As I sit here writing to you–the CHAMP community–a winter storm is approaching.  Weather reports say that it may be a record breaker.  But within days I know that the sun will come out and the snow will magically melt away.  Another winter storm is approaching, the aging demographic shift.  But this event in gray and white will shape the environment of healthcare for the foreseeable future.  You likely know that the number of older adults ages 65+ will double in less than 20 years.  But you should also consider that the composition of the older adult population will shift.  Today, many older adults are considered the ”younger” old.  They are more likely to have well-controlled chronic disease and no functional limitations.  But in the next two decades a larger percentage of older adults will be 85+ with a greater prevalence of multiple chronicity, functional decline, and cognitive impairment like Alzheimers Disease.  In other words, the number of older adults needing homecare will increase at a rate higher than the doubling of older adults.

Why is this important to you, the CHAMP community?

You are at the vanguard of the home health industry.  The CHAMP Program has helped prepare you and your home health agency become competent in key topic areas like medication and pain management that impact cost, quality of care, and quality of life.  But perhaps even more important, you are positioned to shape the home health care industry to address the health needs of older adults.  You are a beacon and have important knowledge, skills, tools, and processes that most in home health care lack.

Carol Raphael, CEO of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York spoke at a recent convening at the Brookings Institute, Health Care Reform and Older Americans: Achieving Better Chronic Care at Lower Costs.   She spoke with pride about you, the CHAMP community:

“One of the things I’ve been really excited about is the Atlantic Philanthropies and the John A. Hartford Foundation have been funding something we call the CHAMP Program, which is to really inject into the mainstream of home healthcare services — geriatric competence. And it has really taken off. We have created a virtual learning community, and we have 96 agencies now involved in this effort, and we’re starting with medication management practices and taking the best practices and trying to inoculate everyone. And we have seen some dramatic improvements in terms of skills and competencies.  And I think that could be a model for how we think about moving ahead to really raise the bar on geriatric competence in our entire workforce.”

So what can you do as a member of the CHAMP community?

There will be a growing presence of CHAMP at the VNAA Annual Meeting in April and at the National Association of Homecare and Hospice Annual Meeting in October.  Participate.  Attend the sessions.  If you have CHAMP outcomes to report, showcase them and present at VNAA, NAHC or other venues.  Share information with your colleagues.  Learn by participating in a CHAMP course.  Encourage others to become prepared for the demographic shift.

On behalf of the John A. Hartford Foundation, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your efforts.  Keep it up!

Amy J. Berman, Program Officer
The John A. Hartford Foundation: