Dr. Anna Fisher and her guests discuss the converging pressures on the Health Care System. As the population grows and ages, the spectrum of needs outpaces the system's ability to keep up. Who is falling into the cracks? By 2050, the U.S. population ages 65 and older is projected to reach 89 million, more than double the 40.5 million Americans in that age bracket in 2010.
The proportion of those who suffer from one or more chronic diseases is increasing just as rapidly. Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, neurological and cardio-vascular conditions and various forms of cancer are expected to spike. Much of this increase is helped along or accompanied by obesity and/or diabetes.
The demands on the health care system are immense. Add to that the complexity of needs in sectors of the population as people age with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or mental and behavioral health conditions like schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, depression, and addiction. Consider socio-economic factors within the African-American, Latino-Hispanic, LGBTQA communities and immigrant communities. All of these put added pressure on the system, forcing the standards of care to continue to evolve and try to keep pace.
A more comprehensive, collaborative conversation is needed between hospitals, long-term care facilities, agencies and nonprofit organizations that serve these sectors of the population in order to meet the needs of the population into the middle and late 21st century and beyond.
In this episode of the award-winning Now What? series, host Dr. Anna Fisher and her guests will convene the first in a series of conversations to educate and inform the audience about how those standards of care are determined, how they are changing, and what communities can do in collaboration with policy makers, care providers, and resource agencies.
