The ageing population is increasing the financial strain on the United States health care system, and society may be underinvesting in the place-based determinants of elderly health. The leading cause of injury for older Americans is falls in the home, resulting in more deaths than any other injury, as well as a significant portion of Medicare spending. While medical interventions have yielded mixed results, home safety renovations have been shown to be a cost-effective strategy to enable senior citizens to “age in place” safely, with the health care savings outweighing the upfront investment. Conservative projections demonstrate that Medicare can undertake this investment in home safety renovations with less than 2 percent of its budget, while breaking down the silos that unnecessarily encircle health and housing.

人口老龄化正在加剧美国医疗保健系统的财务压力，并且社会可能在对老年人健康的基于地点的决定因素方面的投资不足。造成老年人受伤的主要原因是摔倒在家里，造成的死亡人数比其他任何伤害都要多，而且医疗保险支出很大一部分。尽管医疗干预取得了好坏参半的结果，但家居安全翻新已被​​证明是一种具有成本效益的策略，能够使老年人安全地“就地养老”，而医疗储蓄却超过了前期投资。保守的预测表明，Medicare可以用不到预算的2％进行这项用于家庭安全装修的投资，同时可以消除不必要地包围健康和住房的孤岛。