FAIRHealthOlderAdults.org Will Improve Financial Health Literacy and Healthcare Decision Making
National Initiative Supported by Grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation
NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the national, independent nonprofit FAIR Health, with generous support from The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF), launched Healthy Decisions for Healthy Aging, a national campaign to promote and disseminate FAIR Health's groundbreaking healthcare educational tools and resources for older adults and their caregivers on FAIRHealthOlderAdults.org. The campaign features inviting messaging and visuals designed to empower a diverse audience of older adults and their caregivers to make educated healthcare decisions. Campaign messaging positions FAIR Health for Older Adults as an online resource that helps older adults make "healthy decisions for healthy aging" and recognizes that for older adults, healthcare decisions are "family decisions, life-changing decisions and shared decisions." The campaign can be found here.
Through a prior planning grant generously funded by JAHF, FAIR Health launched tools and resources for older adults and family caregivers last year. FAIR Health for Older Adults features shared decision-making tools that combine clinical and cost information for different treatment options associated with conditions that affect older adults, including early-stage breast cancer, hip osteoarthritis, hip replacement, spinal stenosis and fast-growing prostate cancer. Shared decision making, which involves patient-clinician discussions to decide on options for treatment and care, and balances clinical evidence with patients' preferences and values, has shown promise for improving patient satisfaction and reducing healthcare costs. The website also offers FH® Total Treatment Cost tools highlighting a range of costs for conditions that are particularly relevant to older adults, such as Alzheimer's disease/dementia, heart failure and major depression. In addition, FAIR Health for Older Adults features educational content about diverse healthcare topics, such as how to prepare for and manage healthcare costs, what questions to ask providers and where to find other helpful resources.
Feedback from older patients, their caregivers and providers underscored the utility of the tools and resources, with 67 percent of consumers indicating that FAIR Heath for Older Adults increased their knowledge and understanding of shared decision making and 65 percent agreeing that it helped them to better understand how to manage their healthcare costs. Owing to the successful uptake of the tools, FAIR Health received a second grant from JAHF to build upon the earlier initiative and disseminate a broader set of tools and resources to a national audience.
Throughout the year, FAIR Health will disseminate the Healthy Decisions for Healthy Aging campaign through a robust, multilevel effort to reach older patients, family caregivers and care partners, and providers in various major markets nationwide. The campaign utilizes diverse channels, including audio, radio, podcast and television ads, and interviews. Relevant stakeholder organizations, such as clinical institutions and community organizations, can also download and share the campaign and related physical and digital materials with those they care for and serve.
As part of the national dissemination campaign, FAIR Health—with guidance from a national Project Advisory Board of experts in geriatrics and gerontology—will also distribute the tools to older patients and family caregivers and care partners at the point of care through collaborations with four Age-Friendly Health Systems located across the United States. The four collaborating sites, which will be announced later this year, will share a set of educational tools and resources with older patients and their family caregivers and care partners at the point of care.
FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "FAIR Health is proud to launch the Healthy Decisions for Healthy Aging campaign to educate and empower older adults and family caregivers on tools and resources that can help improve their financial health literacy and support informed healthcare decision making. We thank The John A. Hartford Foundation for its continued support of our efforts to advance healthcare engagement through tools, education and resources relevant to older adults, family caregivers and care partners."
The John A. Hartford Foundation Vice President, Program Rani E. Snyder stated: "The Healthy Decisions for Healthy Aging campaign promotes tools and resources to empower older adults and family caregivers to make decisions based on what matters to them. The John A. Hartford Foundation is proud to support FAIR Health's robust efforts to advance education on shared decision making and healthcare engagement. Older adults and family caregivers will benefit greatly from accessing these tools and resources."
To access and share the Healthy Decisions for Healthy Aging campaign visuals, click here.
If you are interested in learning more or promoting the Healthy Decisions for Healthy Aging campaign, contact FAIR Health Executive Director of Communications and Marketing Rachel Kent at [email protected].
FAIR Health is a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. It is dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 44 billion claim records and is growing at a rate of over 2 billion claim records a year. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data products—including benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics and market indices—to commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D; FAIR Health includes among the private claims data in its database, data on Medicare Advantage enrollees. FAIR Health can produce insightful analytic reports and data products based on combined Medicare and commercial claims data for government, providers, payors and other authorized users. FAIR Health's systems for processing and storing protected health information have earned HITRUST CSF certification and achieved AICPA SOC 2 Type 2 compliance by meeting the rigorous data security requirements of these standards. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish, which enables consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offers a rich educational platform on health insurance. An English/Spanish mobile app offers the same educational platform in a concise format and links to the cost estimation tools. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.
Contact:
Rachel Kent Executive Director of Communications and Marketing FAIR Health 646-396-0795 [email protected]
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