Care providers, municipalities and health insurers CZ and VGZ want to reduce the number of fall incidents by sixty per cent. For this, they are betting on a combination of a wearable and app with AI and sensors, an exercise programme and connecting the social network and care providers.
On average, every five minutes a person aged 65 and over falls in the Netherlands, according to figures from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. 105,000 elderly people aged 65 and over visited the emergency room in 2021 after a fall. A total of 36,200 elderly people were hospitalised in that year after visiting the emergency room due to a fall. 5,209 elderly people died as a result of a fall.
An analysis by the institute also shows that the number of over-65s with serious injuries due to falls is rising. One explanation is the ageing of the Netherlands, which will continue in the coming years.
Elderly people are hard to reach
CZ reports that although falls are a considerable health risk for the elderly, reaching them with prevention programmes is difficult in practice. Because as long as things don't go wrong, many elderly people believe that the subject does not concern them. Care providers, municipalities and health insurers CZ and VGZ want to reach more elderly people with prevention programmes by combining a wearable, an app with AI and sensors, an exercise programme and connection with both the social network of elderly people and care providers.
The parties involved previously carried out a pilot project in Heeze-Leende. They are now scaling up the approach, with the parties rolling out the project in at least three municipalities: Valkenswaard, Cranendonk and Someren. The prevention programme is included in the self-reliance project 'Make Wrinkles', targeting the over-65s living independently. The programme has several components and consists of:
- digital skills training programme
- an exercise programme led by a (community) sports coach
- a social programme that lets participants' informal social networks work together with professional care providers
Wearable monitors whether participants are at risk of falling
Artificial intelligence (AI) and so-called assistive technologies (AT) developed by GoliveHealth play an important role in this. For instance, a wearable called GoLiveClip monitors whether participants are at risk of falling and monitors developments in this area. Users can view collected data themselves on their smartphones via the GoLivePhone app. GPs in the region and health insurer Coöperatie VGZ are involved in the project as partners.
Together, the parties want to arrive at an effective fall prevention programme for the elderly. This is urgent; in the Integral Care Agreement (IZA), the care sector agreed with politicians that health insurers will purchase such a programme before the year 2024. In practice, this means that health insurers must set out by 1 April how they intend to do this.
Healthy and Active Living Agreement
Besides the IZA, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, health insurers and municipalities are also working on a Healthy and Active Living Agreement (GALA). This agreement revolves around prevention across the board, of which fall prevention is part. In GALA, the parties involved are expected to lay down that municipalities must earmark money for prevention.
CZ and VGZ are both working on their own fall prevention programmes. The health insurers agree with each other to participate in their programmes. The insurers also point out that they have been offering fall prevention in their supplementary health insurance policies for years. In practice, however, very few elderly people make use of this. The insurers therefore want to make fall prevention part of the basic health insurance.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Photo: Sabine van Erp via Pixabay
