Hcs 490 Demographic Paper
Demographic Paper
Karen Mervine
HCS/490
September 30, 2013
Dr. Joanne Tritsch
Demographic Paper
An Aging Population I have been designated by the senior management team at a community hospital to write a summary on the effects of changes in population demographics on the needs and services for a selected population. The population that I choose to write about is the aging population. In this paper I will identify the aging population and provide data about the demographics and psychographics for this particular population. I will also describe the general impact that the demographics will have on the health care market as they change. The effects from the changes in the demographics of the aging population will also be explained. I will identify health care challenges for the aging population as well as describing how a chronic disease wellness program would affect the cost for them. I will explain what the demographics say about the marketing needs or services needed for this population. Finally, I will help the reader understand how the individual patient, the community, and society as a whole can address these challenges.
Demographics and Psychographics
Demographics are "the characteristics of a human population" (U.S. Small Business Administration, n.d., par. 1). The aging population …show more content…
consists of individuals 65 or older. There is a current increase evolving with this population group. According to Amanda Gardner of the U.S. News (2012, par. 5), "the average life expectancy has risen from 47 years in 1900 to 78 years today, and is projected to be 84.5 years by the year 2050." Women make up the majority of Americans 65 or older, at 57%. “In 2010, there were 40.3 million Americans age 65
and older accounting for about 13% of the total U.S. population. Of these individuals, 5.5 million were 85 years and older, accounting for nearly 2% of the total population” (The Scan Foundation, 2012, par. 1). Approximately, 44% of those individuals lived alone. The youngest individuals in this group are known as, Baby Boomers.
"Psychographics is the science of using psychology and demographics to better understand consumers" (Kotler, Shalowitz, & Stevens, 2008, pg. 226). Psychographics - "the attributes that describe the personality, attitudes, beliefs, values, emotions, and opinions of customers, and prospective customers" (Market Segmentation Strategies, n.d., par. 1). The psychographics for the aging population can be summed up as, not easily adaptable to change. These individuals are usually set in their ways so, the marketing companies must come up with clever ways to attract the attention of this population group.
Impact and Effects on Health Care
The aging population has created and will continue to create high costs for medical care services. Services like nursing home care, medications, and chronic disease treatments are examples of these high costs. “The high cost in relation to these services will strain to the limit the potential ability of the health, social and even political infrastructures not only of developing countries, but also of the most developed and industrialized nations” (Lunenfeld, 2008, par. 8). Government funded programs like Medicare and Medicaid will become limited and the reimbursement rates for physicians will be lower. Social Security will also be affected by the increasing number of recipients. The aging population will affect health care because there will be more people who are in the aging population than the younger population. This is because of people choosing to have smaller families. There will not be as many people paying taxes that help keep costs down. Also the demands for medical care, services, and medications will increase. The aging population will have higher demands for medical services due to chronic illnesses and diseases. Therefore, there will not be as many workers under the age of 65 “contributing taxes to support seniors, who are less productive and consume more” (Gardner, 2012, par. 6).
In addition, the aging population will also have an effect on the amount of available health care workers. There is currently a shortage of nurses, and it is feared that there will not be enough nurses to take on the increasing amount of aging adults in need of health care.
Health Care Challenges
The increase of health care costs is a huge challenge for a majority of the aging population. “While some people have saved amply for retirement, the report estimates that between one-fifth and two-thirds of today 's seniors haven 't saved enough, leaving them to rely heavily on Medicare and Social Security -- programs that, along with Medicaid, now account for about 40 percent of all federal spending” (Gardner, 2012, par. 7).
Another challenge for the aging population is the increase in costs for prescription medications. Some prescriptions are not covered by an individual’s Medicare or Medicaid insurance. Even private insurance’s only cover a portion of prescription medications. This leaves a large amount due by the individual. For most elderly people this is a challenge that
they cannot afford. Most of the aging population lives off a fixed income, usually from Social Security. If Medicare and Medicaid do not help with the expenses of medications, this population will suffer and be forced to either, go without much needed medication or skip doses to save them money.
Chronic Disease Wellness Programs
Chronic disease wellness programs can affect the costs of medical care and services. The use of these programs can teach the aging population prevention measures to keep their medical expenses lower. It is to be believed that when chronic disease wellness programs are used, the individual takes on a healthier lifestyle and generally, his or her medical expenses stay at a lower rate. This is not always the case. It has been proven that sometimes there is an increase in insurance premiums. The cost alone for the wellness program can make the insurance premiums rise. It depends on the amount of participants and the costs for the program.
Marketing Needs for the Aging Population
The older individuals in the aging population are determined and do not like change.
They like to have things a certain way and usually stick to their own brands. The aging population could be labeled as Strugglers. “Elderly, resigned, passive people who are concerned about change. They are loyal to their favorite brands” (Kotler, Shalowitz, and Stevens, 2008, pg. 227). In regard to health marketing, insurance marketing needs to have policies directed toward the medical services needed by this population. “Policymakers and providers should prepare for a shift in community planning to accommodate the changing plans and expectations of
Baby
Boomers, large numbers of whom plan to age in existing homes and retirement communities, or live with adult children, with increasing demand for informal family support” (Robinson, Shugrue, Fortinsky & Gruman, 2013, par. 4). Marketing strategies for nursing homes and long-term care facilities need appealing advertisement to grasp the attention of the Baby Boomers or they will not obtain their business.
Addressing the Challenges One way to address the challenge of taxes that the working individual pays to help fund seniors would be to increase the retirement age passed the current age of 65. This would allow individuals to work longer and save more money for retirement and future medical expenses. Another suggestion would be for workers to open a health care savings account so that they will have money to spend for their medical expenses. Physicians should be educating the aging population on ways to prevent chronic illness and disease. Tips about smoking cessation, healthy eating, and regular exercise will help an individual to maintain a healthy lifestyle and generally lower his or her health care. This will also help to lower the expenses for prescription drugs. Other ways that this population can obtain helpful information is from the Internet. “For older Americans, reliable sites from government entities such as Medicare allow users to actually find and compare hospitals on selected measures, further promoting the consumerism idea of higher quality care at
a reasonable cost. Web sites like these are informative and valuable for today 's health care consumers” (Blank, 2009, par. 14).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the aging population is adults 65 years or older. The youngest individuals in this population are known as the Baby Boomers. The life expectancy of adults is increasing at 84.5 years by 2050. Due to the increase in aging adults and the longer life expectancy, it will have an effect on health care expenses and services. Medicare and Medicaid will also be affected by the increase in this population. Health care expenses and prescription medications are expected to increase and the shortage of nurses become worse. These costs may become lower with the utilization of chronic disease wellness programs. The lower costs depend on the needs of the individual. To address the needs of the aging population, health care marketing companies must develop strategies to target this specific population. For nursing homes and long-term care facilities, the marketing approach should use appealing advertisement to entice them to obtain their health care services. Baby Boomers are more likely to stay home and be cared for by their adult children. To address the challenges, the patient can practice tips taught by physicians about living healthy lifestyles. Also the retirement age could be raised from the current age of 65. Last, individuals can use the Internet to help them with their health care decisions. There are many informative websites that provide information to consumers.
References
Blank, K. (2009). Health Care Consumers ' Information Options Expand. Benefits & Compensation Digest, 46(11), 30.
Gardner, A. (2012, Sept 25) Aging population poses long-term challenges to U.S. economy. Retrieved from http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/09/25/aging- population-poses-long-term-challenges-to-us-economy
Kotler, P., Shalowitz, J., & Stevens, R. J. (2008). Strategic marketing for health care organizations: Building a customer-driven health system. San Francisco, CA: Jossey- Bass
Lunenfeld, B. (2008). An aging world - demographics and challenges. Gynecological Endocrinology, 24(1), 1-3. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197439826?accountid=35812
Market Segmentation Strategies. (n.d.) What are psychographics? Retrieved from http://www.marketsegmentation.com/what_are_psychographics.html
Robinson, J., Shugrue, N., Fortinsky, R. H., & Gruman, C. (2013, 02 26). Long-term supports and services planning for the future: Implications from a statewide survey of baby boomers and older adults. Retrieved from http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/09/12/geront.gnt094
References Continued
The Scan Foundation, (2012). The demographic and economic characteristics of Americans. Retrieved from http://www.thescanfoundation.org/sites/thescanfoundation.org/files/us__demogecon_feb_20 12_fs.pdf
U.S. Small Business Administration. (n.d.) Demographics. Retrieved from http://www.sba.gov/content/demographics
Karen Mervine
HCS/490
September 30, 2013
Dr. Joanne Tritsch
Demographic Paper
An Aging Population I have been designated by the senior management team at a community hospital to write a summary on the effects of changes in population demographics on the needs and services for a selected population. The population that I choose to write about is the aging population. In this paper I will identify the aging population and provide data about the demographics and psychographics for this particular population. I will also describe the general impact that the demographics will have on the health care market as they change. The effects from the changes in the demographics of the aging population will also be explained. I will identify health care challenges for the aging population as well as describing how a chronic disease wellness program would affect the cost for them. I will explain what the demographics say about the marketing needs or services needed for this population. Finally, I will help the reader understand how the individual patient, the community, and society as a whole can address these challenges.
Demographics and Psychographics
Demographics are "the characteristics of a human population" (U.S. Small Business Administration, n.d., par. 1). The aging population …show more content…
consists of individuals 65 or older. There is a current increase evolving with this population group. According to Amanda Gardner of the U.S. News (2012, par. 5), "the average life expectancy has risen from 47 years in 1900 to 78 years today, and is projected to be 84.5 years by the year 2050." Women make up the majority of Americans 65 or older, at 57%. “In 2010, there were 40.3 million Americans age 65
and older accounting for about 13% of the total U.S. population. Of these individuals, 5.5 million were 85 years and older, accounting for nearly 2% of the total population” (The Scan Foundation, 2012, par. 1). Approximately, 44% of those individuals lived alone. The youngest individuals in this group are known as, Baby Boomers.
"Psychographics is the science of using psychology and demographics to better understand consumers" (Kotler, Shalowitz, & Stevens, 2008, pg. 226). Psychographics - "the attributes that describe the personality, attitudes, beliefs, values, emotions, and opinions of customers, and prospective customers" (Market Segmentation Strategies, n.d., par. 1). The psychographics for the aging population can be summed up as, not easily adaptable to change. These individuals are usually set in their ways so, the marketing companies must come up with clever ways to attract the attention of this population group.
Impact and Effects on Health Care
The aging population has created and will continue to create high costs for medical care services. Services like nursing home care, medications, and chronic disease treatments are examples of these high costs. “The high cost in relation to these services will strain to the limit the potential ability of the health, social and even political infrastructures not only of developing countries, but also of the most developed and industrialized nations” (Lunenfeld, 2008, par. 8). Government funded programs like Medicare and Medicaid will become limited and the reimbursement rates for physicians will be lower. Social Security will also be affected by the increasing number of recipients. The aging population will affect health care because there will be more people who are in the aging population than the younger population. This is because of people choosing to have smaller families. There will not be as many people paying taxes that help keep costs down. Also the demands for medical care, services, and medications will increase. The aging population will have higher demands for medical services due to chronic illnesses and diseases. Therefore, there will not be as many workers under the age of 65 “contributing taxes to support seniors, who are less productive and consume more” (Gardner, 2012, par. 6).
In addition, the aging population will also have an effect on the amount of available health care workers. There is currently a shortage of nurses, and it is feared that there will not be enough nurses to take on the increasing amount of aging adults in need of health care.
Health Care Challenges
The increase of health care costs is a huge challenge for a majority of the aging population. “While some people have saved amply for retirement, the report estimates that between one-fifth and two-thirds of today 's seniors haven 't saved enough, leaving them to rely heavily on Medicare and Social Security -- programs that, along with Medicaid, now account for about 40 percent of all federal spending” (Gardner, 2012, par. 7).
Another challenge for the aging population is the increase in costs for prescription medications. Some prescriptions are not covered by an individual’s Medicare or Medicaid insurance. Even private insurance’s only cover a portion of prescription medications. This leaves a large amount due by the individual. For most elderly people this is a challenge that
they cannot afford. Most of the aging population lives off a fixed income, usually from Social Security. If Medicare and Medicaid do not help with the expenses of medications, this population will suffer and be forced to either, go without much needed medication or skip doses to save them money.
Chronic Disease Wellness Programs
Chronic disease wellness programs can affect the costs of medical care and services. The use of these programs can teach the aging population prevention measures to keep their medical expenses lower. It is to be believed that when chronic disease wellness programs are used, the individual takes on a healthier lifestyle and generally, his or her medical expenses stay at a lower rate. This is not always the case. It has been proven that sometimes there is an increase in insurance premiums. The cost alone for the wellness program can make the insurance premiums rise. It depends on the amount of participants and the costs for the program.
Marketing Needs for the Aging Population
The older individuals in the aging population are determined and do not like change.
They like to have things a certain way and usually stick to their own brands. The aging population could be labeled as Strugglers. “Elderly, resigned, passive people who are concerned about change. They are loyal to their favorite brands” (Kotler, Shalowitz, and Stevens, 2008, pg. 227). In regard to health marketing, insurance marketing needs to have policies directed toward the medical services needed by this population. “Policymakers and providers should prepare for a shift in community planning to accommodate the changing plans and expectations of
Baby
Boomers, large numbers of whom plan to age in existing homes and retirement communities, or live with adult children, with increasing demand for informal family support” (Robinson, Shugrue, Fortinsky & Gruman, 2013, par. 4). Marketing strategies for nursing homes and long-term care facilities need appealing advertisement to grasp the attention of the Baby Boomers or they will not obtain their business.
Addressing the Challenges One way to address the challenge of taxes that the working individual pays to help fund seniors would be to increase the retirement age passed the current age of 65. This would allow individuals to work longer and save more money for retirement and future medical expenses. Another suggestion would be for workers to open a health care savings account so that they will have money to spend for their medical expenses. Physicians should be educating the aging population on ways to prevent chronic illness and disease. Tips about smoking cessation, healthy eating, and regular exercise will help an individual to maintain a healthy lifestyle and generally lower his or her health care. This will also help to lower the expenses for prescription drugs. Other ways that this population can obtain helpful information is from the Internet. “For older Americans, reliable sites from government entities such as Medicare allow users to actually find and compare hospitals on selected measures, further promoting the consumerism idea of higher quality care at
a reasonable cost. Web sites like these are informative and valuable for today 's health care consumers” (Blank, 2009, par. 14).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the aging population is adults 65 years or older. The youngest individuals in this population are known as the Baby Boomers. The life expectancy of adults is increasing at 84.5 years by 2050. Due to the increase in aging adults and the longer life expectancy, it will have an effect on health care expenses and services. Medicare and Medicaid will also be affected by the increase in this population. Health care expenses and prescription medications are expected to increase and the shortage of nurses become worse. These costs may become lower with the utilization of chronic disease wellness programs. The lower costs depend on the needs of the individual. To address the needs of the aging population, health care marketing companies must develop strategies to target this specific population. For nursing homes and long-term care facilities, the marketing approach should use appealing advertisement to entice them to obtain their health care services. Baby Boomers are more likely to stay home and be cared for by their adult children. To address the challenges, the patient can practice tips taught by physicians about living healthy lifestyles. Also the retirement age could be raised from the current age of 65. Last, individuals can use the Internet to help them with their health care decisions. There are many informative websites that provide information to consumers.
References
Blank, K. (2009). Health Care Consumers ' Information Options Expand. Benefits & Compensation Digest, 46(11), 30.
Gardner, A. (2012, Sept 25) Aging population poses long-term challenges to U.S. economy. Retrieved from http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/09/25/aging- population-poses-long-term-challenges-to-us-economy
Kotler, P., Shalowitz, J., & Stevens, R. J. (2008). Strategic marketing for health care organizations: Building a customer-driven health system. San Francisco, CA: Jossey- Bass
Lunenfeld, B. (2008). An aging world - demographics and challenges. Gynecological Endocrinology, 24(1), 1-3. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197439826?accountid=35812
Market Segmentation Strategies. (n.d.) What are psychographics? Retrieved from http://www.marketsegmentation.com/what_are_psychographics.html
Robinson, J., Shugrue, N., Fortinsky, R. H., & Gruman, C. (2013, 02 26). Long-term supports and services planning for the future: Implications from a statewide survey of baby boomers and older adults. Retrieved from http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/09/12/geront.gnt094
References Continued
The Scan Foundation, (2012). The demographic and economic characteristics of Americans. Retrieved from http://www.thescanfoundation.org/sites/thescanfoundation.org/files/us__demogecon_feb_20 12_fs.pdf
U.S. Small Business Administration. (n.d.) Demographics. Retrieved from http://www.sba.gov/content/demographics