Last Updated : September 10, 2024
Canada’s Drug Agency has released new guidance around aging in place. This guidance is intended to help health systems address Canada’s demographic transition toward an increasingly diverse aging population with an increased need for care and support during the later stages of life.
As health systems face challenges in keeping pace with demand for services, the guidance from our Health Technology Expert Review Panel (HTERP) aims to provide decision-makers with objective and trusted information that supports evidence-informed and equitable aging-in-place initiatives across the country. An evidence report, published in July, helped to inform HTERP’s deliberations.
Aging in place refers to the ability of older adults to access health and social supports needed to live safely in their own homes or communities for as long as they wish and are able, and that aligns with their values, preferences, and priorities.
Context and Challenges
In 2019, there were 6.6 million older adults aged 65 years and older and 838,200 adults aged 85 years and older. Data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information indicates that over 10% of new admissions to long-term care are potentially avoidable with access to appropriate home-based support and care. Costing data suggest that Canada spends more on institutional long-term care than home and community care.
Challenges stemming from these demographic shifts are complex and interconnected. Older adults may face a range of challenges from reduced access to care and overcrowded emergency departments, to delayed discharge from hospital while awaiting placement in the community. While jurisdictions are exploring different approaches, they serve similar populations who are experiencing the same challenges in their ability to age with dignity at home.
What the Guidance Says
HTERP asserts health systems will achieve a meaningful impact on aging-in-place outcomes by implementing continuous, integrated, team-based solutions that span traditional budget and governmental silos of health care and social care.
The panel’s statements reflect the complexity supporting older adults and their caregivers to age in place. HTERP advises the following:
- Foster a system that prioritizes integrated models of care to address current and future unmet needs and bridge gaps in and between services
- An integrated model needs to acknowledge the continuum of needs, be flexible to adapt to changing needs, and enable early intervention and continuity of care.
- Identify interventions that are aligned within an integrated model of care and are responsive to the unique and complex needs of older adults and their unpaid caregivers
- Interventions should be selected that are fit for purpose and adaptive based on a data-driven understanding of the local context and needs. Older adults and caregivers should be meaningfully involved in the co-creation of models of care.
- Ensure culturally appropriate and equitable opportunities for positive outcomes
- There is a need for coordinated funding models that minimize the challenges associated with siloed or fragmented structures. Interventions to support aging in place should be implemented with consideration of the inequities that disproportionately affect members of equity-deserving groups.
- Standardize core measures or indicators to guide data collection, analysis, use, and reporting that support robust evaluation and cross-jurisdictional comparisons of interventions
- Strategies that standardize and integrate clinical and administrative data collection, analysis, and reporting are needed to improve interoperability. An overarching data strategy should support needs-based planning.
Gathering a Range of Perspectives
The population of older adults in Canada is diverse with varying needs, risks, and cultural norms and values related to aging. To reflect this diversity in the development of our evidence review, Canada’s Drug Agency sought a broad range of perspectives. Roundtable sessions with pan-Canadian health system leaders, older adults and caregivers, and researchers highlighted areas and outcomes that may be the most relevant to decision-making.
We also conducted a summary of considerations from the perspectives of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples and communities, as derived from Indigenous-led, publicly available sources, and as reviewed by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peer reviewers.
Webinar to Highlight Expert Guidance and Implications
To launch the report, Canada’s Drug Agency will host a virtual panel discussion in partnership with Healthcare Excellence Canada. Dr. Jenny Basran, a geriatrician and HTERP member, will discuss the guidance and key findings. Andrea Piché, Senior Program Lead at Healthcare Excellence Canada, will explore how the evidence and guidance can support health and social service organizations in implementing promising practices to help older adults age in place.
Final Reports
Our suite of reports on aging in place are available on our website and include:
Last Updated : September 10, 2024