Primary care's untapped role in elder mistreatment identification and response

Even though a recognized need, there remains a paucity of evidence on how to best screen for and address elder abuse. The 2025 U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) noted insufficient evidence to support mistreatment screening, and there is no standard screening protocol for elder mistreatment among outpatient primary care settings. Further, screening and management efforts are limited by several structural and clinician-level constraints. Multiple qualitative studies of outpatient clinicians suggest a struggle with time-limited encounters, competing clinical demands, difficulty identifying the caregiver(s), cultural and linguistic barriers, fear of damaging the patient-physician relationship, unfamiliarity in working with Adult Protective Services, and uncertainty around next best steps following identification.