AHRQ reports that according to the most recent data, from 2003-2007, rates of preventable hospitalizations declined for older adults age 65 and over. In 2007, adults 65+ represented one-third of U.S. hospitalizations.

"Improving the quality and effectiveness of outpatient services and disease management may reduce the demand placed on the system by the aging population by reducing potentially preventable hospitalizations," according to Elizabeth Stranges and Bernard Friedman, authors of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's December 2009 statistical brief (#83).

Preventable hospitalizations include those as a result of diabetes, chronic respiratory conditions, chronic cardiac conditions, and acute conditions.

The authors noted that drug therapy is an example where people may forgo treatment when costly to them, resulting in the need for hospitalization. This is why Medicare Part D was enacted, to provide drug coverage to seniors to reduce acute episodes.

The agency found that the rates of hospital stays for angina and diabetes are both down considerably in the study period. Among older adults, hospital stays for angina without procedures fell by almost half; the rate of stays for diabetes decreased by 8 percent.

Read the statistical brief from AHRQ's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project:
http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb83.pdf

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