Providers are working with incredible ingenuity and commitment to find ways to care for older adults amid rising costs, staff shortages, and growing waiting lists—but this crisis cannot be the burden of providers alone.

A wide range of ideas, policies, and solutions are needed to ensure America’s older adults and families can get the care and services they need. We need policies that:

• Pay aging services professionals a living wage
• Offer incentives to retain and attract qualified staff
• Expand training and advancement opportunities
• Build dependable international pipelines of trained caregivers
• Enact meaningful, equitable long-term care financing

This crisis is unfolding now – and every month that our leaders wait to confront these challenges means hardships for more older adults, and more American families.