OPINION:
If you are like me, then you have big plans for the year ahead. Maybe you’ll finally take that trip you’ve always dreamed about. Maybe you want to volunteer more at your church or favorite nonprofit. Or maybe you want to enjoy the simple moments that make life worth living, such as teaching your granddaughter how to play catch.
Yet even the best-laid plans can be derailed in a second by an accidental fall. Suddenly, you are looking at a long hospital stay, surgery to repair a broken hip, months of rehab and a long road back to independence.
What if you could avoid falling in the first place? Physical therapists are uniquely trained to provide preventive falls risk assessments. By taking time to help aging adults identify muscle weakness, hazards in their home and opportunities to improve strength and gait, physical therapists can help older adults avoid painful, debilitating, costly falls.
Too few Americans receive preventive care services. If more people received a falls risk assessment, then health would improve and our entire health care system would benefit.
Consider the enormous societal costs of falling. As one recent report put it: More Americans die annually from fall-related injuries than from car accidents. More than 14 million older Americans fall each year, and many require hospitalization, recovery in a skilled nursing facility or opioid-based painkillers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that falls cost America’s health care system $50 billion each year, most of which is borne by Medicare.
Like you and I, lawmakers have a big year ahead. With the midterms fast approaching, legislators must support policies to improve health care and save money. Thankfully, Congress can address our nation’s falls crisis by passing the bipartisan Stopping Addiction and Falls for the Elderly Act, which would greatly strengthen access to falls risk assessments by making them part of the Medicare annual wellness benefit, at no cost to patients.
Americans want Washington to provide real solutions to serious problems, especially in an election year. The SAFE Act is a slam dunk for Congress to show it is listening to constituents and delivering.
NICK PATEL
Executive director, Alliance for Physical Therapy Quality and Innovation
Sugarland, Texas
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