FAIR Health's Groundbreaking Online Resources Engage Older Adults and Family Caregivers in Healthcare Decision Making

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Dec 04, 2024, 08:30 ET

Accessible and User-Friendly Offerings Include Condition-Specific Shared Decision-Making Tools with Cost Information, Checklists and Other Resources

NEW YORK, Dec. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Through a national initiative funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation, this year, the national, independent nonprofit FAIR Health launched FAIR Health for Older Adults (fairhealtholderadults.org), a free, national online resource available in English and Spanish that provides older adults and family caregivers with condition-specific shared decision-making tools and other resources needed to decide on and plan for a treatment, procedure or ongoing clinical condition. As part of this grant-funded initiative, FAIR Health is disseminating its tools and resources through the national Healthy Decisions for Healthy Aging campaign and through pioneering collaborations with four clinical institutions across the country. Early feedback indicates these offerings assist older patients and their families in making healthcare decisions with their healthcare providers.

Shared decision making—the collaborative process by which patients, caregivers and providers decide on care and treatment, balancing clinical evidence with patients' preferences and values—shows promise for engaging patients in healthcare decision making and lowering healthcare costs. Its focus on what matters to patients aligns with the "what matters" tenet of the 4Ms framework of age-friendly care, which also includes mind, medication and mobility. Under prior grant-funded initiatives, including those supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation, FAIR Health developed shared decision-making tools that combine clinical and cost information for a set of conditions relevant to older adults, seriously ill patients and minority communities. Available in both English and Spanish, FAIR Health for Older Adults offers shared decision-making tools with clinical and cost information for conditions such as hip osteoarthritis and fast-growing prostate cancer; FH^® Total Treatment Cost tools, which show the total cost involved for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, and heart failure; and educational resources such as patient and caregiver checklists, toolkits and FH^® Insurance Basics articles on a range of topics relevant to the care of older adults. Notably, these tools have already received positive feedback from patients, caregivers and clinicians.

FAIR Health's Healthy Decisions for Healthy Aging campaign has reached over 21 million individuals nationwide since its launch in January 2024. And the point-of-care collaborations with four clinical institutions that have achieved Age-Friendly Health Systems recognition are proceeding apace: The institutions include the University of Pennsylvania, The Ohio State University, Emory University and the University of Rochester Medical Center. Clinicians at these sites are using FAIR Health's healthcare engagement and shared decision-making tools with patients and their caregivers to discuss available care options and related costs. While FAIR Health will publish its program findings by early 2026, preliminary findings point to the value of the tools in enhancing trust and understanding among patients during complex medical decisions, as well as increasing clinical efficiency and provider and patient engagement.

Early next year, building on the success of this current initiative, with funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation, FAIR Health will launch a new shared decision-making tool pertaining to Alzheimer's disease care on FAIR Health for Older Adults. This offering will be launched as part of an educational section on Alzheimer's disease featuring checklists, articles and other resources for patients and families affected by this disease. These new tools and resources will educate families on various care options and related costs, enabling them to plan ahead and, if needed, explore financial resources and assistance.

Robin Gelburd, President of FAIR Health, said: "FAIR Health's healthcare engagement and shared decision-making tools for older adults offer a fuller picture of the care options available to them. We are heartened by the feedback we have received to date indicating that patients and their families are using our tools and resources to help them navigate the healthcare system and make important decisions related to care."

Rani E. Snyder, Vice President, Program, at The John A. Hartford Foundation, said: "FAIR Health for Older Adults provides older patients and their caregivers with the cost and clinical information necessary to make healthcare decisions that align with their values and preferences. We are pleased to support FAIR Health in offering shared decision-making tools that help all older adults get age-friendly care centered on what matters most to them."

To access the free tools, educational content and resources on FAIR Health for Older Adults, visit fairhealtholderadults.org. To see the Spanish version, please click here.

About FAIR Health
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 commercial healthcare claims data, which includes over 48 billion claim records and is growing at a rate of over 3 billion claim records a year. FAIR Health licenses its commercial 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, which accounts for a separate collection of over 48 billion claim records; FAIR Health includes among the commercial 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.