Reducing Risks for Older Adults With an Interprofessional Community-Academic Partnership: A Case Study.

As the older adult population in the United States increases and diversifies, understanding and reducing risks for hospitalization and institutionalization can reduce burdens for this vulnerable population. Using evidence-based assessment tools to understand medical, psychosocial, pharmacologic, and functional status can aid an interprofessional team to best evaluate older adults at risk. By providing culturally competent care for a diversifying older adult demographic, attention to social determinants can improve health equity for this population. This article describes in a case study exemplar, how one such interprofessional collaborative practice program, Geriatric Outreach and Training with Care (GOT Care!) provides a comprehensive assessment for high-risk older adults, identifies and documents these risks, and shares recommendations and rationale with the primary care provider toward risk reduction and improvement of outcomes.