(1)The general assembly finds and
declares that:
(a)Over the past decade, Colorado has had the second-fastest-growing rate
of residents over sixty-five years of age in the United States, growing at roughly
fifty-one percent;
(b)Currently, twenty-one percent of the population in Colorado is over sixty-five years of age;
(c)By 2030, Colorado will have more residents over sixty-five years of age
than residents under eighteen years of age;
(d)There are only ninety-six physicians trained in geriatrics across the state,
and two hundred eighty-nine physicians trained in geriatrics are needed by 2050 to
serve ten percent of Coloradans over sixty-five years of age;
(e)Only twenty-three percent of dental schools across the United States
offer clinical training specific to dental ca
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(1) The general assembly finds and
declares that:
(a) Over the past decade, Colorado has had the second-fastest-growing rate
of residents over sixty-five years of age in the United States, growing at roughly
fifty-one percent;
(b) Currently, twenty-one percent of the population in Colorado is over sixty-five years of age;
(c) By 2030, Colorado will have more residents over sixty-five years of age
than residents under eighteen years of age;
(d) There are only ninety-six physicians trained in geriatrics across the state,
and two hundred eighty-nine physicians trained in geriatrics are needed by 2050 to
serve ten percent of Coloradans over sixty-five years of age;
(e) Only twenty-three percent of dental schools across the United States
offer clinical training specific to dental care for older adults;
(f) There is a severe shortage in the United States of geriatric-trained
clinicians across all health-care disciplines;
(g) The number of older Coloradans places high resource demands on the
state's health-care system;
(h) During a health-care study conducted between 1993 and 1997, older
patients who were admitted to the hospital were placed either in an acute care for
elders unit or a usual-care control unit. On average, the length of stay for older
patients treated by a geriatric-trained interdisciplinary team, including
geriatricians, advanced practice nurses, social workers, pharmacists, and physical
therapists, was significantly shorter, at just over six days per patient for those
receiving care in the acute care for elders unit versus just over seven days per
patient for those in the usual-care control unit. The difference in care produced
lower total inpatient costs from nine thousand four hundred seventy-seven dollars
per patient for those patients in the acute care for elders unit versus ten thousand
four hundred fifty-one dollars per patient for those patients in the usual-care
control unit. The difference in care for those patients in the acute care for elders
unit maintained patients' functional abilities and did not increase hospital
readmission rates.
(i) The study described in subsection (1)(h) of this section resulted in fifty-eight fewer days of hospitalization for every one hundred patients admitted to the
acute care for elders unit versus the usual-care control unit. Over the course of the
study, this resulted in savings of ninety-seven thousand four hundred dollars for
every one hundred patients admitted to the acute care for elders unit versus the
usual-care control unit.
(j) Hospital readmission rates for patients released from hospitals with acute
care for elders units were nearly ten percent less compared to readmission rates
for patients released from hospitals without acute care for elders units;
(k) Colorado accounts for twelve percent of the national medicare budget as
measured by medicare part A or part B program payments. Payments from the
medicare program for Colorado equal four billion five hundred eighty million four
thousand five hundred nine dollars, which covers five hundred twenty-eight
thousand medicare enrollees.
(l) Medicaid covers one in five Americans and accounts for seventeen
percent of the national health expenditures. Medicaid spending growth is expected
to be a substantial contributor to national health spending increases over the next
ten years, primarily due to a population of older adults who are enrolling in
medicaid with long-term services and supports and health-care needs.
(2) Therefore, the general assembly declares that by establishing a
multidisciplinary health-care provider access training program to train and support
clinical health professions graduate students in advanced practice provider
programs; dentistry; medicine, including osteopathic medicine; nursing;
occupational therapy; pharmacy; physical therapy; psychology; social work; and
speech-language therapy, future clinicians trained specifically in geriatrics will
better meet the needs of medically complex, costly, compromised, and vulnerable
older Coloradans. The multidisciplinary health-care provider access training
program is core to the future expansion of multidisciplinary geriatric practices
among each health-care discipline. Meeting the needs of Colorado's older adults
will save the state millions of dollars in health-care costs each year. The general
assembly further declares that collaboration between participating institutions of
higher education, communities, and health-care providers will allow Colorado to
provide the highest standard medical care to medically complex, costly,
compromised, and vulnerable older Coloradans and to better fill the present and
future need for geriatric care in urban, rural, and underserved communities across
the state.