In a blog for the Bipartisan Policy Center Health and Housing Expert Forum, Robyn Stone describes a number of evidence-based programs have already been proven to reduce falls among older adults.
It’s not that we don’t have good ideas for reducing the rate of falls among older adults. We simply lack the willingness to invest in those ideas.
That’s the main takeaway from a recent blog that Robyn Stone, executive director of the LeadingAge Center for Applied Research, wrote for the December edition of the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) Health and Housing Expert Forum.
Founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole, and George Mitchell, BPC “drives principled solutions through rigorous analysis, reasoned negotiation, and respectful dialogue.”
BPC poses a question to experts from different parts of the health and housing sectors for its bimonthly Health and Housing Expert Forum. December’s question was:
What home and/or community strategies or modifications are most important to reduce the risk of falling and how can policymakers encourage their widespread adoption?
Highlighting Evidence-Based Programs
Stone’s blog, “Research and Investment: Two Pillars of Fall Prevention,” describes a number of evidence-based programs have already been proven to reduce falls among older adults, including:
- Matter of Balance: This 8-week structured group intervention helps participants reduce their fear of falling, build strength, increase activity levels, and take practical steps to make their living environments safer. Many Area Agencies on Aging, senior centers, and affordable senior housing providers are offering this program to older adults across the country with tremendous success, writes Stone.
- CAPABLE (Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders): Through this program, an occupational therapist, registered nurse, and handyman visit an older person’s home and work together to identify and address mobility and self-care issues. Of the 100 low-income older adults who participated in the program over a 5-month period, 79% improved their self-care, and the disability level of the average participant was cut in half, reports Stone.
Urging Policy Action
Stone’s blog urges states to invest Medicaid funds in home modification activities and evidence-based programs to prevent falls. By the same token, federal policymakers should incorporate evidence-based fall prevention programs into Medicare Advantage Plans, she says.
These investments would help reduce health care costs significantly while encouraging primary care physicians (PCP) to pay attention to where and how their patients live, writes Stone.
“Older adults spend most of their lives in their homes and communities—not in the doctor’s office,” writes Stone. “A payment system that allows PCPs to actually care what happens to patients when they go home would truly transform health care.”
Other Contributors
Other contributors to this month’s BPC Health and Housing Expert Forum included:
- Dorothy Baker, senior research scientist in geriatrics at Yale School of Medicine and director of the Connecticut Collaboration for Fall Prevention.
- Emily Blumenthal, research analyst, and Erika Poethig, director of urban policy initiatives, at the Urban Institute.
- Stuart Butler, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
- Kathleen Cameron, senior director of the National Falls Prevention Resource at the National Council on Aging.
- Loren Colman, assistant commissioner for continuing care for older adults at the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
- Ryan Frederick, founder and chief executive officer at Smart Living 360.
- Bill Kelly, strategic advisor at Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future.
- Fernando Torres-Gil, director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging at the University of California, Los Angeles.