Insights from Healthcare Providers at Four Age-Friendly Health Systems Underscore Flexibility and Value of Using FAIR Health Tools with Older Adults and Family Caregivers 

NEW YORK, June 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Shared decision-making tools from the national, independent nonprofit FAIR Health can help support decision making between older patients and their healthcare providers at the clinical point of care. This and other insights are highlighted in a new FAIR Health brief, Shared Decision-Making Tools for Older Adults in a Clinical Setting: Insights from a Learning Exchange with Healthcare Providers. The brief summarizes key takeaways from a recent discussion hosted by FAIR Health with clinicians from four Age-Friendly Health Systems clinical sites that are collaborating with FAIR Health to use and help evaluate FAIR Health's shared decision-making tools (combining clinical and cost information) and other resources in clinical settings. This effort is part of a national initiative, generously funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation. Access the brief here.

FAIR Health's groundbreaking collaborations with the four clinical sites—Penn Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Emory University and University of Rochester Wilmot Cancer Institute—are part of its grant-funded effort to educate older adults and family caregivers about shared decision making—the discussion between patients (and caregivers) and providers to decide on treatment and care, balancing clinical evidence with patients' preferences and values—through its free shared decision-making tools and resources available on FAIR Health for Older Adults (fairhealtholderadults.org). The practice aligns with "what matters" to patients, a pillar of the 4Ms framework of age-friendly care.

In March 2025, FAIR Health convened an online Learning Exchange session with clinicians at the four participating sites to facilitate a discussion of their experiences with implementation at the clinical point of care of the tools and resources freely available on FAIR Health for Older Adults. Takeaways from the discussion are summarized in FAIR Health's brief. Among the key insights shared by the clinicians during the session:

• Shared decision-making tools can clarify the implications of different treatments. Clinicians thought early introduction of the tools was beneficial and helped in reaching treatment decisions. They believed it might even benefit patients to have the shared decision-making tools ahead of time, before their appointments.
  
  
• Family caregivers and care partners find the Alzheimer's disease shared decision-making tool and resources especially valuable. Caregivers discovered resources and information of which they were previously unaware (such as the ability for caregivers to receive pay for caregiving). Caregivers and care partners also noted that the decision aids helped them to assess the value of Alzheimer's disease drug therapies and to work with clinicians to formulate a plan for future needs.
  
  
• The flexibility with which the tools can be applied at different points in the clinical workflow greatly adds to their usefulness. Participants noted that the tools can be applied in various clinical settings, by different healthcare professionals, at different stages of the treatment process and at home with family members. The availability of multiple formats, including paper and electronic versions, further increased their utility.
  
  
• The shared decision-making tools' cost comparison feature is especially useful in determining cost estimates and cost-effective options across different treatment pathways. This was particularly true if the tool was introduced early in the course of treatment planning for elective procedures, such as hip replacement surgery.
  
  
• Patients with serious diagnoses, such as a cancer diagnosis, initially may not be interested in using the shared decision-making tool. However, clinicians noted that given the high cost of treatment for such conditions, cost conversations should be held early in the process so the patient is prepared.
  
  
• Printed toolkits are valued by many patients. Those who were less comfortable with technology or who did not have ready access to the internet appreciated the paper toolkits, which include checklists of questions to ask their healthcare provider and educational articles relevant to older adults.

FAIR Health will publish a full report on the critical insights gleaned from this grant-funded initiative by early 2026. This initiative builds on a prior planning grant awarded by The John A. Hartford Foundation and prior grant-funded shared decision-making initiatives, during which FAIR Health developed a set of condition-specific shared decision-making tools that combine clinical and cost information. These tools are available in English and Spanish on the free, national website FAIR Health for Older Adults, developed with funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation. FAIR Health concurrently is implementing a New York City-based program geared for older adults, funded by The New York Community Trust.

Rani Snyder, acting president at The John A. Hartford Foundation, said, "These insights show that shared decision-making tools can help clinicians deliver age-friendly care that focuses on what matters most to patients. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, these tools are flexible and can be used by diverse types of clinicians in a range of care settings and at different times in the care process."

Access the brief here.

To access the free tools, educational content and resources for older adults, visit FAIR Health for Older Adults. To see the Spanish version, please click here.

To learn more about using the shared decision-making tools with their patients, clinicians can contact Gee Kim, FAIR Health Clinical Liaison, at gkim@fairhealth.org.

The decision aids are not intended to be medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. They are intended to provide information to help users engage in shared decision making with health professionals.

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center and University of Rochester Wilmot Cancer Institute are participating clinical sites. Nothing herein is to be construed as an endorsement by OSU, by Penn Medicine or by Wilmot Cancer Institute of any service or product.

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About FAIR Health
FAIR Health is a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. It is dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of commercial healthcare claims data, which includes over 51 billion claim records and is growing at a rate of about 4 billion claim records a year. FAIR Health licenses its commercial data and data products—including benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics and market indices—to commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D, which accounts for a separate collection of over 51 billion claim records; FAIR Health includes among the commercial claims data in its database, data on Medicare Advantage enrollees. FAIR Health can produce insightful analytic reports and data products based on combined Medicare and commercial claims data for government, providers, payors and other authorized users. FAIR Health's systems for processing and storing protected health information have earned HITRUST CSF certification and achieved AICPA SOC 2 Type 2 compliance by meeting the rigorous data security requirements of these standards. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish, which enables consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offers a rich educational platform on health insurance. An English/Spanish mobile app offers the same educational platform in a concise format and links to the cost estimation tools. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.

Contact:
Rachel Kent
Executive Director of Communications and Marketing
FAIR Health
646-396-0795
rkent@fairhealth.org

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SOURCE FAIR Health