Older adults (age 65 and over) often shoulder a significant portion of healthcare costs but may not always receive the care they prefer. This month, FAIR Health, with generous support from The John A. Hartford Foundation, launched FAIRHealthOlderAdults.org, a free website that offers tools, educational content and resources to help older adults and family caregivers plan for care relevant to older adults. FAIR Health Executive Director of Grants and Consumer Education, Nicole Iny joins me to tell us more about the new website and how patients can have a voice in what happens as their health needs grow.
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(00:01):
This is Talk with Audrey. Welcome back.
Older adults often shoulder asignificant portion of healthcare costs,
but may not always receivethe care that they prefer.
Nicole Iny is Executive Director ofGrants and Consumer Education at Fair
Health.
They've launched Fair health olderadults.org with generous support from
the John a Hartford Foundation.
(00:21):
It's a great website and she's goingto talk about that and how patients
can have a voice in what happens astheir healthcare needs grow. Welcome.
Thank.
You. Appreciate you joining me. Sothis is a really interesting website.
Tell us all about FairHealth older adults.org.
Yeah,
so Fair Health older adults.orgoffers free tools and resources
(00:45):
that older patients and their familycaregivers can really use to navigate the
healthcare system.
So just a few of thetools we offer include
shared decision making tools.
Those are the ones thatcombine both clinical and cost information for different
conditions that affect older adults.
We offer total treatment cost scenariosthat show the cost of care for a
(01:09):
year for certain conditions orcertain acute events like knee
arthroscopy.
We also offer a host of differenteducational content and resources
like printable checklists that you couldtake with you to doctor's appointments
and ask questions to getthe answers that you need,
as well as a list of resourcesand organizations that really help you navigate
(01:33):
the healthcare system.
So we're absolutely thrilled thatFair Health older adults.org,
with the generous support of the Johna Hartford Foundation is helping older
patients and caregivers to use thehealthcare system with more confidence.
It's so needed, right?Because as we get older,
it does for some reason become tadbit more difficult to navigate the
(01:55):
system you have built into thesite information for family
caregivers as well.
How can older adults and familycaregivers use the site together
in order to navigate thehealthcare system and get
information?
Well, that's a great question.
So family caregivers doabsolutely play a big role in
(02:19):
older patients care andhealthcare decisions.
So we made sure on Fair Healtholder adults.org to offer
not only tools in general,
but also specific checklists thatcaregivers themselves could use
when taking their olderfamily members or friends to
(02:39):
appointments or whenmaking different decisions.
So some different examplesfor how both older patients
and family caregivers can use the sitereally comes down to if there's a new
diagnosis or a new conditionthat they're trying to manage.
If they're trying to researchhealthcare costs for a condition,
(03:01):
they can also look thatup on the tools we offer.
If they'd really just like to knowmore about the healthcare system,
different topics pertainingto the healthcare system.
We offer articles on Medicareand other types of coverage as
well as dental coverage in retirement.
So it really runs the gamutfor how both older patients and
(03:24):
caregivers can use the site.
I love the fact also that you have thelist of questions that a patient can take
to their doctor for that visit,because once you get there,
sometimes people feel rushed.
They don't remember whatit was they wanted to ask,
and sometimes they don't knowwhat to ask given their situation.
(03:45):
So I think it's really important thatyou have those lists on board there.
So where does Fair Health get its data?
So we get our data from over 70payers and third party administrators
nationwide,
and we use our data to provide fairobjective information to all healthcare
stakeholders, including consumers,
(04:06):
such as the tools that you seeon Fair Health older adults.org.
And how current is the cost informationthat's available and how the heck you
keep up with that?
Well, it's fairly current.
We update the cost informationon our site rather twice a year.
(04:26):
So it is fairly current.
All right.
What are some of the other obstaclesthat older adults face when it
comes to making thosedecisions about their
healthcare that are sort of some of thethings that you might not think of that
become obvious after you get.
Sick? Yeah, I mean,
based on what we've heard frompatients as well as caregivers,
(04:50):
the main obstacles really tend to bethat lack of transparency in healthcare
costs and healthcare in general.
So that difficulty in findingcost information and other information related to
coverage or care relevant totheir situation is hard to come
by,
as well as the inability toreally understand and use that
(05:13):
information to make informedhealthcare decisions.
So fair health older adults do orgcan really help address some of those
challenges.
And what are you hearing from patientsand caregivers about the experience
both on the site and how they've usedthe site to help them make decisions?
So the feedback has reallybeen overwhelmingly positive.
(05:38):
In a survey of olderpatients and caregivers,
we found that 67% were saying thatFair Health older adults that are,
I increase their knowledge andunderstanding of shared decision-making,
and another 65% said that thesite helped them to better
understand how to manage theirhealthcare costs. So that's really great.
(05:59):
Indeed it is. Indeed it is. So guys,
the website is fairhealth older adults.org.
What else do we need toknow as seniors as we go
into a senior citizen, ifyou will, and senior season?
The most important things that weneed to keep in mind as we navigate
(06:20):
taking care of ourselves, working withcaregivers and navigating the system.
Well,
it's really all about empowering yourselfand asking the right questions and
staying informed.
And you could do that by visiting FairHealth older adults.org for all the tools
and the resources that I just mentioned.
All right, guys, when you go to the site,
(06:40):
you're going to be thrilled atthe information that you find
available there. My guesthas been Nicole eni,
executive Director of Grants andConsumer Education at Fair Health.
The site again is Fair Healtholder adults.org. Nicole,
thank you so very much forjoining me. Thanks for having me.
This is Talk with Audrey. Welcome back.
Older adults often shoulder asignificant portion of healthcare costs,
but may not always receivethe care that they prefer.
Nicole Iny is Executive Director ofGrants and Consumer Education at Fair
Health.
They've launched Fair health olderadults.org with generous support from
the John a Hartford Foundation.
(00:21):
It's a great website and she's goingto talk about that and how patients
can have a voice in what happens astheir healthcare needs grow. Welcome.
Thank.
You. Appreciate you joining me. Sothis is a really interesting website.
Tell us all about FairHealth older adults.org.
Yeah,
so Fair Health older adults.orgoffers free tools and resources
(00:45):
that older patients and their familycaregivers can really use to navigate the
healthcare system.
So just a few of thetools we offer include
shared decision making tools.
Those are the ones thatcombine both clinical and cost information for different
conditions that affect older adults.
We offer total treatment cost scenariosthat show the cost of care for a
(01:09):
year for certain conditions orcertain acute events like knee
arthroscopy.
We also offer a host of differenteducational content and resources
like printable checklists that you couldtake with you to doctor's appointments
and ask questions to getthe answers that you need,
as well as a list of resourcesand organizations that really help you navigate
(01:33):
the healthcare system.
So we're absolutely thrilled thatFair Health older adults.org,
with the generous support of the Johna Hartford Foundation is helping older
patients and caregivers to use thehealthcare system with more confidence.
It's so needed, right?Because as we get older,
it does for some reason become tadbit more difficult to navigate the
(01:55):
system you have built into thesite information for family
caregivers as well.
How can older adults and familycaregivers use the site together
in order to navigate thehealthcare system and get
information?
Well, that's a great question.
So family caregivers doabsolutely play a big role in
(02:19):
older patients care andhealthcare decisions.
So we made sure on Fair Healtholder adults.org to offer
not only tools in general,
but also specific checklists thatcaregivers themselves could use
when taking their olderfamily members or friends to
(02:39):
appointments or whenmaking different decisions.
So some different examplesfor how both older patients
and family caregivers can use the sitereally comes down to if there's a new
diagnosis or a new conditionthat they're trying to manage.
If they're trying to researchhealthcare costs for a condition,
(03:01):
they can also look thatup on the tools we offer.
If they'd really just like to knowmore about the healthcare system,
different topics pertainingto the healthcare system.
We offer articles on Medicareand other types of coverage as
well as dental coverage in retirement.
So it really runs the gamutfor how both older patients and
(03:24):
caregivers can use the site.
I love the fact also that you have thelist of questions that a patient can take
to their doctor for that visit,because once you get there,
sometimes people feel rushed.
They don't remember whatit was they wanted to ask,
and sometimes they don't knowwhat to ask given their situation.
(03:45):
So I think it's really important thatyou have those lists on board there.
So where does Fair Health get its data?
So we get our data from over 70payers and third party administrators
nationwide,
and we use our data to provide fairobjective information to all healthcare
stakeholders, including consumers,
(04:06):
such as the tools that you seeon Fair Health older adults.org.
And how current is the cost informationthat's available and how the heck you
keep up with that?
Well, it's fairly current.
We update the cost informationon our site rather twice a year.
(04:26):
So it is fairly current.
All right.
What are some of the other obstaclesthat older adults face when it
comes to making thosedecisions about their
healthcare that are sort of some of thethings that you might not think of that
become obvious after you get.
Sick? Yeah, I mean,
based on what we've heard frompatients as well as caregivers,
(04:50):
the main obstacles really tend to bethat lack of transparency in healthcare
costs and healthcare in general.
So that difficulty in findingcost information and other information related to
coverage or care relevant totheir situation is hard to come
by,
as well as the inability toreally understand and use that
(05:13):
information to make informedhealthcare decisions.
So fair health older adults do orgcan really help address some of those
challenges.
And what are you hearing from patientsand caregivers about the experience
both on the site and how they've usedthe site to help them make decisions?
So the feedback has reallybeen overwhelmingly positive.
(05:38):
In a survey of olderpatients and caregivers,
we found that 67% were saying thatFair Health older adults that are,
I increase their knowledge andunderstanding of shared decision-making,
and another 65% said that thesite helped them to better
understand how to manage theirhealthcare costs. So that's really great.
(05:59):
Indeed it is. Indeed it is. So guys,
the website is fairhealth older adults.org.
What else do we need toknow as seniors as we go
into a senior citizen, ifyou will, and senior season?
The most important things that weneed to keep in mind as we navigate
(06:20):
taking care of ourselves, working withcaregivers and navigating the system.
Well,
it's really all about empowering yourselfand asking the right questions and
staying informed.
And you could do that by visiting FairHealth older adults.org for all the tools
and the resources that I just mentioned.
All right, guys, when you go to the site,
(06:40):
you're going to be thrilled atthe information that you find
available there. My guesthas been Nicole eni,
executive Director of Grants andConsumer Education at Fair Health.
The site again is Fair Healtholder adults.org. Nicole,
thank you so very much forjoining me. Thanks for having me.
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