Most American Seniors Live With Chronic Disease

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Health is not just going down a list and checking off boxes, Steinman said. "There are a lot of more complex series of behaviors and interventions that can be much harder to measure but probably have a lot more impact on people's quality of life," he said.

Steinman believes that physicians are too often focusing on items they can quickly check off during an office visit. They may be too pressed by time and money concerns to deal with other aspects of a patient's life, such as diet and exercise.

"If doctor's pay is being based in part on their performing according to these checklists, and if their quality is being measured by these checklists, there is an incentive for them to do those things on the list, even at the exclusion of other things which may not be on the list but may be more important." Steinman said.

Anderson agrees that doctors alone can't hope to deal with implementing all the health recommendations older people need. "For example, we want to have the physician tell people they need to get physical activity, and then the community needs to help link people with the ways people can do that," she said.

More information

For more information on healthy aging, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.