Furthering an Innovative Approach to Caring for the Frail Elderly

Abstract

People over the age of 65 (seniors) are the fastest growing demographic in Canada representing approximately 15% of the total national population in 2013 and expecting to grow to 24% by 2036 (Statistics Canada). The cost of caring for this seniors’ population is disproportionately high at 45% of the healthcare spending. A significant driver of this cost is frailty, the progressive physiological decline in function, cognition, and mobility accompanied by a loss of physiological reserve and increased vulnerability to disease and death (Moorhouse, 2012). The Palliative and Therapeutic Harmonization (PATH) model is an innovative approach to simplifying the process of caring for the frail elderly that is shown to produce a dramatic change in the cost of care and the quality of patient and family caregiver satisfaction with the healthcare system (Moorhouse, Mallery, 2012). The PATH model of care was developed by Drs. Mallery and Moorhouse who practice geriatric medicine at the QEII Hospital in Halifax, NS. Deloitte has been working with PATH Inc. for over two years to support the adoption of the PATH model of care across Canada and beyond. As part of this adoption effort, Deloitte was engaged by the Tideview Terrace Long-term Care facility in Digby, NS to perform a PATH Implementation readiness assessment and to identify and recommend any preparatory actions that Tideview Terrace would need to undertake prior to implementing the PATH care model. The author, along with a team of healthcare consulting professionals, planned and performed the readiness assessment and identified and presented 56 recommendations to the Tideview Terrace leadership. Through this process there were additional objectives that were addressed including the documentation of the approach, processes and tools used to complete the readiness assessment to enable repeatability of the process, as well as a detailed analysis of an identified implementation issue that has far reaching impacts beyond the current client environment. This report details the author’s work on the readiness assessment and resulting findings as well as the activities and analysis performed to support the secondary objectives of the project.