Staying Home, Staying Healthy: The Case for Aging in Place

In this episode, we explore the vital topic of aging in place with Jeff Barteau, CEO of Homestyle Direct. Jeff shares insights on how seniors can maintain independence and improve their quality of life by staying at home, emphasizing the crucial role of nutrition to include access to medically tailored meals.

We discuss the benefits of aging in place, such as community connection and cost-effectiveness, supported by a Forbes survey showing 77% of people aged 50+ prefer this option. Jeff highlights the importance of nutrition in managing chronic conditions, which affect 93% of seniors in the US, and how meal providers like Homestyle Direct integrate into the healthcare landscape to offer whole-person care.

Tune in to learn about the economic advantages of aging at home, where support services can cost about one-fifth of institutionalization. Don't miss this informative episode that offers practical advice on supporting seniors' independence and well-being.

SeniorLivingGuide.com Podcast sponsored by GoGo Grandparent & TransMedCare Long Distance Medical Transportation

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Transcript

Darleen Mahoney [0:51 - 1:05]: And today we are joined by Jeff Barteau, CEO of Homestyle Direct, a company that provides medically tailored home delivered meals developed by dietitians that are offered through Medicare Advantage and Medicaid. Thank you so much for joining us today, Jeff. 

Jeff Barteau [1:06 - 1:08]: Thanks, Darlene. It's great to be here. 

Darleen Mahoney [1:08 - 1:44]: Yeah, absolutely. So we're going to talk about meals that matter and advocating for those that want to age in place at home. And we're going to really build the case for aging at home because it is such an important thing for those folks that really want to maintain that lifestyle within their own home or to live with a caregiver that can offer that additional support. So let's start with, I want to call it the big picture. So why is aging at home so important? 

Jeff Barteau [1:45 - 2:48]: Yeah, it's a great question, Darlene. You know, most older adults overwhelmingly prefer to age in place. It's about maintaining their independence, staying connected with their communities and preserving a sense of control. Obviously, all of us want to remain around our neighbors, our family, our local community, churches, things of that nature. And also important to note, it's more cost effective both for people and if you're on a government pay type healthcare program, it's more cost effective for those programs as well. In fact, Forbes just recently did a survey on this this year and it identified people 50 plus ages 50 and over actually prefer 77% of the time to age in place or age at home. So we know it's a benefit that, that people like to take advantage of. It improves quality of life, provides people greater independence, they have their social network. Like I mentioned, it's more cost effective and obviously there's some potential health benefits there too. We see people thrive very often when they age in place versus being in an institution. 

Darleen Mahoney [2:50 - 4:39]: Yeah, I know that we've talked in the past with different panelists about some of the challenges of making those big moves. You know, all the downsizing, the social aspects of making new friends, making new connections with people, really kind of starting over in some different ways, which, you know, sometimes that's, that's not an option and those, those things kind of have to take place. But really if you want to be able to age in place, really understanding the benefits of those and advocating for yourself when talking to your family if there is some objections, because sometimes it is having that conversation with family and sometimes they really want you to move into community. So coming to the table with, you know, advocating for yourself and having those battle lines drawn and saying this is why it's better for me to stay at Home age in place, or, you know, finding some caregiver support of at some point. So one of the things that you really your, your strong suit is, is the nutrition side. So I know that one of the things that a lot of people have concerns about when they have a loved one that is aging in place is are they going to eat right. I know that as seniors get older, they may not cook or they're not eating properly, or they're eating, you know, crackers and they call that a meal, or they're just eating fast food or they're just really not properly eating because they're not cooking for anyone anymore. And it's just easier for them to do that. So talking about food a little bit, what, what, what aspect of the food part is important when you're aging in place? 

Jeff Barteau [4:40 - 6:17]: Yeah, thanks for the question. You know, nutrition is kind of one of the top three things that I think are important for people to have if they're gonna age in place. We talk to adult children of people that are 65 plus that we serve all the time. And you're right, their concern is, is mom or dad going to have the right nutrition, the right food? But they also often need personal care services, transportation to and from, you know, medical visits, doctor's offices, and we really think that's the trifecta of getting someone all the resources they need to remain at home. So nutrition, meals, of course, that's what we do. We think that's critically important. But in addition to that, to avoid social. Social isolation. Isolation, you need the ability to get people to and from events. And on the medical or health care side of the house, you certainly need to get them to and from the doctor. So non emergency medical transportation is one of those elements that's critically important. And then as I mentioned, the, you know, the ability to have personal care services helping people with house cleaning, bathing, those types of activities are usually really important for people to be able to maintain their independence and live at home. And we think meals, personal care, and medical transportation are all required for a lot of people to be able to maintain their independence. And we find that that's what families that we talk with are most concerned about as well. So it's not just meals, it's not just nutrition, it's those three items that seem to be more critical for people to age at home, especially as they get up in years. 

Darleen Mahoney [6:18 - 6:49]: Yeah, absolutely, I agree with that. There's multiple levels of concerns that you have with your folks when they're aging in place, and there's different opportunities that different providers can help fill those needs and it's just finding the right ones to do that. So when you're really kind of looking at those different needs that those folks are looking for. So what are your recommendations when they're kind of looking to fill those needs? 

Jeff Barteau [6:51 - 7:41]: Yeah, I think, you know, often people are on when you, when you're 65 years of age or older, you're usually taking advantage of Medicare, Medicare Advantage or Medicaid often. And so you have an insurance provider that is, that is has available benefits often to take advantage of to provide those non emergency medical transportation services or personal in home care services, home care type offerings as well as medically tailored home delivered meals like the ones that we serve. And so I think it's about reaching out to them. Often there's case management that is there to help navigate and take people through the different services and benefits that are offered to them. But those care navigators, those case managers, those social workers are sort of key pieces of the network to make sure people are aligned with the benefits that will help them age in place. 

Darleen Mahoney [7:42 - 7:59]: Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things that I think is important that I think people don't really think about is just the reduced stress level of being in your own home as one of the potential health benefits as well as the overall well being. 

Jeff Barteau [8:01 - 9:05]: No, I totally agree. I think one of the things we most often hear is that if people are going to transition into an institution, they lose their ability to have a pet. Pets, you know, widely known. Right. That they reduce stress. And so having the ability to have a pet in the home, especially if you're living alone, I think is not just a stress relief, but it certainly has a bunch of other benefits, safety and otherwise. So you know, those are, that's something where just, just that alone. Not to mention having neighbors that you know well, people that will come to visit more frequently. One thing we don't talk about nearly enough is health care in rural markets. And people that live in rural markets, if they have to leave that market and go to another to get to an institution or a nursing home, a more populated area, they're often moving away from friends and family and you know, others that they, that they depend on in the community to move to this new setting that they've never been to before, that creates stress in and of itself. 

Darleen Mahoney [9:05 - 9:44]: Yeah, yeah. And stress and anxiety with our seniors is typically not a good, it's not a good thing for anyone. But I do think that it takes a higher toll on seniors as they're aging. It can definitely make a difference with their cognitive abilities and things like that. So it's something you really definitely want to take away away from. And then I also think that sometimes when seniors have that stress and anxiety, it gets overlooked and people don't give it the same types of value that they would on a younger person than they as they do older people with stress and anxiety, which I think is somewhat unfortunate. 

Jeff Barteau [9:44 - 9:45]: Sure. 

Darleen Mahoney [9:45 - 11:24]: Yeah, for sure. So let's talk a little bit. I know that we talked about, you know, the social isolation, definitely mobility limitations. So there are definitely options on the mobility side that I think we're really starting to see different resources coming to light for seniors for the mobility side. I know that one of our sponsors of this podcast is called Go Go Grandparent and they provide transportation, such as, similar to Uber, but specifically for seniors for just every day getting to where they need to go. And then also you also have that home care opportunity as well, finding home care solutions that provide that as well. I know that was something that my mom took quite a bit advantage of when she had home care services, just being able to go to the dollar tree and do some shopping, that type of thing. So it was really great. As well as some of those housekeeping, you know, things that she needed on a daily basis. So some of those things are definitely available. It's just finding the needs that are the solutions that you need and where they're at. So there's all kinds of different opportunities when you are aging in place. But I know that one of the things that, you know, we just kind of jump started the whole podcast with was the power of nutrition, because that really can be what keeps you healthy and able to continue to age in place. Because if you're not staying healthy, it's going to affect everything moving forward and being able to, to maintain that health. 

Jeff Barteau [11:25 - 12:47]: Absolutely. I think we're starting to learn more and more that food is very foundational to our health. I think everybody's always known that. But it's had a spotlight kind of on it recent on its on it recently. You know, Those that are 65 plus too, in the US have, you know, a lot of chronic conditions that they're managing. So diabetes, heart failure, renal disease, things like that, all of which, you know, sort of companies like ours have solutions for.93% actually of people over 65 in the US have a chronic condition of some sort that they're managing. And that's, that's at least, you know, 1, 79% have two or more chronic conditions that they're managing over the age of 65. And so it's not just enough to have services offered or food provided. It's the right food, it's the right nutrition, and it is foundational to health. We hear stories from our members every day about the improvements that they're experiencing and the benefit they get by having kind of dependable nutrition that's always provided. Again, going back to that rural healthcare sort of element of our work, it's really, really important that we get sustainable sources of food to people that are in rural markets and also food that's consistent with the chronic illnesses that they're challenged with. 

Darleen Mahoney [12:48 - 13:25]: Yeah, I know that the medically tailored meal has been such a hot topic and I know we've talked about it with some of your other team members here on the podcast and there is so much interest in it and we can see it from how many people are listening to these podcasts. So continuing to get this information out is so important on our end as well as I know that on your, on your team members end as well. So I really appreciate everything that you've shared with us. Um, so do you have a real world example of someone that maybe had diabetes or something like that where it's made a difference in their life? 

Jeff Barteau [13:26 - 14:41]: Sure. As I mentioned, we have, we have members call us all the time. Obviously I can't reveal specifics about the individuals, but. Oh, sure, I could give you for instances. So, you know, we have a client who was pre diabetic or is pre diabetic and they were able to regain their weight after an operation. And when they regained the weight, it was more about them not just adding weight, but also managing their blood sugar while they were adding weight back after an operation. They were able to do so actually come off status of being pre diabetic by use of our meals. And it's just an incredible thing that sort of the foundation of food can do if you have the right food for the right condition and, and you're eating it on a consistent basis. So yeah, examples like that, that's one that comes to mind. But there's several of those types of things that occur when you have the right nutrition. Specifically when you're battling chronic illness and in this case recovering from an operation, which is kind of the double whammy. Right. Where you're managing a chronic illness and you're also trying to regain weight after you've lost strength from an operation. Those things are challenging. So that's just one application for medically tailored meals. 

Darleen Mahoney [14:42 - 15:18]: You're absolutely right. I can't imagine coming off of a major surgery like that and needing to make specific meals that meet specific criteria. I feel like that would be something that would be very challenging and you definitely have to have somebody helping you to do that. And that's not clearly always available to most people. So what a blessing to be able to have meals provided to you that's going to help accomplish those goals during recovery. Absolutely, yeah. So how do meal providers kind of fit into the broader healthcare landscape? 

Jeff Barteau [15:20 - 16:36]: Yeah, so as I mentioned, there's a spotlight on food now as it relates to the foundation that it sets for our health. We're considered a non medical service, but we're also part of the care team. So we partner with health plans, case managers, social workers, support staff, all across different states, whether it be area agencies on aging and otherwise, to provide whole person care. So it's really about total social determinants of health, nutrition and meals being a big element of that. We also provide a lot of data delivery, consistency, Right. Adherence and member satisfaction information back to these health plans and back to these payer systems to be able to provide better and more accurate services. I think the area of data development and providing information back so that we can provide a better and better service is a key part of what we're doing at Homestyle Direct. And I think our industry could use a lot more of that. We can become a better part of the care team if we have the data to back up utilization of our meals, the benefit that results, those types of things which we're, we're working on doing every day. 

Darleen Mahoney [16:37 - 16:38]: So it's more than just food. 

Jeff Barteau [16:39 - 18:23]: Absolutely. So it's about engagement. Right. So we talk to our members every month. More often we talk to them. Oh yeah, usually talk to them more frequently than monthly. But it's about engagement. It's about building trust and being proactive with people's care. So we're often not only engaged with some clients or we're often engaged every week with many of our clients. We engage our members via phone calls, text messages, emails, and like I mentioned, it's usually often more than once per month. Our clients engage with us pretty naturally too. We find that when you're the food provider, you're the meal provider. People want to be on the phone, people want to talk. We obviously give people the option to change their meal selections whenever they'd like to. But they also often call us for sort of nutritional advice and counsel. And those that need a higher level of nutritional advice and counsel get access to a service that we provide called medical nutrition therapy. So that's a process by which you have a one on one therapy session with a registered dietitian nutritionist. You talk about your specific goals, your specific challenges. Often the benefits that we are able to offer to people is a meal a day or two meals a day. People are obviously eating more than that. So they need coaching and sort of counsel therapy, if you will, to select the right foods outside of the meals that they might get provided from a service provider like ourselves. So that medical nutrition therapy is a really key element to making sure that people, you know, are not just eating right for the one or two meals a day, but eating right for their conditions, their specific requirements all the time. 

Darleen Mahoney [18:24 - 19:13]: Yeah, I feel like once you start eating the meals and you start seeing the difference in your life, first of all, people like to talk about food. I think Instagram at some point brought that about with all the, you know, Instagram able pictures and things like that. People really became, you know, enthralled in eating and food and it became, you know, really just a thing. People like to talk about food, people really like to eat. And if it's good, that's even better. But if it's providing a life changing, medically altering type of thing in your world, you want to learn more about it and you want to talk about it. And seniors do, you know, especially if they're aging at place, they may have some isolation, they may be a little bit lonely, like to get on and probably do like to have conversations with your team about the food that they're eating and the difference it's making in their life. And I think that that's fantastic. 

Jeff Barteau [19:14 - 19:31]: Yeah, it is the reason why we do what we do. When we get that positive feedback, it's shared across the country company because it does just reinforce the reason why we're here. Our mission and it's why this work is so enjoyable, is to see the benefits that people yield from it. 

Darleen Mahoney [19:32 - 19:46]: Absolutely. I just absolutely love that. So I know that we talked a little bit about that. You shared a little bit of a story. I know you have some incredible client stories, some powerful stories. Is there one in particular that has stuck with you? 

Jeff Barteau [19:48 - 21:25]: Yeah, there's a couple of them. The one that always comes back to me is a female elderly client we had. She lives alone, as many of our customers do, on a fixed income. Medicaid recipient could not cook for herself. She had arthritis pretty severely. And so cooking at all was a challenge and doing other daily living activities was a challenge. And we started her on our meal Delivery and she was losing weight as a result of not being able to ultimately cook for herself. She gained weight fairly significantly. She also was diabetic and her A1C dropped somewhat significantly. Her primary care provider was really happy with the significant difference they saw not only in the lab numbers, but also in the weight that the woman had gained. To be able to again manage those two things collectively, it also gave her a little bit of a new lease on life. There was a generation of energy that this woman got that she described to us, which was really powerful. You know, her, like many others, kind of feel when they start receiving fully prepared nutrition direct to their door, it takes away a lot of the transportation challenges, a lot of the meal preparation challenges, and they can just enjoy the food and get better. And that's. That, that's a really sort of, you know, big piece as to why we do what we do. And it's, it's really satisfying to hear stories like that. That's just, that's one of many. But our customer service team gets to enjoy stories like that on a weekly basis. 

Darleen Mahoney [21:25 - 22:31]: Yeah, I don't think people realize how, and maybe they do, how important that food is to our overall, even mental health. If you are feeling good from healthy food and even not even for me, just as a general person, without any of these medical, without any medical issues, if I have eaten crappy for the day, I'm going to feel crappy. But if I've eaten some healthy food, I actually feel better. I feel more engaged, I feel like I have more energy, I want to do some things, I'll be more energetic, I'll get more done, I'm more light hearted. And in all honesty, it's a game changer in even just a day. So if you're living a consistent life where you're not getting what your body needs to be healthy, it's gonna affect your overall just mental, emotional health. It's not even just the whole physical side. 

Jeff Barteau [22:32 - 22:33]: Yeah, no, I agree. 

Darleen Mahoney [22:34 - 22:48]: Yeah, so it's big. You know, we started off the conversation big picture. So it really is big picture on the nutrition side that it affects different parts of your life. And I think some people don't always think about that part. 

Jeff Barteau [22:49 - 23:09]: Yeah, I think the word we often hear used is energy from our, from our members. I feel energetic. I feel, you know, people often use the word better as well. But, but energy always seems to be the one that comes to mind for me. And that's really what we're trying to provide to people, is positive to be able to do the things they need to do to live independently. 

Darleen Mahoney [23:10 - 23:38]: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, living independently, you want to be able to get out a little bit, maybe take your dog for a walk, maybe do a little bit of gardening. I'm not talking about going out and getting on a roller coaster, but doing the things that you wake up in the morning and you think to yourself, you know, I'd like to get out and maybe plant some new flowers. It's spring. I'd like to be able to do that. You want to be able to have the energy to do the things that you desire to do in your head, that you're able to physically do. You want to be able to accomplish those goals? 

Jeff Barteau [23:40 - 23:42]: Absolutely. That's exactly right. 

Darleen Mahoney [23:42 - 24:25]: There you go. So I said it. So one of the things I think that seniors specifically, and I know caregivers, are seniors, and I know that this is something that I think about and I struggled with even as I had my father with dementia and he was aging, is one of the things that I think kind of gets in our way is just policy and advocacy for our seniors as they're aging. So what do you think needs to change in policy to make aging at home more viable for our seniors? Because I do think there needs to be some changes

Jeff Barteau [24:28 - 25:46]: Yes, we continue to kind of prove the benefits of having sort of prescribed food to folks. There's a need for broader adoption and coverage. So often people that get access to these benefits are in a Medicare Advantage program that has a supplemental benefit offering for meals or they're on Medicaid and it's. And it's a waiver offering that they're able to gain access to for food. Insecurity is often the reason. So there's a certain portion of the population that gets access. I feel like we should broaden that access and broaden the coverage under health plans, whether that be through Medicaid at the state level, Medicare Advantage plans. And most importantly, if we could expand this benefit is a more traditional Medicare benefit, certainly a much larger percentage of the population would be able to take advantage and sort of reap the rewards associated with getting meals like the ones that we provide. I think overall, better integration of social determinants of health and payer models, Healthcare payer models is important. And as we're establishing, food is a part of healthcare, and so we need to treat it that way and include it in all of our major sort of benefit packages from a health perspective. 

Darleen Mahoney [25:47 - 26:11]: Yeah. And to be honest with you, and you. And you may agree with me, I don't know. We'll kind of see. I feel like if you're, you will save money on healthcare and overall healthcare. If you start with the food, feed the body and you will see less people walking in with other healthcare issues, I think you will actually find that insurance companies will save money. 

Jeff Barteau [26:12 - 27:16]: Yeah, I think, you know, societally we're always looking for