[High utilization of health care services by older adults].

Present discussions on health-care policy focus on fundamental restructuring, which will supposedly enable a more efficient provision of health care to patients with chronic ailments and also to elderly persons. Apart from increasing health care expenditure, the need for reform arises from demographically determined aging of the German population. A total of 54% of the 'GKV's' turnover in medical drugs is attributed to the health insurance agency's enrollees, who are aged 60 years and older, although they make up just 25% of total membership. Elderly men and women are therefore a significant group of health care users. In spite of its enormous political relevance, the provision of health care for the elderly has seen only marginal examination in Germany. This study on the "high utilization of health care services by older men and women" focuses on the examination of health care utilization by people aged 60 years and over. The following article will first introduce the study design. It will then review the literature on aging and health and on health care utilization by the elderly. The article goes on to present interim findings on the characteristics of the examined cohort and on ist consumption of medical drugs. The analysis is based on data regularly recorded by a North German health insurance agency. The examined cohort consists of 54% men and 46% women, whereby the average age is 68.3 years. The data analysis shows that 73,454 of the enrollees aged 60 years and older consumed 1,395,515 prescribed drugs in 2000. Each enrollee received an average of 19 medications annually; 5% of all those men and women examined received more than 58 medicines and were thus responsible for approximately a fifth of the volume in prescriptions. Of the drugs prescribed, 28.4% were for the treatment of cardio-vascular diseases, 13.9% for alimentary and metabolic disorders and 13.1% for the treatment of neurological diseases. Men and women aged 60 years and over are responsible for expenditure on medical drugs of 81,856,139 Deutsche Mark (41,926,298 Euro). On the average each enrollee generates costs of 1,114,00 Deutsche Mark (570 Euro), whereby every second one is responsible for an amount of less than 570 Deutsche Mark (291 Euro). A mere 5% of all enrollees is responsible for one third (32.1%) of the total drug expenditure. In closing the article will outline this research project's further course of action.