Care for elderly compromised?

Providers within the country's health-care system are too focused on obtaining the latest moneymaking technology at the expense of addressing treatment for chronic diseases and senior citizens' need for better long-term care options.

That double-barreled assessment comes courtesy of the husband-wife team of Dr. Robert L. Kane (M.D.) and Dr. Rosalie A. Kane (Ph.D.).

The Minnesota-based Kanes will be guest speakers today at the University of Utah Center on Aging's inaugural two-day research retreat.

Since 2005, the center has grown from five employees to 70 staffers who concentrate their efforts on research into health care for an aging population. The center's executive director, Mark Supiano, noted that Utah, with a life-expectancy rate higher than most states and one of the fastest-growing overall populations, will rank first in having the most rapidly growing aging population.

The retreat, Supiano said, is a way to develop interdisciplinary programs by bringing together experts with separate but related skills — like the Kanes, who, in a short interview, touched on several different topics related to health care.

For example, finding a way to track the early signs of a loss of control over any given disease that comes through hospitals has taken a back seat to a drive to possess the latest devices that medical specialists can use to bring revenue and prestige to their employers, according to Robert.

"That's where the money is being made," he said.

Meanwhile, the number of new practitioners for chronic-disease care is declining as more and more doctors specialize, he said. To adjust, the industry is shifting toward using nurse practitioners to provide primary care for people who suffer from, for example, chronic heart failure, diabetes, dementia and arthritis.

Robert's lecture also will touch on how reliance on the pharmaceutical industry continues to expand as the cost of drugs that patients can expect to need for a lifetime stays high or continues to rise.

"We'll have to see whether the industry can self-police itself," he said.

If not, he would advocate that the government step in to somehow regulate the cost of drugs to consumers.

Both Kanes focus much of their research and observations on the country's aging population, which both agree is being cared for increasingly by nurse practitioners who specialize in geriatrics and who work with the support of a pharmacist, social worker and a back-up physician.