Speeches
2004
Remarks
of Josefina Carbonell Assistant Secretary For Aging Administration
On Aging To The N4a 29th Annual Conference, Changing The
Way We Do Business: Shaping The Future Of The Aging Network,
July 12, 2004
Omni Hotel at the CNN Center
Atlanta, Georgia
This text is the basis of the oral remarks of the Assistant Secretary
for Aging. It should be used with the understanding that some
material may be added or omitted.
Introductory Remarks
Good afternoon!
-
It’s a pleasure to be with you this afternoon at your
29th annual conference.
- I know from speaking with many of
you that the conference is off to a great start and promises
to provide you with many
new tools and resources to take back to your communities.
- I want to thank the
n4a Board of Directors and staff for inviting me to speak with
you today. I look forward every year to
this opportunity to update you on AoA’s agenda, and to
learn from you about the good work you are doing all across
the country.
- I especially welcome the opportunity to address
the theme for this general session: Changing the Way We Do Business:
Shaping the Future of the Aging Network. There are many challenges ahead
of us, but as you will see, I believe these challenges
present us with new opportunities for creating a better America for older
adults and their caregivers.
- Before I begin, I’d like to announce that we are in
the final stages of preparing for our National Survey
of Area Agencies
on Aging. My staff has been working with Sandy Markwood
and the N4A staff to design a survey that will provide
us with important
information about area agencies on aging that people
in Washington and around the country need to know.
- Too many people do not know
enough about the contributions of area agencies on aging, and
we want to change that.
This national survey, which will better document who you are, what you do,
and especially, who you serve, will help us change
that.
- The ability to demonstrate our effectiveness is critical
to ensuring that the aging network is able to compete with
other
priorities in Federal, state and local budgets.
- The client surveys we have conducted
have had very positive effects already. AoA and the aging network
are getting high
marks for performance in Washington.
- The Office of Management and Budget and Congressional staff
are impressed that 88 percent of caregivers can care longer
for the elders they love because of your services.
- They are impressed that
30% of the home-delivered meals and homemaker clients you serve
are nursing-home eligible but are
at home because of your services.
- They are impressed that the 38% of your transportation
clients rely on your services for virtually all of their local
mobility needs.
- They are beginning to see the results you are producing.
With the area agency survey, they will learn more about
you and how you achieve those results.
- We are designing the survey so that you
can answer the questions over the Internet, and we promise
not to take up too
much of your time.
- So please, watch for this survey, and help us and N4A obtain
more complete information about area agencies on
aging across the country.
Work in Progress
- We have accomplished a great deal since the passage of the
Older Americans Act.
- Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of
the Act has been the creation
of a nation-wide infrastructure – the Aging Services
Network – that
is grounded in the core values associated with individual
dignity and independence, and is unique in its capacity
to effectively
reach and serve large numbers of Americans in every state
and territory.
- We have built the foundation of this nation’s
formal system of home and community based services. And
we have
done it in
partnership with older Americans and their families.
- Because
of this foundation, we are positioned to serve as key partners
with other Federal, state, local and private entities
that serve older people. The work we are engaged in today
reflects the quality of the foundation we have erected.
- Right now we have the opportunity to play a key role in the
modernization of Medicare, which is perhaps the greatest contribution
this country has made to its older citizens.
- The Medicare Modernization Act provides
prescription drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries and offers
many more opportunities
for prevention services and health benefits.
- And yes, there
continues to be a lot of talk about the complexity of the new
benefits.
- We need to get to beneficiaries with accurate information
on what the Medicare Modernization Act is about – a
new Medicare with new benefits that will help those most
in need receive the
assistance they need.
- AoA is partnering with CMS, the Access
to Benefits Coalition and other public and private organizations
to support community
level efforts to educate and enroll low-income Medicare
beneficiaries in the drug discount card program.
- Towards this end, last Friday we issued an RFP for the AoA
and CMS Medicare-Approved Drug Discount Card Outreach Campaign.
- Through this campaign we will be making available up to $3.7
million to community-based organizations to provide Medicare-approved
drug discount card outreach, education and enrollment activities
targeted to low-income and underserved beneficiaries.
- Proposals
are due July 30 and awards will be issued in mid to late August.
The RFP is available on AoA’s web site
www.aoa.gov.
- We strongly encourage you to work with the
community-based organizations in your area to apply for this
funding either individually
or in collaboration with others.
- In addition to ensuring that resources go directly
to the community level, we also recognize that resources must
be provided
to ensure that national aging leadership organizations can provide the
level of support required.
- I am pleased to announce that we are providing support to
both n4a and the National Association of State Units on Aging
to enhance their ability to play a leadership role in this effort of critical
importance to older adults.
- The Medicare Modernization
Act provides the Aging Network the
opportunity to demonstrate the significant role we play
in quickly and effectively empowering older Americans to make informed choices
on matters of importance.
- And what is more important than
health care!
- This is just one of many opportunities that demonstrate
the important added value our network brings to our health
and long term
care system.
- Another is the Aging and Disability Resource Center initiative.
We are serving as the front-end entry point for the entire
system of care. Twenty-four states have now received Aging and Disability
Resource Center grants to develop streamlined access to
long-term care for people with disabilities of all ages. In nearly all
of those states, the State Unit on Aging has taken the
lead and is working with Area Agencies on Aging to pilot their Resource
Center programs. And AoA and CMS are committed to funding
additional states to create Resource Centers in FY 2005.
- We are also keeping
older people healthy longer and assisting them in their efforts
to stay engaged in community life.
- From the beginning, the
Aging Services Network has been focused on the delivery of
health promotion and disease prevention
services at the community level.
- With our evidence-Based Prevention Program, we are taking
health promotion and disease prevention to a new level and
positioning
the network as a nationwide vehicle for translating research
into practice.
- We are working with the Centers for Disease
Control, the National Institute on Aging, the Agency for Health
Care Research
and Quality, the nation’s leading foundations, and a group of
12 area agencies on aging and local service providers to
demonstrate
that our network can effectively deliver programs that
have proven to be effective in reducing the risk of disease
and disability
among the elderly.
- We are also working with our partners
to develop a special training program targeted at state and local agency staff
in both
the aging and health networks to help the rest of our network learn
about and implement evidence-based prevention programs
for the elderly at the community level. We plan to pilot the first training
program before the end of the year.
- I hope by now you have all heard about the You Can! Steps
to Healthier Aging Campaign, which will:
- Partner with at least 2 thousand community organizations
to reach at least
- 2 million older Americans in
- 2 years
to spread the message about the importance of improving
nutrition choices and increasing physical activity.
- We are counting on Area Agencies on Aging to become champions
of the You Can! campaign, to promote it, and help us
enroll.
- Our Network also affords us the opportunity to enhance the
ability of older people to easily access an integrated array
of health and long-term care services.
- Over the past year, AoA has focused
on both streamlining access to long-term care and supporting
sound health promotion
and disease prevention interventions.
- There are excellent models being developed within the Aging
Network of coordinated and integrated health and social supports
that have improved access to community-based options for older Americans.
A number of these models involve capitated financing
arrangements, including partnerships with managed care organizations.
- As this
approach to providing care continues to evolve, we look at
strategic opportunities for the aging network in
this arena.
- To help position the network in this area, later this month
I will announce a new grants program to support the development
of innovative models of managed care that include a
leadership role for our network.
- And while we launch these vibrant new initiatives,
you are continuing to help older people to remain in the community.
- This year, you are serving nearly 8 million seniors, over
3 million of whom have intensive care needs.
- Through the National Family Caregiver Support Program, you
are reaching out to over 8 million family members, and
are providing vital services to over 500,000 caregivers.
- You are strengthening
America’s families and we are
keeping impaired older people in their homes and communities
and out
of nursing homes.
Creating Opportunities
-
As we look to the future, we will continue to face major challenges
in our efforts to create a better America for aging citizens,
particularly the challenge afforded by the aging “baby
boom.”
- We turned challenges into opportunities when
we created this Network, and we can do it again through
vision, a focus
on our mission, and charging ourselves to move forward toward ever better
results.
- My vision for long-term care is to have a system in place
in every community that provides a meaningful range of service
options to older adults and their family members.
- This full range of service
options should allow consumers to
age in place in their homes and communities, and ensure
that those who reside in facilities receive high-quality care.
- I see us enabling
older adults to manage their chronic conditions effectively
and to maintain their independence.
- In my vision for long-term care, we will provide targeted
health promotion and disease prevention services that will
effectively
delay and prevent the onset of chronic conditions.
- I envision
a balanced approach to long-term care. We will provide innovative
and high quality home and community based services
at the same time that we work to delay and prevent the
chronic conditions that result in the need for those services.
- To realize this vision, we have a mission for AoA and the
Aging Network that is focused on those we serve. 1) We will
develop
comprehensive and coordinated systems of care for all older
Americans 60 years of age and older, and 2) we will help the nation prepare
for the baby boom generation.
- As the baby-boom generation
reaches retirement age, we will work with you to develop innovative
approaches to meet the changing
needs of older people.
- First, we must look to the baby boomers
themselves to help us shape the future. And what better opportunity
than our
own caregiver program to begin that work now.
- We must seek creative ways to engage
the baby boomers in helping us to make our long-term care system
a long-term living
system that older people will embrace as they age.
- Because of you and your colleagues, the groundwork for these
efforts is already in place. We have a strong service delivery
infrastructure that covers the entire country, and we have
a robust history of innovation in health and long-term care.
Conclusion
- The initiatives I speak about reflect that we have already
taken a strong step toward innovation in long-term care,
with projects such as the Aging and Disability Resource Centers, the Cash and
Counseling Next Steps Initiative, our partnership
with
the Federal Transit Administration, and the Evidence-Based Disease Prevention
Program.
- With these and initiatives like them, we
will make our vision of long-term living for older people a
reality.
- We all must continue to play a leadership
role in helping our nation respond to the
needs of the older population.
And we can’t
just do it in Washington. We need to do it in state
houses, in county and city halls, and, yes, in corporate
board
rooms and
small businesses.
- If we are going to retain our leadership
position in the future, we must demonstrate AND DOCUMENT the
value we are
adding to health and long life, and we must do it in a new way and in a new language
that inspires the funders and policymakers to invest
in our Network.
- We must do a better job of demonstrating the cost efficiencies
we can achieve in providing quality services. We
must produce and measure results.
- We must ground all of our programs and services in the best science
available.
- We need to carve out a clear role for the aging services
network in an environment that is increasing dominated by
managed care arrangements.
- As we move forward to meet these challenges, we must
never lose sight of our primary mission and core values that
are inherent in the Older Americans Act.
- If we keep our focus on the consumer
in the local community – I
am confident the Aging Services Network will not
only meet the challenges of today, but for the next forty
years
as
well.
|
|
Disclaimer:
This text is the basis of the oral remarks of the Assistant Secretary
for Aging. It should be used with the understanding that some
material may be added or omitted.
Assistant Secretary Josefina Carbonell addresses the 29th Annual
National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) Conference
in Atlanta, GA.
Assistant Secretary Josefina Carbonell presents n4a President
Bob McFalls and n4a CEO Sandy Markwood 'star' awards for their
efforts with older Americans. Also pictured is Constantinos I.
Miskis, HHS Regional Administrator, Region IV.
|