A new study suggests that vulnerable elderly Medicaid and Medicare patients aren't getting great care. The study, which looked at 43 types of care received by 100,000 community-dwelling elderly in 1999 and 2000, found that vulnerable elderly patients got only 65 percent of recommended tests, evaluations and treatments. For example, only 42 percent of diabetics got blood glucose tests or eye exams during the time period studied. To conduct their evaluations, researchers used a quality measurement toolkit developed by the Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders project, which defines "vulnerable" as a patient at risk of death or loss of function.
To find out more about the study:
- read this HealthDay News article [1]
Related Article:
Hospital mortality gaps grow among elderly. Report [2]
Links:
[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/22/AR2007102200541.html
[2] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/hospital-mortality-gaps-grow-among-elderly/2006-10-18