Adam G. Golden

Inappropriate Medication Prescribing in Homebound Older Adults

Little is known about the prescribing of medications in the growing population of homebound older adults. We report on the prevalence and pattern of inappropriate medications in a nursing home‐eligible, homebound population.

Defining Patterns of Benzodiazepine Use in Older Adults

Benzodiazepines are disproportionately prescribed to older adults. Elderly adults with comorbid medical and psychiatric conditions, elderly adults taking multiple medications, and elderly women are the most likely adults to continuously use benzodiazepines. These are also the groups of elderly who are likely to experience adverse effects, including falls, accidents, and motor vehicle crashes. Despite recommendations for short-term treatment and the potential risks of long-term use, some patients continue to receive benefit for extended time periods, occasionally years. Future research needs to be directed at improved identification of which patients will benefit from intermittent versus continuous treatment while minimizing risk for adverse side effects. In order to advance the study of the risks and benefits of benzodiazepine use, we have proposed a set of definitions for classification of use. These definitions can be used to develop clinical guidelines based on empirically derived clinical research models.

Care Management’s Challenges and Opportunities to Reduce the Rapid Rehospitalization of Frail Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Community-based frail older adults, burdened with complex medical and social needs, are at great risk for preventable rapid rehospitalizations. Although federal and state regulations are in place to address the care transitions between the hospital and nursing home, no such guidelines exist for the much larger population of community-dwelling frail older adults. Few studies have looked at interventions to prevent rehospitalizations in this large segment of the older adult population. Similarly, standardized disease management approaches that lower hospitalization rates in an independent adult population may not suffice for guiding the care of frail persons. Care management interventions currently face unique challenges in their attempt to improve the transitional care of community-dwelling older adults. However, impending national imperatives aimed at reducing potentially avoidable hospitalizations will soon demand and reward care management strategies that identify frail persons early in the discharge process and promote the sharing of critical information among patients, caregivers, and health care professionals. Opportunities to improve the quality and efficiency of care-related communications must focus on the effective blending of training and technology for improving communications vital to successful care transitions.

Is Geriatric Medicine Terminally Ill

Although substantial academic resources are directed to encourage interest in geriatric medicine, fewer internal medicine and family medicine residents are seeking geriatric medicine fellowship tra...

Risk for Fractures with Centrally Acting Muscle Relaxants: An Analysis of a National Medicare Advantage Claims Database

Background: In older adults, both muscle relaxants and benzodiazepines are associated with sedation and cognitive impairment. Although benzodiazepines have been linked to falls and fracture injuries, no studies have examined the risk of fracture associated with muscle relaxants. Objective: To determine whether muscle relaxants identified in the Beers criteria are associated with an increased risk of fracture injuries and to compare this risk to that with benzodiazepine use. Methods: We conducted a case-control study using both medical and pharmacy claims data from 1.5 million enrollees in the Medicare Advantage plans of a large health maintenance organization. We matched 8164 cases of fractures with 8164 controls based on age, sex, health plan, and comorbidities. We measured the use of muscle retaxants, short-acting benzodiazepines, and long-acting benzodiazepines. Adjusted odds ratios were estimated using conditional logistic regression, Results: After adjusting demographic and clinical covariates, muscle relaxants, long-acting benzodiazepines, and short-acting benzodiazepines were associated with a high risk of fracture injuries, with odds ratios of 1.40 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.72; p < 0.001), 1.9 (95% CI 1.49 to 2.43: p < 0.001), and 1.33 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.55: p < 0.001), respectively. Conclusions: An elevated risk of fracture injuries was noted among older adults using muscle relaxants. Our findings provide evidence of an association between the risk of fractures and the use of centrally acting muscle relaxants in older adults. This association supports current recommendations advising extreme caution in prescribing muscle relaxants to older adults.

Home and Community‐Based Medicaid Options for Dependent Older Floridians

In an era of widespread state budget constraints, Florida has been increasingly challenged to provide long‐term care services to a growing population of older dependent persons. The high costs of nursing home care have led the state to implement care management alternatives that offer potential for cost savings along with greater consumer satisfaction through maintenance of community residence. Although these alternative care approaches represent important opportunities to contain costs, it is equally important that professional care providers and policymakers understand how such programs operate. Here the Florida experience with eight home and community‐based waiver models, in addition to the Program of All‐Inclusive Care for the Elderly, are summarized and a comparative analysis offered that may enlighten the efforts of other states to establish cost‐effective and attractive care management models.

Addressing the Shortage of Geriatricians: What Medical Educators Can Learn From the Nurse Practitioner Training Model

Physicians’ career interest in geriatric medicine continues to wane at a time when the health care needs of older adults are increasing. Nurse practitioners have helped fill the U.S. physician gap by delivering outpatient care to older adults and can practice with full autonomy in many states. Nursing graduate school programs are preparing adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioners to successfully deliver outpatient care services using a model of training with fewer requirements that is more flexible and of shorter duration compared with the training model for geriatricians. Nurse practitioners can also obtain initial certification and recertification with less time commitment and at lower cost than geriatricians. Whether the outpatient care provided by nurse practitioners is comparable to the care provided by physicians remains a subject of debate. However, as nurse practitioners’ scope of practice expands, the perception exists that the outpatient clinical roles of adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioners and geriatricians are similar. This raises questions about whether there are too many educational and certification requirements for geriatricians. The authors encourage medical educators to learn from the success of the nurse practitioner education model for training large numbers of primary care providers. They propose decreasing the duration of medical school and graduate medical education training for geriatricians and providing educational debt repayment programs as potential incentives to stimulate career interest in geriatric medicine.

Transitional Care: Looking for the Right Shoes to Fit Older Adult Patients

Potentially avoidable hospitalizations are associated with high costs and an increased risk for iatrogenic conditions in older adult patients. Although care managers may be aware of the common potential pitfalls that may arise in the transfer of patients to and from the hospital, defining best practice models has been difficult. Many current models of geriatric care have had little or no impact on lowering the rates of hospitalizations and rehospitalizations when formally studied. Health care reform legislation mandates initiatives involving new models of coordinated or guided care such as the medical home model and the accountable care organization. These new models too will face significant challenges in their attempt to provide the financial incentives and systematic changes needed to successfully address transitional care in older adults.

Medication Assessments by Care Managers Reveal Potential Safety Issues in Homebound Older Adults

Background Over-the-counter (OTC) medications, benzodiazepines, and barbiturates are not covered under many Medicare drug benefit plans; hence, their use by homebound older adults is largely unreported. Furthermore, the tiered design of Medicare drug formularies may in fact promote the use of older but potentially inappropriate medications. Little is known about the use of these medications in the homebound older adult population. Objective: To determine the prevalence of the use by homebound older adults of OTC drugs, dietary supplements (vitamins, minerals, and herbal products), Part D-excluded medications (benzodiazepines and barbiturates), and potentially inappropriate medications (according to Beers criteria). Methods: Patients were enrollees in a home and community-based Medicaid waiver provider. All clients were older than 65 and were dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. All clients met Florida Medicaids medical and financial criteria for nursing home placement. The medication list was obtained by geriatric care managers during a home assessment. Results: A total of 3911 older adults (mean [SD] age 83.6 [8.0] years) were taking an average of 9.9 [4.8] drugs. Of these individuals. 74.5% were using an OTC medication, 41.9% were using a dietary supplement, 29.6% were using a benzodiazepine or barbiturate, and 25.2% were using at least 1 potentially inappropriate medication. Conclusions: Based on data gathered by a geriatric care management assessment, we found that most of the homebound older adults enrolled in our study used medications not included in their Medicare drug benefit. The use of potentially inappropriate medications was also common in this population. Future drug safety initiatives involving the elderly will benefit from engaging care managers in identifying and addressing the potential hazards posed by commonly used prescribed and nonprescribed medications.

A Fourth‐Year Medical School Clerkship That Addressed Negative Attitudes Toward Geriatric Medicine

Despite extensive educational efforts, many medical students still have negative attitudes toward the field of geriatric medicine and the care of older adult patients. This article describes a fourth‐year geriatric clerkship that addressed this issue by providing opportunities for students to actively discuss many of the negative stereotypes that exist regarding geriatric medicine. Emphasis was also placed on personalizing the course content to show the relevance of geriatric medicine to all medical students. During the 2008/09 academic year, 150 students completed the rotation. Although no students expressed an interest in pursuing a career as a geriatrician, they expressed a highly favorable evaluation of this personalized geriatric clerkship and voted this clerkship “the most outstanding clinical course” at the medical school.