The United States’ healthcare delivery system is currently benefiting from advanced medical technologies, evidence-based procedures, and drugs. Unfortunately, the country’s baby boomer generation is aging very fast. This new change indicates that a superior healthcare model is required to meet the needs of these elderly citizens. The essay presented below discusses how this aging baby boomer population will affect health care organizations and services.
Baby Boomers: Health Care Delivery and Organizations
Health Care Services and Delivery
Health care delivery is a complex procedure aimed at addressing the changing medical needs of different people in a given population. According to Canizares, Gignac, Hogg-Johnson, Glazier, and Badley (2016), the number of aging baby boomers in the US will increase to over 70 million within the next few years. The first potential effect is the increased demand for specialized geriatric care and support. This means that America’s healthcare sector will require more skilled aged-care and geriatric nurses to deliver high-quality medical services.
Elderly members of the society might not be able to travel from point A to B to get the required medical services. The second effect is that the role and importance of nursing informatics will become more critical than ever before. Health professionals will have to combine new technologies, applications, and systems to monitor these citizens and provide exemplary medical services (Knickman & Kovner, 2015). The third one is that volunteer care will become relevant in an attempt to address the unique needs of this population.
The fourth effect on health care services is the increased levels of multidisciplinary practices. This means that many professionals from different fields will collaborate to transform the health experiences of the targeted baby boomers, including social workers, nurses, clinical officers, volunteers, surgeons, psychiatrists, massage therapists, and dieticians (Kahana & Kahana, 2014). Another outcome is that many experts in medical practice will also be expected to put more emphasis on care delivery instead of treatment. Finally, existing healthcare delivery models will start to focus on terminal conditions associated with the elderly, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and arthritis.
Health Organizations
The increasing number of baby boomers is catalyzing new changes in specific health organizations. The first one is that of nursing homes. The country will be forced to establish new nursing homes and create superior care delivery models to support these individuals. The nature of community health clinics will also change significantly in an attempt to provide exemplary geriatric services (National Prevention Council, 2018). Another possible effect is that many hospitals and dispensaries will also introduce new departments that can provide exemplary health services.
Medicare and Medicaid are other organizations or programs that will be transformed to meet this population’s health needs. For example, Medicare program is being diversified to promote the establishment of patient-centered health homes. This model is expected to result in improved or high-quality reimbursements. This aging population will also affect psychological organizations or units in the country. This is true since more institutions will be established to provide mental services to these individuals (Canizares et al., 2016). Finally, state departments and non-governmental organizations will have to expand their services to address the needs of all elderly citizens.
Conclusion
The above discussion has indicated that the United States’ aging baby boomer population will trigger numerous procedures and changes in its healthcare sector. With such developments, chances are high that other members of the public will receive high-quality medical services. The introduction of new organizations and programs will also meet the health needs of these citizens.
References
Canizares, M., Gignac, M., Hogg-Johnson, S., Glazier, R. H., & Badley, E. M. (2016). Do baby boomers use more healthcare services than other generations? Longitudinal trajectories of physician service use across five birth cohorts. BMJ Open, 6(9), e013276. Web.
Kahana, E., & Kahana, B. (2014). Baby boomers’ expectations of health and medicine. Virtual Mentor, 16(5), 380-384. Web.
Knickman, J. R., & Kovner, A. R. (Eds). (2015). Jonas and Kovner’s health care delivery in the United States (11th ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
National Prevention Council. (2018). Healthy aging in action: Advancing the national prevention strategy. Web.