Experts to study hip
break care among seniors
By Paul Recer
Associated Press writer
WASHINGTON For thousands of senior citizens every year, a broken hip is not just a
painful inconvenience but the start of a downward spiral toward death. Medical experts now
are searching for ways to improve the survival rate.
This scenario happens more than 340,000 times a year in America: an older person falls,
breaks a hip and life is changed forever. One in four such patients die within a year.
About 4 percent don’t survive the first hospital treatment, usually dying of
pneumonia.
For those who make it to rehabilitation, about half never recover the ability to walk
alone. About 40 percent must move into a long-term care facility.
Dr. Allen Morris, a St. Louis orthopedic surgeon, said it is a grim picture for the
nation’s elderly and a shameful record for the health care system.
"This is a near epidemic type of situation," Morris said. "The problem
is a matter of money and a problem with the system."
Right now, the direct and indirect costs of hip fractures in the country is about $12.6
billion a year. With the graying of America, the number of fractures is expected to reach
more than 650,000 by 2050 and the cost will more than double.
Morris, representing the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, is co-chairman of a
conference of 40 national health organizations meeting this week in Washington to draw up
an action plan to revolutionize the way elderly hip fracture patients are treated.
Among the issues being studied by the group:
÷Federal Medicare funding now severely limits the days a hip fracture patient can
spend in the hospital. Often a patient must leave before he or she is ready.
÷Many patients are denied access to federally funded rehabilitation facilities because
they fail to meet minimum physical standards.
Morris said to be admitted to such centers, patients must be strong enough to perform
three hours of rehab exercises a day.
÷Prevention measures are not being addressed sufficiently.
The vast majority of hip fractures are among women who have osteoporosis, the brittle
bone disease. That suggests that health care givers need to do more to prevent and control
osteoporosis through programs of diet, medication and exercise. Stronger bones would mean
fewer broken hips.
Another problem is fall prevention.
Morris said the elderly should be more closely screened for the tendency to fall. Such
screening is frequently ignored, he said.
÷Find ways to improve the quality of life for the patients and their families.
÷Address the psychological changes from the effects of a hip fracture.
