Primary Education Topic:
Mental Health & Aging
Other Education Topics:
Aging in Community
Health & Wellness
Healthcare & Aging
Between the ACA, innovative strategies to create a new type of workforce, and technology, we have a chance to redesign healthcare to adequately address physical and mental health.
The approaching demographic wave of aging Baby Boomers will bring unprecedented growth in the number of Americans with mental health or substance use disorders, all of whom will need services over the coming decades. There are approximately 5.6 to 8 million Americans ages 65 and older who have a mental health or substance use disorder (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2012). By the year 2030, this number is projected to reach 10.1 to 14.4 million older Americans (IOM, 2012).