April 12, 2022. Washington, DC — Katie Smith Sloan, President and CEO of LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit providers of aging services, issued the following statement in advance of Older Americans Month, which begins May 1: 

“The theme of this year’s Older Americans Month, Age My Way, provides an opportunity to address two major challenges facing older adults: lack of awareness of existing aging services and a crisis in access to care. The good news is that many older adults have more quality choices than they may realize—from extra help around the house to communities offering specialized services. But today, too many barriers are keeping older Americans from being able to age their way. LeadingAge is launching a public service initiative and public policy push with the goal of ensuring older Americans and their families can get the care and services they need. 

New Public Service Campaign to Broaden Americans’ Awareness of Options for Care and Services

Too many older Americans simply do not know the breadth of services available that can help them age well—or they become aware of them only in crisis. That’s why LeadingAge is formally launching its Keep Leading Life public service campaign to coincide with Older Americans Month. The campaign, which includes TV, radio, digital, print and out-of-home creative, aims to raise awareness of care and lifestyle options that help older adults age their way—from living at home with help from a home care provider, enjoying activities and meals at an adult day center, moving to a life plan community or accessing 24/7 care in a nursing home. 

Public Policy Push to Confront the Current and Growing Crisis in Access to Many Options for Care 

America’s population is rapidly aging. Demand for services, from assisted living to home health care, will grow: half of those who turn 65 years old today will need some paid help with basic activities such as eating or using the bathroom. Yet access to care and services is threatened due to decades of underfunding and bad policy choices by elected leaders. This legacy of neglect, exacerbated by COVID, has fueled staff shortages that have left too many older Americans without care or stranded on waitlists, and too many families stretched trying to support them.

This crisis is unfolding now—and every month that our leaders wait to confront it will mean hardships for more older adults and more American families.

LeadingAge’s Suggested Policy Fixes 

Nonprofit and mission-driven aging services providers have developed a bold, all-of-government approach to get us out of this crisis—and ensure consistent access to quality care that older adults and their families deserve. Here’s what we recommend as a starting point:

• Compensate frontline staff fairly. This can be accomplished by Congress acting to provide increased federal “FMAP” funding for nursing home care and requirements that states adequately reimburse for the cost of care. 
• Expand the pipeline of applicants seeking meaningful careers in aging services, with training and apprenticeship programs modeled on initiatives that already exist in the Departments of Education and Labor. We need to offer career ladders to help people stay in the field and continue doing the work they love.
• Make immediate changes in immigration policy to allow foreign nursing staff hired by long-term care communities to get to the United States as quickly as possible.
• Address price gouging by temporary staffing agencies. The federal and state governments need to work to prohibit agencies’ ability to charge exorbitant rates to nursing homes whose revenues are principally drawn from Medicaid and Medicare.

These challenges, made worse by the pandemic, demand policy makers take action to ensure that older Americans can truly age their way during Older Americans Month and beyond.” 

LeadingAge communications staff can help connect reporters to national experts and local stakeholders to learn more. 

We represent more than 5,000 nonprofit aging services providers and other mission-minded organizations that touch millions of lives every day. Alongside our members and 38 state partners, we use applied research, advocacy, education and community-building to make America a better place to grow old. Our membership, which now includes the providers of the Visiting Nurse Associations of America, encompasses the continuum of services for people as they age, including those with disabilities. We bring together the most inventive minds in the field to lead and innovate solutions that support older adults wherever they call home. For more information visit leadingage.org.