Aging/Older Adults

To celebrate Older Americans Month, ACL has published their 2020 Profile of Older Americans report. This report highlights the demographics and experiences of older adults throughout the last year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report captures trends in workforce participation, diversity, mental health and economic disparities across the community.

Dual eligibles for Medicare and Medicaid have higher levels of chronic pain and use prescription opioids to treat pain more often than those eligible for Medicare only, putting them at a higher risk for opioid misuse or addiction. This brief presents examples of multimodal pain management options that clinicians can consider for treating pain among dually eligible individuals. The resource describes various treatment options, key evidence, and prescribing considerations for each option.

This report is an update to NAC's research series, Caregiving in the U.S., conducted roughly every five years. The 2020 update shows that the number of family caregivers in the United States has increased by 9.5 million from 2015 to 2020. The report has also found that the general health of family caregivers has declined in the last five years. Read the full report to learn more. Dowload is available in Spanish.

This resource outlines state examples of accountable care organizations’ incentives that can be used to advance health equity. This resource is a product of Advancing Health Equity: Leading Care, Payment, and Systems Transformation, a national program based at the University of Chicago, operated in partnership with CHCS and the Institute.

This report, by the University of Massachusetts at Boston and Community Catalyst, shares information collected from family caregiver listening sessions. The sessions were intended to give family caregivers the opportunity to communicate their challenges, needs, and suggest recommendations for services, supports and policies. Findings from the sessions cover topics including emotional and financial stress, caregiving education and training, workplace flexibility, and tax policy change.

Community Care Corps has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for innovative local models in which volunteers assist family caregivers or directly assist older adults or adults with disabilities with non-medical care to maintain their independence. The purpose of the project is to establish, enhance, or grow volunteer programs for family caregivers, older adults, and people with disabilities.

CFPB released a new resource for older homeowners who have a reverse mortgage loan. The guide, You have a reverse mortgage: know your rights and responsibilities, provides reverse mortgage borrowers with information on their ongoing obligations with their Home Equity Conversation Mortgage (HECM), the most common type of reverse mortgage loan. Topics include how a borrower may pay-off the loan, what happens after the borrower moves out of the home or dies, what heirs need to know, and more.

In our capacity as a sub-grantee to the National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC), we were pleased to invite SLTCOs to a webinar on May 13, 2021. Regrettably, the past few years have been scarred by various disasters including wildfires, severe winter storms, and COVID-19 pandemic. This webinar was for SLTCOs, to inform thinking and planning around disaster mitigation and management. Attendees heard from leaders from two states on their recent experiences responding to disasters.

On May 13, 2021, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the HHS announced the creation of a National Advisory Committee on Seniors and Disasters (NACSD). The NACSD will be implemented by ASPR and will provide guidance to HHS regarding preparing for, responding to, and recovery from disasters with a focus on the unique needs of older adults. HHS is currently accepting applications from individuals interested in serving on this committee. The deadline to apply is June 12.

To honor May as Older Americans Month and prepare for World Elder Abuse day on June 15, 2021, CFPB has released a series of free resources to support financial caregivers and inform older Americans about their options.