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Program Notes
Arrival of the Baby-Boom generation
has created an unparalleled urgency for understanding and expanding our
national geriatric medical service offerings. Within the next decade it
is expected that our 60+ Population will more than quadruple [Census
2000].
The effect of this
demographic shift will place additional pressure on healthcare
providers-it is noted that Geriatric Specialists are already in short
supply. Utilization of healthcare services and their associated cost
will not only increase as healthcare inflation outpaces overall
inflation, but will disproportionately increase as seniors take
advantage of an expanding array of new technologies for managing chronic
illness and promoting active lifestyles.
Provider reimbursement,
changing Medicare and Medicaid regulations and uncertainty of our
present Social Security and Healthcare funding add to the concern.
The Geriatric Working Group,
formed under the IEEE-USA's Medical Technology Policy Committee,
believes:
- New incentives are needed
to encourage physicians to enter Geriatric Care Specialization
(technological offered efficiencies, financial incentives,
regulatory changes);
- Information technologies
with enhanced communication capabilities need to be incorporated
into patient care management;
- Remote sensing should be
utilized to promote efficient and effective patient management
between office visits and encourage adoption of home self-care
management programs, and
- Payment methodologies and
staff training need to be made more effective through the
incorporation of innovative technological enhancements to current
systems that support geriatric care.
As scientists, engineers and
technologists, we believe that use of information technologies, combined
with enhanced communication capabilities and use of remote biomedical
monitoring can promote cost effective care management and improve
patient safety.
Objectives
The Geriatrics Working Group is
holding a one-day symposium on June 4 in Washington, DC. The objective
of the symposium is to improve the role of computer, communication and
other electronic technologies to improve the quality and cost-efficiency
of geriatric care.
Workshop Themes
The growth in the geriatric
population--those who qualify for Medicare by age or disability--
threatens cost increases the nation can ill afford. Information
Technology, which includes both computer and communications
technologies, are considered to offer the ability to improve patient
outcomes while restraining overall healthcare cost increases. Support
from the workshop panels illustrating this potential benefit is
anticipated. Optimizing the use of the technological innovations
introduced by our select panelists will require modification of our
payment and staff training systems. These issues will be requested for
discussion among panelists and attendees.
Panel participants will be asked
to deliberate the issues above and allocate time to the panelists to:
- Quantify the limitations
they see in geriatric care
- Identify strengths and
weaknesses in the national geriatric care system and where found
lacking, propose technical, legislative, or regulatory approaches
for improving the efficiency and reducing costs for services
- Identify technology
alternatives for institutional care
- Identify needed R&D
- Address possible
technological and policy-related means to assist in medically
serving those with chronic illness and those whose access to medical
services is limited by age-related handicaps
- Identify the potential
effect of the increasing shift to private insurance for seniors
- Discuss the potential for
home-grown technology applications vs. that available from overseas
sources
- Identify public policies
aimed at offering incentives to those in the medical and public
health services to focus on the geriatric issues and solutions
- Identify the "Big Brother"
Implications.
Workshop Report
The symposium findings and
recommendations will be compiled in a single scientifically based report
for legislators, policy experts and regulators to utilize during their
deliberations that will identify the void in serving the healthcare
needs of our aging population and will provide insight into how
information technology, legislative and regulatory initiatives, and
medical training and education changes can be applied to help fill the
voids. The report will focus on the greatest opportunities for
improvement, technology applications, public policy, and recommendations
aimed at supporting a unified national home health care agenda. |
