Elderly man lying on floor after fall
On May 22nd, Sen. Angus King of Maine held up an $11 bath mat on the Senate floor and stated, “Send out 20 or 30 million of these and that $100 million cost of falls would fall significantly.” His proposal is for Medicare to cover basic bathroom safety equipment, such as grab bars and nonslip mats, arguing that the math is straightforward: prevention costs far less than hospitalizations and rehabilitation. As of today, Medicare covers the cost of a broken hip, but not the equipment that might have prevented injury.
The senator’s instinct reflects a broader and underappreciated reality I see far too often in the emergency department. Trauma in our elderly population is not simply an isolated accident – it is often the smoke signal that divides a life into “before the fall” and “after the fall.”
How Serious are Fall-Related Injuries in the Elderly?
Dr. Kalpana Shankar
