Year: 2002
Type: letter
Abstract: Editor's note: The above letter was sent to the authors of the original article; their reply follows. In Reply: Dr. Williams et al. have made enormous contributions to society's understanding of the best approaches to caring for frail older people. Their seminal report in 1987 broke new ground by highlighting the potential for outpatient comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) to provide high-quality care while possibly reducing healthcare costs.1 During the 14 years since its publication, this study has inspired and guided numerous investigations, including ours.2 Our study differed from the Williams study in the intervention tested and the outcomes measured. Their study evaluated CGA, whereas ours evaluated outpatient geriatric evaluation and management, in which CGA was followed by 6 months of comprehensive interdisciplinary treatment. Their study used diaries to track participants' use and cost of hospital and nursing home services. Ours used the records of the Health Care Financing Administration to track its participants' use of, and the cost of, all Medicare-covered services: hospital and nursing home care plus physician encounters, visits to outpatient clinics, durable medical equipment, home care, and hospice services. We regret that our report did not acknowledge the importance of the Williamses' contributions to this line of research.
Institution: University of Minnesota
Language: English
Topic: Frailty in Older Adults
Subfield: Geriatrics and Gerontology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4243144505