How Community Partners Can Help Seniors Have More Healthy Days, A Recap of the National Medicare Advantage Summit

By Dr. Gordon Chen

Recently I had the pleasure of moderating a panel at the first annual National Medicare Advantage Summit hosted by the Better Medicare Alliance. Our lively discussion ("Integrating Medical Care with Community-Based Partnerships in Medicare Advantage and How Wellness Programs Can Increase Member Engagement”), covered how community organizations can work together to improve seniors’ health.

Few people know more about running community programs in a way that improves senior health care than my fellow panelists: Tim McNeill, Director of Clinical Integration at the YMCA; Donato Tramuto, CEO of Tivity Health (Silver Sneakers); and Ellie Hollander, President and CEO of Meals on Wheels America. Together, we discussed how health care providers can facilitate meaningful partnerships that build on each other’s strengths.

Our panel spoke about the important role Medicare Advantage has in catalyzing these organizations. For example, 130,000 Medicare Advantage beneficiaries receive meals through Meals on Wheels. Ellie shared how a Medicare Advantage plan that partnered with Meals on Wheels saw a reduction of $1,000 per patient. 

As I heard this, I was reminded of a Spanish phrase I use often with my patients: La salud entra por la boca, which means “health enters through the mouth.” I spend a lot of time with patients talking about the importance of nutrition and how it affects their total health. On the other hand,  I recently read that almost one in five seniors are food insecure or without adequate access to nutritious and affordable food. The service Meals on Wheels provides is vital.  Millions of seniors do not have adequate nutrition.

Additionally, Donato said Silver Sneakers, the largest U.S. fitness program for seniors, is available as a benefit under Medicare Advantage. There is overwhelming evidence that exercise promotes long-term health – from improving heart health to reducing falls. 

And Tim described how the YMCA has a suite of programs focused on improving wellness in seniors, many of which are available through Medicare Advantage. The YMCA’s tens of thousands of locations are deeply rooted in communities, so their work helping seniors navigate Medicare benefits and community health resources are exceptionally powerful and is promoting health on a broad scale. 

Programs like Meals on Wheels, Silver Sneakers, and the YMCA are reaching seniors every day. When we work together, we can create a multiplier effect that ripples throughout the population. For example, at ChenMed we offer Silver Sneakers programs right in our Senior Medical Centers. If a Silver Sneakers trainer notices a change in a senior’s mobility, he or she lets our primary care team know immediately. This helps ChenMed prevent falls and catch health issues early.

This panel, and the National Medicare Advantage Summit as a whole, was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about all of the people who are dedicated, as we are at ChenMed, to helping more seniors have more healthy days. I think Donato summed up our partnerships best, when he said that in this work, community organizations’ relationships are not transactional, they are transformative.