Early signaling and prevention of malnutrition through care integration for elderly people living at home: An Integrated Personalised Care Approach

IntroductionThis project aims at prevention of undernourishment of the elderly at home through a sustainable and cost-effective design of personalized preventive care with use of blockchain technology. Here through, the number of high-quality and meaningful life years for elderly people will be increased and thereby limiting the demand for care.BackgroundIn the Netherlands, elderly people live longer and longer at home. From 1 million (6% of the Dutch population) in 2000, the number of elderly people living at home increased to more than 3 million (17%) in 2017. This number will further increase to 4,5 million (25%) in 2040. Estimates show that 15 to 25% of the elderly that receive care at home is malnourished. Causes are a reduced thirst-tingling and appetite, loneliness, disease and bad teeth. In most cases, elderly people are not aware of becoming undernourished and the risk of corresponding infirmities. Consequently physical resistance drops, resulting in an increased risk of diseases and complications. Moreover, both social participation and experienced quality of life drop whereas the demand for care and ditto health care costs increase sharply. Elderly people living at home alone are the largest group at risk. Preventing undernourishment among this population is crucial.Aims and objectivesThe aim of this workshop is to get familiar with using information technology combined with financing methods for integrating health care services.Target audienceHealth care professionals specialized in preventive care and/or e-health technology and/or finance of (integrated) care.LearningsAfter this session, the participants have knowledge of the disruptive potential of blockchain technology in the integration of care. Moreover, the participants gain new insights on how to finance innovative integration of care.FormatThe format of this workshop is as follows:a) Introduction of the research project – 15 minutes – Roelof Ettema.b) Discussion of possibilities and constraints of blockchain technology based care substituting care delivered by care professional in different care contexts – 30 minutes discussion in small groups, followed by 10 minutes plenary wrap up – Wil van Erp, Roelof Ettema and Dennis van Kerkvoorden.c) Brainstorm on how to finance the proposed preventive care integration – 20 minutes plenary brainstorm – Wil van Erp.d) Conclusion and closing words – 15 minutes – Roelof Ettema.Preferred length90 minutes