Every year in the United States, 3.6 million people become Medicare eligible. Their health journey tends to go smoothly until the last few years of their lives, when their care becomes fragmented. They may need prescriptions, appointments with various doctors, mobility equipment, and more, while also wondering how much time they have left.
Statistically, caring for an aging or seriously ill loved one becomes the responsibility of the family’s oldest daughter, regardless of her caregiving or health care experience. It can be overwhelming to figure out what kind of specialist to see next, how to discuss end-of-life goals, and find community services, like transportation, translation services, behavioral health, and non-skilled care for bathing, toileting and feeding. Jeremy Powell, founder and CEO of Acclivity Health, started the company after seeing this scenario play out firsthand.
“For me, it began with palliative medicine. I was part of that 75% of the country who couldn’t define what “palliative medicine” was until a friend of mine, who was a physician and a daughter, received a late-stage terminal oncology diagnosis about her father,” said Powell. “I got to witness up close what end-of-life care should be, and I realized that the need for palliative medicine was something we could predict.”
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