ANNUAL CONFERENCE RECAP | 2018
Integrated Service Delivery: A Vision for
America’s Aging Population
Addressing the needs of a rapidly growing older
population is one of the major challenges facing the
United States over the next few decades. Speaker
Nicole O. Fallon, vice president, health policy and
integrated services, LeadingAge, told the audience
that the older population will increase 56 percent by
2030, when 72 million Americans will be 65 or older
and 80 percent of these older Americans will live
with multiple chronic conditions that will require
Nicole O. Fallon
interaction with multiple health care providers. Ms.
Fallon continued by saying that the current fragmented system
offers little guidance to older adults and their families while the
LTSS financing system offers no protection against severe economic
consequences that often accompany the need for expensive services,
particularly over long periods of time.
LeadingAge is proposing a new, integrated service model that
begins in the community with screenings and early interventions
to understand the origins of high-risk conditions so the long term
impact on the person’s health can be mitigated rather than require a
hospital or doctor’s office visit.
Envisioned is a hub of providers delivering services at the community
level. Providers in the hub would be financially aligned to work
collaboratively across services and settings and take a person-
centered approach to the individual’s needs.
LeadingAge members are starting to integrate these types of service
models. In 2011, two Cincinnati-based members joined with a home
care agency to establish a Post-Acute Care Network. As a result,
there are now 11 organizations that collaborate, offering assisted
living, palliative and hospice care, home health care, rehabilitation
and nursing care even though they are competitors in the same
marketplace.
LeadingAge vehemently maintains that true reform of Medicare and
Medicaid, and the broad development of integrated services, requires
a single program and a single funding source that combines existing
Medicare and Medicaid dollars so older adults can access a full range
of services to address their medical, health-related, social and LTSS
(continued)
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Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Summer 2018