We can do a lot more, Butler says, with outpatient care.

Question: What will our hospital system look like when the last baby boomers retire?

Robert Butler: In the first place, I think we shouldn't have this many people in the hospitals. I think we can do much more outpatient care and we have already seen that happen quite wonderfully. I mean cataracts are now like an hour in the outpatient department and then to your home. So, I think we are going to have to do much more care that keeps people at home and not in the hospital.

Topics: Ideas for better health as one ages

Robert Butler: They better go to work on their diets. Since the reason this is the fattest country in the world is because of the baby boomers. They are fat and they are still smoking, at least half of them are and they aren’t saving their money and they are not exercising despite the notion that baby boomers that are out there are physically exercising, they are really not. So, they have a lot to do and they could do it, but it is going to be tough for them to suddenly change their lives [Inaudible] the oldest ones, 12,000 [Inaudible] that will become 62 today.

Recorded on: Mar 17 2008