Long Term Services and Supports

This report captures State Grantee accomplishments, highlighting the knowledge, commitment, ingenuity, and skillful stewardship and administration of resources. Through their work, state Lifespan Respite grantees provide evidence of the merit of the Lifespan Respite Care Program, and inform our path forward.

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.

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 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.

The National Academy of Social Insurance published a new issue brief about universal LTSS programs in Europe and Asia. This brief provides an overview of the existing approaches abroad to the provision of universal LTSS, and considers lessons from an in-depth case study of Germany.

ACL issued grants totaling $1.4B to help older adults recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, funded through the American Rescue Plan. These grants will help provide meals and nutrition services, support family caregivers, help older adults connect and engage with others to reduce social isolation, re-open senior centers, and help residents of nursing homes resolve complaints.

ADvancing States is incredibly pleased to publish this new primer on the Older Americans Act (OAA) – the seminal piece of legislation that established the “aging services network”. The report discusses the historical development, functions, and governance of the Act, its service programs, populations served, and funding. We hope that you find the report useful and share with your partners across the aging and disability networks.

The Alzheimer's Association has released this free online module on their website. This module will define dementia capable systems and dementia friendly communities. Then, it explores the role of public health and communities in contributing to dementia capable systems through support services and programs, workforce training, and dementia friendly communities. It will also cover support services available for people with dementia and their caregivers.

ATI Advisory, supported by the Robert Wood Foundation, has conducted research to create a package of recommended legislative and administrative reforms around LTSS and the caregiving workforce. The goal of the reforms is to increase access to HCBS, reduce the institutional bias in Medicaid, and create a strong caregiving workforce.