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Study: Health System Fails Seniors Half the Time

November 10, 2003
Older Americans with health problems get the recommended medical care they need only half the time, and the problem is worse for treatment of age-related illnesses, says a study by RAND Health.

A previous study by the same group said that doctors provided the appropriate health care to adults of all ages only half of the time.

The latest study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, suggests seniors are no different:

• The report found that seniors got the recommended care for general medical conditions like heart disease just 52 percent of the time.
• The record was worse for age-related diseases such as dementia or malnutrition; the study found seniors got the appropriate care for these conditions just 31 percent of the time.

This study's findings suggest doctors and other health care providers may overlook some common problems of old age -- a lapse that can lead to multiple health issues.

The RAND team looked at the medical records for 372 frail seniors who had been treated by two managed-care organizations over the course of a year. The researchers documented the medical care that each patient received and then judged it using standard indicators of quality.

However, the American Medical Association cautioned that the sample size is too small to support the conclusion that seniors across the nation aren't getting the care they need.

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