Thought Leadership

A white paper from Doug Wenners, Grouper’s Chief Executive Officer

Social isolation among older adults in America is more than just a problem; it’s a crisis. Currently, 1 in 5 older adults is socially isolated, and 1 in 3 reports feeling lonely.

By Doug Wenners, Chief Executive Officer

For decades, the health care system has embraced the philosophy of “manage what you measure.” Hospitals and health plans measure hospital admissions and length of stay. The public health community measures the rate of premature deaths, cancer rates and opioid overdoses.

By Doug Wenners, Chief Executive Officer

Last week, I accompanied a close friend to his first chemotherapy appointment to treat a recently diagnosed cancer. As he met with the doctor, I sat in the waiting room and watched as a stream of patients walked to the registration desk. Many of them had something in common: they were accompanied by a friend or family member. The rest came alone. Sitting in the waiting room brought back memories from 30 years ago. Back then, I was the patient.

By Doug Wenners, Chief Executive Officer

The man was surrounded by walls of garbage.

Bags and bags of trash filled the living room of one of the newest patients of the home-based medical practice I founded in 2019. It lined the walls of every room, creating a hulking, plastic forest of rot. The nurse practitioner who first visited this patient had assumed he was a hoarder. But the patient soon explained that he did not want to live among all this waste.

By Phil Stead, Chief Growth Officer

We all know that physical fitness is fundamental to maintaining a healthy body. If the scale starts to tip in a direction you don’t like, you might start exercising and dieting. But what do you do if your relationships start to drift? If your social fitness scale tips toward isolation and loneliness, how do you get back into “shape?”