach for the STARS, get more information about MyHomeReach at www.chartacares.com or call me at 603-580-5497. I’d be happy to share what I have learned.