Americans aren’t getting any younger, but a pair of new studies in the Annals of Family Medicine offer a deceptively simple way for providers to stay afloat in the Silver Tsunami: optimize the workflows hiding in plain sight.
In case anyone’s new here, the U.S. doesn’t have enough physicians to meet today’s patient demand, let alone the needs of a Medicare population that’s adding 10k seniors every day.
- New tech and AI-driven efficiencies might eventually balance the equation, but small changes at scale can still make a noticeable difference in the meantime.
Optimizing care means optimizing visits. Immediate concerns frequently overshadow preventive care, and that’s easy to see during Medicare annual wellness visits. The first study tested a straightforward solution by combining wellness visits with problem-based visits – and extending them from 20 to 40 minutes – at a five-office family medicine department.
- Completion rates for annual wellness visits skyrocketed 6x over nine months (8.4% to 50.8%), and the combined appointments had nearly half as many no-shows as traditional wellness visits (11.9% vs. 19.6%).
- Giving providers extra time to address new issues without derailing the agenda also boosted screenings across the board – depression, hemoglobin A1c, and a long list of cancers.
Pre-visit preparation pays off. The second study out of Mayo Clinic focused on getting more out of existing appointments with pre-visit test ordering.
- Researchers sent automated portal messages to 3,500 Medicare patients listing the tests they were due for in the next six months, along with a self-scheduling link and a nudge to review results in a wellness visit.
- About 27% of patients followed through on the message. Physicians appreciated being able to order follow-ups ahead of time, and patients loved discussing results during their regular visit.
The Takeaway
Combined appointments and pre-visit testing won’t stop a Silver Tsunami, but these studies show that they’re practical changes that might at least make some decent floaties.