Abstract
The aging population presents a growing challenge to healthcare systems, necessitating urgent adaptations to meet the complex needs of older adults. Existing healthcare models often lack integration and fail to provide patient-centered care, leading to fragmented services, suboptimal outcomes, increased hospitalizations, and escalating healthcare costs. This narrative review aims to systematically identify and categorize the key barriers to effective healthcare implementation for the elderly, evaluate current healthcare models and their limitations, and explore evidence-based strategies to improve care delivery. A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science for studies published from 2000 to October 2024. The identified barriers span multiple domains, including patient-related challenges such as low health literacy and socioeconomic disparities, disease-specific factors like frailty and multimorbidity, provider-related constraints such as inadequate geriatric training, and system-wide deficiencies in primary care infrastructure and policy support. To address these challenges, this review explores emerging solutions, including risk stratification tools, integrated healthcare models, digital health innovations, and artificial intelligence-driven interventions. By providing a structured analysis of barriers and solutions, this review aims to inform policy and healthcare practices that enhance elderly care, reduce hospital readmissions, and optimize resource utilization in aging populations.