Health Policy Problem:
The proportion of adults who are 65 years or older is growing dramatically in the United States of America. By 2030, it is expected that older population will represent almost 20% of the total population in the U.S. (Ortman, Velkoff, & Hogan, 2014). There is an increasing preference among the older adults for aging in place versus living in a nursing home or move in with a family member (Lamm, 2015). Farber, Shinkle, Lynott, Fox-Grage, and Harrell (2011) reported that almost 90% of older adults aged 65 year or above wants to age in place because they want to grow old and continue to live in their own homes and communities. The desire to age in place safely and independently for older adults will be difficult if there …show more content…
Department of Housing and Urban Development ([HUD], 2013), services such as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) home and community-based services and programs support aging is place by offering home and community-based care and prevent unnecessary institutionalization. The HUD (2011) reported that the states could save health care costs by avoiding and delaying institutionalization because the yearly rate of a semiprivate room in a nursing home was $81, 030 in 2012. The Medicaid expenditure had significantly shift from institutional long-term care to home and community-based care. In 1993, the Medicaid spend 13% of its total health care cost for home and community-based care, which increased to 43% in 2009. However, the challenge still remains with the Medicare reimbursement because a beneficiary need to be home bound to qualify for home health care services. It will be difficult for older adults who is not home bound, but still require health care services to maintain health and age in place. In such circumstances, the responsibility of health care cost will fall upon the individual. In addition, the new challenge is integrating appropriate housing with health services for older adults to promote aging in place. The program known as the Support and Services at Home (SASH) has been implemented in Vermont, which is run by a nonprofit organization. The SASH program offers health care services to their seniors at their home. The services …show more content…
If yes, who will be funding this kind of program?
Stakeholders: Some of the stakeholders that could influence or impact by the policy decision regarding the aging in place are nurses, practitioners such as primary care physicians or primary care advance practice nurses, older adults and their children, the designers, insurance companies, the technology people, and state policymakers and agencies.
Political Viability: The political viability of the problem that I have chosen may be threaten by the current given political climate. The one of the main reason that this problem will not be accepted by the opponent is the tight budget of both state and federal government. I think this problem could be bigger as the proportion of older adults is increasing dramatically and there is great need of a policy to solve this problem. However, the politic stream may not be evident at the present moment. It could also be due the fact that it is an election time. Hence, the window of opportunity to push policy forward and bring under the attention of policymaker will be
The proportion of adults who are 65 years or older is growing dramatically in the United States of America. By 2030, it is expected that older population will represent almost 20% of the total population in the U.S. (Ortman, Velkoff, & Hogan, 2014). There is an increasing preference among the older adults for aging in place versus living in a nursing home or move in with a family member (Lamm, 2015). Farber, Shinkle, Lynott, Fox-Grage, and Harrell (2011) reported that almost 90% of older adults aged 65 year or above wants to age in place because they want to grow old and continue to live in their own homes and communities. The desire to age in place safely and independently for older adults will be difficult if there …show more content…
Department of Housing and Urban Development ([HUD], 2013), services such as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) home and community-based services and programs support aging is place by offering home and community-based care and prevent unnecessary institutionalization. The HUD (2011) reported that the states could save health care costs by avoiding and delaying institutionalization because the yearly rate of a semiprivate room in a nursing home was $81, 030 in 2012. The Medicaid expenditure had significantly shift from institutional long-term care to home and community-based care. In 1993, the Medicaid spend 13% of its total health care cost for home and community-based care, which increased to 43% in 2009. However, the challenge still remains with the Medicare reimbursement because a beneficiary need to be home bound to qualify for home health care services. It will be difficult for older adults who is not home bound, but still require health care services to maintain health and age in place. In such circumstances, the responsibility of health care cost will fall upon the individual. In addition, the new challenge is integrating appropriate housing with health services for older adults to promote aging in place. The program known as the Support and Services at Home (SASH) has been implemented in Vermont, which is run by a nonprofit organization. The SASH program offers health care services to their seniors at their home. The services …show more content…
If yes, who will be funding this kind of program?
Stakeholders: Some of the stakeholders that could influence or impact by the policy decision regarding the aging in place are nurses, practitioners such as primary care physicians or primary care advance practice nurses, older adults and their children, the designers, insurance companies, the technology people, and state policymakers and agencies.
Political Viability: The political viability of the problem that I have chosen may be threaten by the current given political climate. The one of the main reason that this problem will not be accepted by the opponent is the tight budget of both state and federal government. I think this problem could be bigger as the proportion of older adults is increasing dramatically and there is great need of a policy to solve this problem. However, the politic stream may not be evident at the present moment. It could also be due the fact that it is an election time. Hence, the window of opportunity to push policy forward and bring under the attention of policymaker will be