Studies show homebound and frail older adults are experiencing inequity in their care

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In this Better Care Playbook article, you'll learn about:

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• The characteristics of homebound older adults

" The homebound population is a high-need, high-cost, vulnerable group. They are more likely than their non-homebound counterparts to be from a minority racial or ethnicity group, unmarried and without a partner, and have low educational attainment and low income. "

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• Some of the inequities this group of people face

" People who are homebound and frail older adults who face serious inequity in access to traditional ambulatory primary care are mostly invisible to health systems. In a study of subgroups of the most medically complex Kaiser Permanente Northern California members, insured by a variety of payers, frail older adults were found to have the highest mortality rate at 24 percent ― even higher than the active cancer patient subgroup. "

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• What we can do in the future to better support them

" This new distributed model would weave together complementary types of home-based care — not just hospital at home or home-based primary care, but the whole toolkit of home-based longitudinal, acute, and episodic care. It would also integrate with non-medical home-based skilled and social support services. "