WASHINGTON — State securities regulators are teaming up with doctors to fight elder investment fraud by training medical professionals how to identify vulnerable seniors.
The program will launch in 22 states, plus Washington and Puerto Rico, but will need more federal funds to expand, experts said Wednesday. The pilot program, started at the Baylor College of Medicine last year, helps teach doctors and social workers how to identify vulnerable seniors.
About 7.3 million older Americans — one out of five citizens over the age of 65 — have been victimized by financial abuse, according to a survey earlier this year by Investor Protection Trust, a Washington-based nonprofit that promotes financial education. Read more about the survey on the IPT’s site.
The initiative is funded by fines collected in investment-fraud cases in participating states, which contributed a total of $712,200 to start the project, said Don Blandin, chief executive of the Investor Protection Trust. Participating states include California, Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
“It is a growing national problem that’s only going to get worse,” said Robert Roush, director of the Texas Consortium Geriatric Education Center at Baylor College of Medicine, during a conference call.
During a testing period in Texas, educators trained health-care providers and social workers, as well as neuropsychologists, on how to spot red flags in their daily interactions with older patients.
If a patient has recently experienced social isolation or shown poor financial judgment, such as changing a will, health-care providers participating in the program can refer that person to geriatric professionals for further testing, and, if they suspect fraud, can alert state securities regulators.
A penchant for risk-taking
When Roush started to investigate elder investment-fraud cases two years ago, he and his team found that neurobiological changes in the brain have an influence on the elderly that makes them more willing to take risks than they previously were.
His research team found that people older than 71 who have experienced mild cognitive impairment were four times likelier to make financial errors than those without the condition.
People over 65 are projected to represent 20 percent of the total U.S. population by 2030, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Geriatrics in general are so poorly funded in this country,” Roush said. “The new Congress can be quite problematic in this cost-cutting era that they’re entering.”
Fewer than 7,000 geriatricians are currently serving 40 million older Americans and the number is declining, Roush said.
Tips to avoid fraud
Lori Schock, director of the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, offered these tips for avoiding fraud: