FAIR Health Launches New Tutorial Video for Older Adults on Consumer Website
November 16, 2023
Last month, FAIR Health launched a new video tutorial on the Older Adults section of its consumer website, fairhealthconsumer.org. Created as part of a three-year implementation initiative funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) to facilitate shared decision-making discussions and healthcare engagement among older adults and family caregivers, the video tutorial orients consumers to the shared decision-making resources available in the Older Adults section.
Shared decision making—the process by which patients, caregivers and providers decide on care and treatment, balancing clinical evidence with patients’ preferences and values—has shown promise in engaging patients in their healthcare decisions and reducing unnecessary costs. As older patients and family caregivers continue to shoulder a significant portion of healthcare costs, many have expressed their need for resources to help them navigate the healthcare system. Addressing this need, FAIR Health—with generous funding support from JAHF, The New York Community Trust, the New York Health Foundation and the Samuels Foundation—developed easy-to-use tools and resources to help consumers find the information and support they need to make informed healthcare decisions. These tools and resources include decision aids with cost information, printable checklists with questions to ask providers and links to other helpful resources.
Under a prior planning grant funded by JAHF, FAIR Health created five new decision aids and three FH® Total Treatment Cost tools that offer clinical and cost information related to the care and treatment of conditions that affect older adults, all of which are housed in the FAIR Health Consumer Older Adults section. The response to FAIR Health’s shared decision-making tools and resources demonstrates a growing need for user-friendly and accessible healthcare engagement tools. Since its launch in September 2022, the Older Adults section has received tens of thousands of unique visits nationwide. Furthermore, findings from an evaluation of the prior JAHF-funded project have underscored the utility of the tools and resources.
FAIR Health’s shared decision-making tools and resources have also garnered much interest from state and government agencies, healthcare and community-based organizations and advocacy groups. Organizations such as the Gerontological Society of America, Grantmakers in Health and the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance have invited FAIR Health to present on its shared decision-making offerings, particularly those tailored to vulnerable populations.
Seeking to distribute widely the tools and resources developed during the project’s planning phase, in 2024 FAIR Health will launch a national dissemination campaign and distribute the tools to older patients and family caregivers at the point of care through collaborations with Age-Friendly Health Systems sites. FAIR Health is engaging in conversations with healthcare organizations and health systems that have expressed an interest in using the shared decision-making tools and resources with their older patients.
If your organization is interested in serving as a site to distribute the tools at the point of care, contact Gee Kim, Clinical and Research Outreach Liaison, at gkim@fairhealth.org.