Today I’m writing from the annual meeting of the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ), which we are co-sponsoring this year. AHCJ is an independent, nonprofit, 1,000-member organization dedicated to advancing the public’s understanding of health care issues. I’m here with several of my colleagues to promote the good work of the Hartford Foundation and its grantees to the media. You can find a summary of our work here.

There is a good deal of media coverage on health care, but only a modest share of it explores issues directly related to older adults. This seems odd, since they’re such a central part of our health care system. In fact, one out of every five dollars of our national health expenditure goes to Medicare payments. And of course, the size of our older population will nearly double to more than 71 million as the Boomer wave moves into advanced age over the next 20 years, so expenditures will skyrocket, causing enormous stress on our economy and society at large.

We’re pleased that the Foundation has this opportunity to provide information about these issues to the media and the general public. With our nationwide network of research and educational institutions, public and private social service organizations, and professional programs to draw from, we want JAHF to become a rich resource to the media. We hope the journalists we get to know here will find the kinds of provocative--and often underreported—tales we have to tell both interesting and important.

Here is a brief sample:

  • Take your medicine… carefully. Some older adults with multiple health conditions take as many as 50 different drugs, prescribed by up to 14 different doctors. Medication errors cause about 7,000 deaths per year in the US and $170 billion in associated problems. But these problems are avoidable. Learn how medication management can help patients and caregivers avoid serious medication-related problems, and discover where to find help
  • Nurses Meeting Specialized Needs. The work of an academic geriatric nurse can range far outside the classroom to meet the needs of diverse aging populations. For example, the Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence in Minnesota is supporting outreach to several Native American nursing schools to help improve the troubled health status of older Native Americans. And in Iowa, gero-nurse researchers are helping meet the health care needs of older migrant farm workers.
  • Grounding “Frequent Flyers.” Twenty percent of Medicare patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of being discharged. Many readmissions are preventable. They cost Medicare an estimated $12 to $17 billion per year, and they can hurt patients and their families. Beginning in October 2012, hospitals with high readmission rates for certain conditions will face reduced Medicare payments. Hartford projects like Care Transitions and Transitional Care demonstrate what hospitals and families can do to improve patients’ “care transitions.”

You can find more great stories about the health care issues older adults must cope with every day here. We would love to add more. If any of our grantees or friends are aware of exciting stories that the media might be interested in reporting, please post them here. We’re excited to get the word out about aging and health.