Healthcare contact days among older adults living with dementia

Healthcare contact days among older adults living with dementia
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, by Emma D. Chant PhD; Christine S. Ritchie MD, MSPH; E. John Orav PhD; Ishani Ganguli MD, MPH; 1/23/24
For older adults with dementia and their care partners, accessing health care outside the home involves substantial time, direct and indirect costs, and other burdens. While prior studies have estimated days spent by these individuals in or out of hospitals and nursing homes, ambulatory care burdens are likely substantial yet poorly understand. Therefore, we characterized “health care contact days”—days spent receiving ambulatory or institutional care—in this population. Older adults with dementia spent 31 days a year accessing care which was mostly ambulatory.
Publisher's note: Also see Health care contact days among older adults in Traditional Medicare.