Larry Minnix, D.Min
The Future of Health Care – Baby boomers and aging
May 18, 2015
by John W. Mitchell, Senior Correspondent
LeadingAge is a not-for-profit trade organization serving 6,000 members who represent organizations across the spectrum of aging services. LeadingAge works with most states in the country as well as 30 international partners to develop two-year outcome and 10-year impact goals to advance aging services.
Organization members touch four million people every day - most elderly - in a personal way. Larry Minnix, D.Min, has been President and CEO of LeadingAge since 2001 and has been an advocate for aging services for more than 40 years. He joined HCBN for a discussion about the impact of baby boomers on future services. Born between 1946, the end of World War II and 1964, U.S. baby boomers number 76 million. The last of the baby boomers will turn 65 in 2029.
HBCN: Is the demand for services by baby boomers as unprecedented as many demographers and social scientists have put forth?
Absolutely. Baby boomers are reshaping aging and health services. It’s no longer about selling whatever solution you have to sell, but is much more about what the baby boomer wants to buy. They want value and most of all they want to stay in their homes for as long as possible. Boomers also want to act and feel as young as possible, to have a good quality of life.
HBCN: What strategies do LeadingAge members have to provide services to the baby boomers?
There are four emerging strategies. The first is insurance products to allow baby boomers to remain in their homes. Under these plans, a concierge service helps people pick and choose the services they want, such as home visits a few times week, all under the senior housing community’s brand. Then, if needed, they become residents in the agency’s community in the future as their physical condition changes. A second strategy is to develop affordable housing to serve elderly people of modest means with all the services needed to keep them living independently and out of the nursing home or hospital. Third is to get seniors enrolled in Medicare health plans that offer acute and post-acute health care services in coordination with their housing support system.
And fourth, develop freestanding service and care networks to meet the total needs of the elderly. This means looking at what an older person wants and needs in relationship to their community and family. Are they getting enough to eat and do they have transportation to see the doctor? These, for example, are both important factors in keeping older people healthy.
HBCN: More and more of your members who have focused on housing for the elderly are now incorporating health service into their operations. What explains this trend?
Under the new model of the Affordable Care Act (Value-based Purchasing and Population Health Management) housing agencies want the same thing as hospitals and doctors - to keep older adults healthy, out of the hospital, and living at home as long as possible. LeadingAge members now proactively design everything from primary care clinics to population health management into their operations to make residents happier and save state programs money on health care costs. It’s common now for state health agencies to help fund senior housing communities with programs to control such chronic conditions as diabetes and falls in order to reduce visits to the ER. This results in fewer hospital admissions, which makes boomers happier and helps control health care costs.
HBCN: What advice do you have for hospitals and doctors about baby boomers?
Fall out of love with the way you do things now and fall in love with change. Get to know the housing and public health groups in your market, they can help meet your goals of population health management. The huge fly in the ointment is going to be dementia and Alzheimer’s.
It is the most dreaded of conditions and right now affects half of all elders over the age of 85. The way things stand right now, without treatment, every person, family, housing agency and hospital must have an Alzheimer’s plan as the baby boomers move through the system. Think of baby boomers as customers and remember that customers eventually get what they want in the marketplace.
Organization members touch four million people every day - most elderly - in a personal way. Larry Minnix, D.Min, has been President and CEO of LeadingAge since 2001 and has been an advocate for aging services for more than 40 years. He joined HCBN for a discussion about the impact of baby boomers on future services. Born between 1946, the end of World War II and 1964, U.S. baby boomers number 76 million. The last of the baby boomers will turn 65 in 2029.
HBCN: Is the demand for services by baby boomers as unprecedented as many demographers and social scientists have put forth?
Absolutely. Baby boomers are reshaping aging and health services. It’s no longer about selling whatever solution you have to sell, but is much more about what the baby boomer wants to buy. They want value and most of all they want to stay in their homes for as long as possible. Boomers also want to act and feel as young as possible, to have a good quality of life.
HBCN: What strategies do LeadingAge members have to provide services to the baby boomers?
There are four emerging strategies. The first is insurance products to allow baby boomers to remain in their homes. Under these plans, a concierge service helps people pick and choose the services they want, such as home visits a few times week, all under the senior housing community’s brand. Then, if needed, they become residents in the agency’s community in the future as their physical condition changes. A second strategy is to develop affordable housing to serve elderly people of modest means with all the services needed to keep them living independently and out of the nursing home or hospital. Third is to get seniors enrolled in Medicare health plans that offer acute and post-acute health care services in coordination with their housing support system.
And fourth, develop freestanding service and care networks to meet the total needs of the elderly. This means looking at what an older person wants and needs in relationship to their community and family. Are they getting enough to eat and do they have transportation to see the doctor? These, for example, are both important factors in keeping older people healthy.
HBCN: More and more of your members who have focused on housing for the elderly are now incorporating health service into their operations. What explains this trend?
Under the new model of the Affordable Care Act (Value-based Purchasing and Population Health Management) housing agencies want the same thing as hospitals and doctors - to keep older adults healthy, out of the hospital, and living at home as long as possible. LeadingAge members now proactively design everything from primary care clinics to population health management into their operations to make residents happier and save state programs money on health care costs. It’s common now for state health agencies to help fund senior housing communities with programs to control such chronic conditions as diabetes and falls in order to reduce visits to the ER. This results in fewer hospital admissions, which makes boomers happier and helps control health care costs.
HBCN: What advice do you have for hospitals and doctors about baby boomers?
Fall out of love with the way you do things now and fall in love with change. Get to know the housing and public health groups in your market, they can help meet your goals of population health management. The huge fly in the ointment is going to be dementia and Alzheimer’s.
It is the most dreaded of conditions and right now affects half of all elders over the age of 85. The way things stand right now, without treatment, every person, family, housing agency and hospital must have an Alzheimer’s plan as the baby boomers move through the system. Think of baby boomers as customers and remember that customers eventually get what they want in the marketplace.