Medical Tourism and the Boomer and Older Adult Markets

Adriane BergGeneration Bold

6 Cedar Ridge Rd.Lebanon, NJ 08833

(908)236-8148

www.GenerationBold.comwww.AgelessTraveler.com

adrianeberg@msn.com

Longevity & Medical Tourism

• The fastest growing segment of the population:

Those over the age of 100—Centenarians• Of every person who has lived to be 65 from the

beginning of recorded history, two-thirds are alive today.

• The life expectancy in 1900 was 47 years

Aging & Medical Tourism

Boomers are increasingly engaged in their own healthcare. Edelman Report, 2010.

Boomers cannot afford US healthcare. The American Health Association released a report in 2007 entitled, “When I’m 64: How Boomers Will Change Healthcare.”

Boomers will require extensive treatment: six out of every ten Baby Boomers will be dealing with more than one chronic condition; more than one out of every three will be obese; and one out of four will be living with diabetes.

Boomers will account for four out of ten of the one billion doctor visits by 2020.

Boomers will increasingly retire abroad.

Boomers Will Strain the US Healthcare System

Demographics vs. Psychographics

What do they want?

The

Boomer

Consumer

Boomer Messaging & Medical Tourism

• Boomers-those born 1946-1964• Leading Edge Boomers-those 1946-54• Young old 70 or so• Older adults-replacement for seniors or senior citizens• Octogenarians• Old old-over 90• Health Adjusted Life Expectancy (HALE)-Life expectancy adjusted for

health status• Prospective Age-the age of a person in the standard life table who

has the same remaining life expectancy as the person of interest• RLE 15 -age at which remaining life expectancy is 15 year• Experienced worker-replacement for older worker

Customer Care Training

The Push and Pull of Medical Tourism

Push Fear Mistrust Unfamiliarity Peer Concern Skepticism Terrorism/Unrest Cost Discretionary

Pull Cost Need for Care High Grade

Experience Panache Quality of Care Growing

Familiarity Necessity

It’s About Digital Health

• Web-based Cognitive Fitness

• Assisted Computing

• Wandering Alerts

• Mobile Health Monitoring

It’s About Coverage• One third of Amercian softeware industry

workers are slated to lose their jobs in the next 6 years

• It takes boomers 100% longer to find a new job if excessed

• ObamaCare-Large self-insured companies like AT&T, John Deere and Caterpillar may opt to pay the penalty and not provide insurance to their employees (National Association of Health Underwriters—Member Report)

It’s About CoverageThe prolonged U.S. recession has had a significant impact on patients’ ability to afford medical care19

and, by extension, their use of medical tourism. A 2008 study reported that 22 percent of adults reduced the number of times they visited their physician and 11 percent cut back on the number of prescription drugs they took.20 A later poll found that up to 36 percent of respondents reported putting off needed medical care.

The number of physician visits in the U.S. has declined from 2006 to 2008 by nearly 70,000 per month. Increasing unemployment has likely contributed to the growing number of uninsured in the U.S. Concurrently, the cost of medical care has not declined in proportion to the decrease in consumers’ incomes, savings and investments.

Patients must either decrease the amount of care they receive or look for more cost-effective alternatives. In addition, transportation costs have risen significantly compared to a year ago; this may be contributing to the decline in U.S. patients traveling for care and the rate at which foreigners are traveling to the U.S. for medical services.

It’s About Preparedness

• Travel Fitness

• Mental Preparedness

• Family Communication

• Follow-up

It’s About Choice

• Elective: Knee Replacement, Physical Therapies, Alternative Medicine, Dentistry

• Luxury: Plastic Surgery, Dermatology, Stress Reduction, Anti-aging, Thermography, Fillers

• Necessity: Heart Disease, Kidney Disease, Arterial Sclerosis, Osteoporosis, Breast Cancer, Blood Cancer, Colon Cancer, Stroke, Arthritis

• Critical/Continuing Care: Assisted Living, Diabetes, ADL

It’s About the Name You KnowU.S. health care organizations participating in some of the

better-known international collaborations involving medical tourism are Cleveland Clinic, Cornell Medical School, Duke Medical School, Harvard Medical International, Johns Hopkins International, Memorial Sloan Kettering, University of Pittsburgh, and Columbia University Medical School.

(Medical Tourism, Update and implications, 2009 6/16, a product of The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions).

It’s About Communication• 70% of Boomers look for health information on

line, most of them women• 44% over 55 on line• 30.6% use texting and are increasing use of

mobile apps• Womensage, SAGE, SATH, AARP, EONS,

BoomerAuthority, Ageless Traveler• 94% over 55 use e-mail• Over 65 fastest growing on Facebook

It’s About Design

Emory Baldwin, AIAZai Architects, Seattle

Biology and Design: Perfect Together

Sight:

• PRESBYOPIA: This is a lack of being able to read up close, or far-sightedness and if age related begins usually around forty,

• MACULA DEGENERATION: The macula is the center part of the retina and the destruction of this is the main cause of blindness in elderly-can sees best on the periphery

• CATARACTS: The lens of the eye becomes cloudy and covered by a film that gradually dims sight.

• GLAUCOMA: Pressure with decreasing sight, may be light sensitive

Biology and Design: Perfect Together

Color • Decreased of the sensitivity to the intensity of color • Reduction in seeing the color blue and other cool colors• Decrease of ability to distinguish related colors/to discriminate fine detail • Choose warmer colors and visual contrasts • Adequate contrast increases depth perception by providing proximal cues

to object location. Glare• Thickening lenses creates glare • Use indirect lighting for general lighting (such as cove or sconce) and direct lighting

for specific tasks (such as lamps and fluorescent strips under cabinets).

Biology and Design: Perfect Together

Breathing and allergies (lung air sacs are more inhibited and produce less oxygen)

• Green• Stop spraying • CDC Report that older adults are more susceptible to air born allergens• Anti-microbial coatings• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signed into law in 1992, prohibits

discrimination against disabled persons and removed physical barriers in public spaces

Biology and Design: Perfect Together

• Heart : pumps slower/blood travels slower• Hormones: We sleep differently: The body secretes less of two important

sleep hormones: melatonin and growth hormone. • Muscle: strength correlates to muscle mass which deceases 10% a decade• Stiffness: is an issue• Balance: is an issue/visual distortions cause falls (Space of 12-14 inches

makes for hesitation in passing, 24-36 inches, no hesitation)

Biology and Design: Perfect Together

Nerves and Cognition • 2% reduction in the nerve ending response to feel hot and cold• Greater threat of dehydration and heat stroke• Diminished sense of taste• Less diminished sense of touch• Reaction time to cross a street or play an arcade game may be lessened

Muscle Mass• 25 pounds average limit for women over 65 to lift comfortably• Height: 68”/ 27% of those over 65 have difficulty reaching up• 15 pounds average for grip motion• 5-8 pounds of torque for levers, sinks handles, tub handles

Hearing• Acoustic levels should be low frequency• Annoyance with sound is proportionate to loudness• In conversation create both face to face and peripheral seating