Aging/Older Adults

In Missouri, as many as one in eight seniors are struggling with food insecurity. This new report provides in-depth analysis of the factors contributing to senior hunger in the state of Missouri. It also summarizes opportunities to help alleviate local senior food insecurity.

This issue brief discusses the pressing legal needs of older adults and the ways that coordinating health care, legal, and social services can improve their well-being. The brief examines three medical-legal partnership programs serving older adults and explores their impact, including the prevention of homelessness and the improvement of financial stability.

This study examines elder financial exploitation Suspicious Activity Reports (EFE SARs) filed with the federal government by financial institutions such as banks and money services businesses between 2013 and 2017. The goal of this report is to analyze the complex problem of elder financial exploitation and identify ways to improve prevention and response.

The Alzheimer's Association has published the 2019 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures report. This annual report offers insight into the burden of Alzheimer's and dementia on individuals, caregivers, government and the nation's health care system. The report provides an in-depth look at the latest national statistics on Alzheimer's prevalence, incidence, mortality, and costs. It also examines awareness, attitudes, and utilization of cognitive assessments among older adults.

This report explores innovations that have the potential to improve quality of life for Americans who live with physical or cognitive burdens due to aging or disability. The report identifies six opportunities for emerging technologies to help Americans live longer, healthier, and more independent lives. These six areas are: Key activities of daily living, Cognition, Communication and social connectivity, Personal mobility, Transportation, and Access to healthcare.

These profiles include promising practices that agencies use to conduct education and outreach to inform consumers about benefits, and to help aging and disability professionals connect clients to benefits, such as the Medicare low-income subsidies, SNAP, and LIHEAP. The tip sheets include practices about: engaging consumers through fun and interactive games; a system for providing comprehensive eligibility information; and tools to simplify benefits information for staff.

This paper focuses on how state-funded home and community-based services programs can support low-income older adults. It highlights promising practices that support maximum independence for low-income older adults and/or people with physical disabilities and their family caregivers. The paper explores programs across nine states, including Washington state’s emerging innovation: the Medicaid Transformation demonstration.

This fact sheet provides an overview of the safe use of prescription opioid pain medications. It discusses the process of safety reviews at the pharmacy, as well as the Drug Management Programs to help patients who are at risk for prescription drug abuse. It is important to note that safety reviews and Drug Management Programs generally don’t apply to those who have cancer, get hospice, palliative, or end-of-life care, or those who live in a long-term care facility.

This brief highlights the critical services provided by the Older Americans Act (OAA). It also reviews the current funding challenges the program faces in light of rising inflation and increased demand for services from a growing population of older adults. The OAA was last renewed in 2016 for three years and is up for renewal again in 2019.

This study analyzes the financial burden experienced by people who require long-term services and supports. The study analyzes medical and LTSS spending among older Medicare beneficiaries, particularly the costs of assistive devices and personal care. The results show that for medical services covered by Medicare, beneficiaries with a high need for long-term services spend more than $2,700 a year out of pocket on average, twice as high as those without such need.