Improving the Quality of Health Care for Older Adults

From the Rand Corporation, this Research Highlight summarizes results of ACOVE-2 and describes a recent revision of the quality measures, known as ACOVE-3.

The Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE) indicators were the first set of health care quality indicators developed specifically for the elderly.

Vulnerable elders receive on average only half of recommended care; for conditions that affect primarily the elderly, they receive appropriate care—care indicated by ACOVE—less than one-third of the time.

According to ACOVE, patients who received better care are more likely to be alive three years later than those who received poorer care.

Interventions based on the ACOVE indicators improved the care physicians provided to vulnerable elders for several selected conditions.

In 2007, the ACOVE indicators were updated to include more health conditions and
to give greater consideration to the appropriateness of care for patients with advanced dementia or an otherwise poor prognosis.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/2008/RAND_RB9320.pdf