Potential to Reduce Older Adult Falls and Avert Costs
Implementing a clinical fall prevention program – including screening for fall risk, assessing potential risk factors, and intervening to reduce identified risk – can reduce the number of older adults who fall, and avert sizable healthcare costs. More than 1 out of 4 Americans 65 and older fall each year, resulting in over 3 million emergency department visits annually. The estimated medical cost from these falls is approximately $50 billion annually.
A recent study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM) found that clinically identifying and managing fall risk factors could prevent as many as 45,164 medically treated falls and avert up to $442 million in direct medical costs annually.
The report, titled “The Potential to Reduce Falls and Avert Costs by Clinically Managing Fall Risk,” looked at the population-level impact of seven evidence-based interventions on reducing falls and lowering direct medical costs among community-dwelling older adults. More than 90% of older adults see a medical provider at least once a year, giving clinicians the opportunity to inform and empower older adults to address one or more specific fall risk factors.
Clinicians can obtain continuing medical education (CME) for reading this select article through AJPM’s CME program.
STEADI Resources
CDC’s Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries, or STEADI initiative, includes resources and tools to help members of the healthcare team (e.g., physicians, nurses, pharmacists, occupational therapists, physical therapists) integrate fall prevention into their clinical practice. The resources include:
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