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Getting the Care They Want: Baby Boomers Expect More from Health Providers
By Amy Trang, St. Cloud Times
August 24, 2008
At 47, Kathy Doyle is on the young end of the baby boomer generation, but she expects to have the same opportunity to live independently as her 90-year-old mother has today in her St. Joseph home.
A machine monitors Betty Doyle’s vital statistics and sends daily reports to the doctor’s office.
Home care like Betty Doyle uses and Kathy Doyle expects is one health trend that’s likely to continue to grow as baby boomers move into their retirement years. And it likely will be needed longer because the health-conscious generation has a longer life expectancy. That has area health care providers ramping up their consumerism mentality to meet those needs with new technology, online services, walk-in clinics and services that promote independence.
Those changes are coming fast because Minnesota will see a 30 percent increase in people turning 62 this year, the first group of the baby boomer wave, according to the American Community Survey, a U.S. Census Bureau report that provides communities a look at how they are changing. And that wave will continue for the next 18 years, with the peak coming in about 10 years.
“Baby boomers are expecting to get the latest technology, get in appointments as soon as they can and see quality information on the Internet,” said Michael Windschitl, director of planning and business development for the CentraCare Health System.
Faster services
Several St. Cloud health care providers have changed their facilities and care services to meet those boomers’ expectations. Most want to stay at home as long as they can, Kathy Doyle said.
At St. Cloud Hospital, average hospital stays have decreased from 4.42 days in 2002 to 3.86 days in 2007.
HealthPartners Central Minnesota Clinics runs two walk-in HealthStations at the Coborn’s store in Sauk Rapids and Cash Wise Foods in Waite Park. The clinics are open seven days a week and in early evening hours for patient convenience. In 2007, about 10,182 patients sought treatment at the HealthStations.
An ambulatory surgical center was added to CentraCare Health Plaza last year because the number of minimally invasive surgeries has gone up. Those types of procedures typically require a less than 24-hour stay, said Linda Chmielewski, vice president of hospital operations and chief nursing officer for St. Cloud Hospital.
St. Cloud Hospital reported 2,577 such procedures in 2007, up 120 percent from 1997.
“They want to be active immediately,” Chmielewski said. “As procedures become less invasive, the length of stay has decreased.”
Heading home
Treatments such as IV therapy, physical therapy and wound dressing changes, which traditionally required patients to go to the hospital, have moved home. A nurse comes to Betty Doyle’s house weekly to monitor medications and aides from St. Cloud Hospital Home Care program come by almost daily to help with cooking.
“It allows the family to do more social things with her,” Kathy Doyle said. “... I think as long as she can stay in her own home, it helps with her health.”
It helps that home care services are being reimbursed more often by health care payers because studies show it could cost about a third of what a nursing home stay would, said Gail Olson, director of St. Cloud Hospital Home Care and Hospice.
“People are wanting to stay at home,” Olson said. “And baby boomers are the most vocal about that. Home care is filling a need for the future.”
St. Cloud Hospital Home Care sees about 2,000 patients a year. Olson estimates it will go up in the next decade as people become more aware of it. There are about 9,284 Medicare-certifed home care providers in the U.S. in 2007, a 35 percent increase since 2001, according to the National Association for Home Care & Hospice.
Health education
With easy access to information, health care providers said that baby boomers are aggressive in educating themselves about their chronic and acute illnesses and their options.
Lynn Rohman said she and her baby boomer friends often go into the doctor’s office with pen and pad in hand and questions in mind.
“We have a higher set of expectations,” said Rohman, 61, who is project development coordinator for the Central Minnesota Council on Aging. “... Boomers see themselves as in a consulting relationship, in a dialogue.”
When the Coborn Cancer Center opened, it wasn’t just procedure and chemotherapy treatment rooms that occupied the space.
A separate resource center and library area was included with literature and Internet access for patients and families.
“The young seniors advocate for themselves more in health care,” said Lori Vrolson, executive director of the Central Minnesota Council on Aging. “They ask more questions and look at alternative options.”
And health care officials said they welcome those discussions.
“We consider it a team effort,” she said. “It’s a better outcome.”
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