The patient's family should be involved from the start. Spouses and children are an integral part of the informal care network. Medication management is extremely important . Older people can take several different medications each day, and often there is confusion about taking the right medicine in the correct dosage at the appropriate time of the day. Teams routinely monitor medication use to eliminate unnecessary medications, select alternatives with fewer side-effects or alter certain combinations since the interactions could render the drugs ineffective or even harmful.
Teams can coordinate care across different sites .
Geriatric teams coordinate care of the elderly across a variety of sites, including care in the patient's home, primary care settings, clinics for the frail elderly and in the hospital. Coordination is crucial since the elderly often have chronic, complex conditions. Despite the obvious benefits of the team approach to care, few Medicare HMOs use this approach for their elderly enrollees. Since this coordinated approach can be a vital component to improving the overall health of an elderly patient, we offer the following recommendations designed to expand the number of sites employing teams. HCFA should require Medicare risk plans to develop policies and protocols for caring for the complex and chronic needs of older Americans.