AgeOptions awarded USAging grant to improve integration of social care services for older adults and caregivers with healthcare organizations

Funding will support infrastructure improvements to expand nonprofit's community care hub and improve health equity, access and outcomes for more people

OAK PARK, Ill., June 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- AgeOptions, a leader in serving and advocating for older adults, announces its Community Care Hub (CCH) known as Illinois Pathways to Health has been awarded a $468,000 grant from USAging's Center of Excellence to Align Health and Social Care (COE) to expand its service offerings for older adults and caregivers to hospitals and managed care providers.

AgeOptions, a nonprofit based in Oak Park, is an Area Agency on Aging that promotes better health outcomes and quality of life so older adults can live their lives to the fullest and remain in their homes for as long as possible. The grant will bolster Illinois Pathways to Health's contracting efforts and ability to streamline access to and delivery of social care programs and services (including health promotion, falls prevention, caregiver support and nutrition). AgeOptions has recently joined forces with the Coordinated Care Alliance, the statewide network of Care Coordination Units, to offer an even more comprehensive statewide set of services. Funds will support both organizations in their collective work as a Community Care Hub.

Illinois Pathways to Health is one of 20 CCHs nationwide selected through a highly competitive process. AgeOptions will use the funding to put in place the partners, products and data systems needed to sell its services directly to healthcare organizations and reach more people.

"Historically our work has been seen as separate from healthcare. Now there's a growth of recognition that the work we do directly impacts the health of individuals," said Diane Slezak, President and CEO of AgeOptions. "This funding allows us — having cultivated this network — to deliver services and be the one-stop shop for contracting and network involvement for healthcare organizations to ensure their members are receiving the full breadth of service opportunities to live their healthiest best lives." 

Rob Mapes, Director of Program and Community Support at AgeOptions, says that the new health care focus on addressing health-related social needs plays to the strengths and purpose of the service providers working with Illinois Pathways to Health.

"The aging network has been connecting older adults and their family and informal caregivers to services and support for 50 years," Mapes said. "We're ready to engage health care providers and payors to expand our work to serve their patients and members."

Mapes added that even if the money the agency received from the federal government were doubled, it still wouldn't be enough to reach all the people who could benefit from services.

"By contracting with health care providers and payors, we expand our ability to achieve our mission. The health plan members will have better health outcomes and the managed care providers can save money. It's a win-win-win."

The grants are supported by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through a cooperative agreement totaling approximately $12 million over a three-year period. The funding is part of the COE's effort to support the development and expansion of sustainable, high-functioning aging and disability CCHs and their networks of social care programs and service providers. The COE will provide the selected CCHs with technical assistance and multilevel capacity-building efforts that promote whole-person care through the alignment of health, public health and social care systems. The COE, supported by the U.S. Administration for Community Living, will support community care hubs in their work to assess and address individuals' health-related social needs and promote whole-person care.

"CCHs provide critical administrative and operational supports for networks of Area Agencies on Aging, Centers for Independent Living and other community-based organizations providing services addressing the health-related social needs of individuals with complex care needs and their caregivers," said USAging CEO Sandy Markwood. "This funding will bolster the vital work CCHs do in their communities every day to align health and social care to meet people's needs." 

Alison Barkoff, who leads ACL, pointed out that health care providers increasingly are prioritizing screening for health-related social needs such as food insecurity, housing instability, unaffordable utilities and lack of transportation. Aging and disability networks are critical to connecting people to the services and programs needed to address them.

"It has been truly amazing to see the speed at which this work has advanced, thanks in large part to our network's creation of community care hubs, which are establishing partnerships and contracts between community-based organizations and health care organizations across the nation."

About AgeOptions
AgeOptions advocates, plans, develops and funds programs and coordinates a network of community-based senior service agencies to ensure an effective and efficient system of service delivery. Support is provided through the Older Americans Act, Illinois General Revenue Funds, local funds and individual contributions. In 2023, AgeOptions and its partners served 230,976 individuals in 130 communities within 30 townships that have diverse populations of more than 602,017 older adults. AgeOptions has served older adults of suburban Cook County and their caregivers as an Area Agency on Aging since 1974. For more information, please visit www.ageoptions.org, Facebook and YouTube pages.

About USAging
USAging is the national association representing and supporting the network of Area Agencies on Aging and advocating for the Title VI Native American Aging Programs. Its members help older adults and people with disabilities throughout the United States live with optimal health, well-being, independence and dignity in their homes and communities. For more information, visit usaging.org and follow @theUSAging on Facebook, X and Instagram.

Media contact: Shawn Taylor, media consultant, at 312-371-6260 or email [email protected], or Deb Bukovy, marketing specialist, at 708-383-0258, ext. 368, or email [email protected].

SOURCE AgeOptions