ADvancing States was founded in 1964 under the name National Association of State Units on Aging (NASUA).  In 2019, the association changed its name to ADvancing States.  Today, ADvancing States represents the nation’s 56 state and territorial agencies on aging and disabilities and long-term services and supports directors.

ADvancing States supports visionary leadership, the advancement of systems innovation and the articulation of national policies that support long-term services and supports for older adults and people with disabilities.

ADvancing States Mission

Our mission is to design, improve, and sustain state systems delivering long-term services and supports for older adults, people with disabilities, and their caregivers.

Learn more about what you can find on our website here.

ADvancing States:

Leads

We ADvance states’ interests in the design and development of comprehensive long-term services and supports systems by serving as the vehicle through which state agencies formally adopt federal policy and programmatic recommendations and by advocating on behalf of this collective voice, ensuring it is heard.

Innovates

We ADvance states by collecting, analyzing, and facilitating the exchange of information among states on innovative state policy options; program models; service delivery strategies; and management practices.

Collaborates

We ADvance states by fostering strategic relationships throughout the aging and disability networks, both across and within states, and at the national level, where we collaborate with partners, including the Administration on Community Living; the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and key national organizations.

Advocates

We ADvance states’ interests by serving as state agencies’ eyes and ears in Washington, D.C and to advocate on their behalf with congressional and executive branch officials and staff.   We provide state agencies with real-time information and analysis on federal policy, legislative and regulatory issues, including research documents and legislative summaries.  Two standing public policy committees comprised of state leaders in aging and disability policy guide our advocacy.

Informs

We ADvance states’ knowledge by providing states with high quality, accurate, non-partisan and timely information.

Friday Update--Our electronic weekly newsletter contains federal, state, and local policy updates, grant funding opportunities, publication releases, and more.  The Friday Update is a free service provided by ADvancing States that thousands of Washington leaders, state agencies delivering long-term services and supports, and local agencies now subscribe to and submit content for.

ADvancing States holds calls and webinars with members to share state innovations, provide updates and analyses, report study findings, and allow for state directors and their staffs to have a dialogue with each other.

The State Medicaid Integration Tracker is published monthly and highlights new Medicaid coordinated care activities from the previous month, including managed LTSS, dual alignment demonstrations, HCBS state plans and health homes.

Convenes

ADvancing States hosts two gatherings of state aging and disability directors each year. The spring meeting and Managed Long Term Services and Supports Symposium is designed for states and invited guests only to encourage in-depth conversations and problem solving on important aging and disability topics.  

The HCBS Conference brings together federal, state, and local policymakers as well as those who administer, manage, and deliver waiver and other HCBS programs to share innovative practices and policies. The HCBS conference is the only conference for state agencies that  focuses solely on improving state systems that deliver long-term services and supports for all ages and abilities.

Supports

The Home and Community-Based Services Clearinghouse provides over 3,500 online resources to help with policymaking, program development and research are available in the HCBS Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse offers resources and tools for research, policymaking, and program development to help expand HCBS.

ADvancing StatesiQ Learning Center provides online courses that can help strengthen your knowledge of the aging and disability networks. Courses provide overviews of systems and services that affect older adults and people with disabilities.

The National Information and Referral (I&R) Support Center provides training, technical assistance, and information resources to build capacity and promote continuing development of aging and disability information and referral services nationwide.

The HCBS Business Acumen Center promotes the development of business relationships between health plans and other integrated health services and community-based disability organizations. The Center supports training, technical assistance and a learning collaborative for disability organizations that want to cement their role in an evolving delivery system.

The National Core Indicators-Aging and Disabilities (NCI-AD™) is an initiative designed to support states’ interest in assessing the performance of their long-term services and supports (LTSS) programs and delivery systems in order to improve services for older adults and people with physical disabilities.  NCI-AD is a collaborative effort between ADvancing States and the Human Services Research Institute.  NCI-AD assesses outcomes beyond health and safety to address important long-recognized gaps in LTSS data, such as social, community, and person-centered goals.

The MLTSS Institute is a collaboration between Advancing States and national Medicaid health plans intended to drive improvements in key MLTSS policy issues, facilitate sharing and learning among states, and provide direct and intensive technical assistance to states and health plans.

ADvancing States contributes to shared success

• For state agencies: We provide a state-to-state exchange of information that informs and enhances policy and program development, reaching beyond departments focused on aging and disabilities.
• For federal partners: We deliver accurate, timely, national and state specific information vital to the interests of older adults and persons with disabilities and their caregivers.
• For the networks: We contribute to improved collaboration among partners, including other national associations, to improve results.
• For individuals: We enhance the ability to live healthy, safely and engaged in all communities with appropriate services, supports and opportunities.