Why Every Senior Needs More Than Just a Doctor and Power of Attorney
Navigators
5 minutes
Aug 22, 2025
Key Takeaways
A PCP and POA are not enough to manage day-to-day healthcare needs.
Healthcare Navigators help fill the gap with proactive and coordinated care.
Seniors with navigators have fewer hospitalizations and better health outcomes.
Social factors like transportation, food access, and housing impact 80% of health outcomes.
Medicare now covers services like Aviator Health that address these critical needs.
Having a Primary Care Provider and a Power of Attorney used to feel like enough. But after decades in senior care, one thing has become clear: these roles don’t actually manage care. What’s missing? A dedicated Healthcare Navigator: someone who knows the system, knows your loved one, and knows how to keep small problems from becoming emergencies. Here's why every senior needs one.
Recognize the Limits of a PCP and POA
After decades working as a hospital case manager and home health liaison - and personally helping my own grandparents navigate the healthcare maze - I’ve come to understand a hard truth: having a Primary Care Provider (PCP) and a Power of Attorney (POA) is simply not enough. While these are critical pieces of a senior’s safety net, they only scratch the surface of what’s needed. What’s missing for most families is a dedicated healthcare navigator and advocate: someone whose sole job is to anticipate, coordinate, and guide care long before a crisis happens. Companies like Aviator Health are changing the game by providing exactly that: personalized, proactive support that prevents avoidable hospitalizations and promotes aging with dignity.
Understand the Role of a Healthcare Navigator
Let’s be clear: every senior should have a PCP who knows their medical history and a POA who can step in when decisions must be made. But too often, families realize too late that neither of these roles actually manages care. The PCP may be overloaded with appointments and rarely has insight into what’s happening at home. A POA may not even live in the same city. That’s where a healthcare navigator - like those at Aviator Health - becomes essential. They bridge the gap between doctor visits and daily life, catching red flags early, coordinating services like home health or physical therapy, and making sure nothing falls through the cracks.