Geriatric care also known as elder care management involves planning and coordinating care of the elderly with physical or mental illnesses with the aim of according them long-term care needs, improving their quality of life and ensuring their independence. The process of working with old people and collaborating with their families by offering various healthcare and social care services can be challenging and requires the extensive knowledge and skills of geriatric care managers. In handling the cases, they utilize their experience in health, psychology, human development, and aging family dynamics and most importantly their extensive knowledge in financial resources management (Fougère et al., 2016). The three main challenges associated with geriatric care will be addressed and discussed in the paper by highlighting their benefits and drawbacks to patients, health care providers, and third-party payers. The main challenges include:
High employee and provider turnover
High employee turnover in long-term care continues to present a significant problem to health care providers, patients, and their families. The high rate of employee and provider turnover has various issues and benefits to patients and providers. High turnover results in increased rates of hospital readmissions and the providers experience the high cost of employee replacement. To the patient, high turnovers affect the quality of care and decrease the morale in taking individual care. The third party payers are highly dissatisfied due to high losses and decline in quality of care for their family members (Tinetti et al., 2006). Providers are disadvantaged in having to hire individuals with less desirable traits as the only available choices in the market. The benefits of a high employee and provider turnover are beneficial to the employees as it increases their demand and opens up opportunities to acquire experience.
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Low reimbursement for elder service provision
Geriatrics care centers often encounter low reimbursement challenges after provision of service to the elderly. The difficulty arises due to the high cost of elderly care and the allocation of limited resources by the government and other organizations to cover the cost of elderly care. The challenge affects the different stakeholders’ differently (Fougère et al., 2016). It is unfavorable to the providers as it creates a financial burden in meeting daily costs and expenses of the elderly who need delicate care (Tinetti et al., 2006). The patients' risk discontinuation in the provision of care which presents high risks of readmission and has also been accessed as a likely factor in the contribution of high elderly mortality rates. Third-party payers experience the feeling of loss due to the failure of others to meet their commitment through reimbursement (Solberg et al., 2015). It can also trigger feelings of happiness and pride due to the ability to meet the costs which others were unable to achieve.
Low aging network resources and knowledge by providers and administrators
The federal and states governments have failed to provide guidelines that enhance increased allocation of government resources in care of the elderly in society (Solberg et al., 2015). Instead, the Congress has continuously been engaged in seeking ways to reduce the high cost of health care by passing laws that reduce resources allocated to health care and in the care of the elderly in society. The challenge of low aging network resources has affected the aged patient’s health resulting to deterioration in health and increase in mortality (Koronkowski et al., 2016). The providers continue to struggle with fewer resources and the need to fulfill their ethical duties in the provision of efficient and effective care to the elderly. The third party payers have to contribute more to elderly care due to lack of subsidies and incentives form the government which leads to increased burdens concerning cost and the need to meet other economic demands in society.
Options to Remedy the Challenges
The problem of high employee and provide turn over can be solved through the creation of suitable working conditions that encourage retention. First opening opportunities for professional growth can offer the environments through inclusion in decision-making planning, improved communication, and building of teams to increase coworkers support (Koronkowski et al., 2016). Secondly, high turnover can be addressed by increasing the number of workers per residents to reduce the situation of workers shortage and overwork. Thirdly, appreciation of workers through kindness and reward will encourage retention by making them feel important and valuable to the organization in their service and conduct.
The problem of low reimbursement for elder service provision is one of the most difficult challenges to resolve due to its high risks and consequences. However, repayment can be encouraged by offering incentives and discounts to reduce the costs and motivating payment arrangements. Low rates of reimbursements can also be reduced by minimizing admission and conducting through checkups before admissions to assess the ability to reimburse (Tinetti et al., 2006). It is also important to devise affordable ways of reimbursement to encourage continued payment over more extended periods of time and enhance repayment. Service provision should also be improved to ensure that quality care is given such that the need for reimbursement is seen in the positive results to improve health status.
First, mobilizing resources resolve the challenge of low aging network resources and knowledge of providers for the support of the aging network. Second, the government and leadership should formulate policies allocating more resources to geriatric care (Koronkowski et al., 2016). To achieve the transition there is need to increase knowledge of the providers by enrolling them into training and information institutions to broaden their views on care of the elderly and enable them to be more creative innovative and engage more in the provision of quality care and dealing with challenges as they arise. Geriatric care is intensive and demanding and therefore requires managers and administrators with diverse experiences and knowledge on issues of the elderly especially in the financial sector.
References
Fougère, B., Morley, J. E., Decavel, F., Nourhashémi, F., Abele, P., Resnick, B., & Chicoulaa, B. (2016). Development and implementation of the advanced practice nurse worldwide with an interest in geriatric care . Journal of the American Medical Directors Association , 17(9), 782-788.
Koronkowski, M., Eisenhower, C., & Marcum, Z. (2016). An update on geriatric medication safety and challenges specific to the care of older adults. The annals of long-term care: the official journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 24(3), 37.
Solberg, L. B., Solberg, L. M., & Carter, C. S. (2015). Geriatric care boot camp: an interprofessional education program for healthcare professionals. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 63(5), 997-1001.
Tinetti, M. E., Gordon, C., Sogolow, E., Lapin, P., & Bradley, E. H. (2006). Fall-risk evaluation and management: challenges in adopting geriatric care practices. The Gerontologist , 46(6), 717-725.
