Speakers at the 2023 LeadingAge Leadership Summit
Our speaker line-up is designed to share valuable expertise within our field and offer new perspectives on issues that affect us all.
Moniqua Acosta
- 8-B. Supporting Leadership Diversity in Aging Services
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Supporting Leadership Diversity in Aging Services
Inequities within the long-term services and supports (LTSS) workforceu2014and a lack of diversity among mid-level managers and senior leaders of LTSS organizationsu2014have existed for many years. This session will highlight LeadingAge efforts to change this reality. Through the HBCUs-LTSS Careers Initiative, LeadingAge is collaborating with UNCF, the nation’s largest minority education organization, to engage historically Black colleges and universities, other minority-serving institutions, and providers of aging services in partnerships to improve racial and ethnic diversity in mid- and upper-level positions at LTSS organizations. Another initiative, called the Leaders of Color Network, facilitates career advancement for emerging, mid- and senior-level leaders of color in aging services. Presenters will share details about these two initiatives and describe activities, planned for 2023, that are designed to support leadership diversity in our field.
Todd Adams
- 4-A. Policy Priorities: Technology Access
Monday, April 17, 2023
3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Policy Priorities: Technology Access
Technology continues to play an essential role in how we deliver timely long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) to older adults. Access to care-enabling technologiesu2014including interoperable electronic health records, telehealth, and affordable broadband connectivityu2014has expanded considerably over the past few years, thanks to regulatory flexibility, emergency authorizations, and new funding opportunities. Yet, the LTPAC sector still struggles with technology access challenges. This session will examine those challenges and will explore needed legislation and regulations that could ensure technology can continue to enhance support service delivery models. Discover the steps LeadingAge has taken to advocate for technology-related policies and learn how providers from different care settings can advocate for the technology priorities most relevant to them.
Gregory Alexander
- 9-B. Using Technology to Achieve Quality in Nursing Homes
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Using Technology to Achieve Quality in Nursing Homes
In 2022, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released a groundbreaking report containing recommendations to improve nursing home quality. In addition to focusing on such topics as person-centered care, workforce, and financing, the report’s recommendations called for the adoption of health information technology (HIT) in all nursing homes. During this session, you’ll hear three members of the Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition describe their work to advance the NASEM report’s technology recommendations. Presenters will report on their progress developing a five-year roadmap for HIT adoption in nursing homes and will share strategies for tying HIT adoption to quality measures, establishing HIT processes that enhance the collection of each resident’s health goals, and measuring how each resident’s care aligns with those goals. Learn how these processes can be established in nursing homes and other care settings.
Melissa Andrews
- 7-B. Future-Ready: Increasing a Board’s Strategic Competency
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Future-Ready: Increasing a Board’s Strategic Competency
The rapid pace of change in the senior living environment makes it necessary for an organization’s leaders to continually think ahead so they are ready to respond to evolving opportunities and challenges. Boards of directors have an important role to play in positioning their organizations for the future. Board members fulfill that role by actively participating in strategic thinking and working hard to build strong partnerships with the organization’s executive team. Panelists in this session will explore structures and practices that support the development of a strategically focused board. They’ll provide practical suggestions for increasing a board’s competency to do strategic work and will identify factors that will influence the success of that work. Session participants will have the opportunity to share practices that have helped them increase their boards’ strategic focus.
Don Backstrom
- 22-E. Embracing Meaning and Purpose in Senior Living
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Embracing Meaning and Purpose in Senior Living
The quest for meaning and purpose doesn’t end when your employees come to work or when older adults move to your senior living community. That’s why it’s critical to make this quest a fundamental component of your organization. This session will help you explore a range of approaches you can use to weave meaning and purpose into the fabric of your organization, including intergenerational engagement, lifelong learning, and a citizenship model that invites every community member to contribute in their unique way. You’ll discover how a focus on meaning and purpose can help address social isolation and disrupt ageism. Presenters will help you identify how your organization already embraces meaning and purpose, and how you can find new opportunities to add meaning and purpose to the lives of residents, clients, and team members.
Katy Barnett
- 5-A. Policy Update: Medicare Home Health and Hospice
Monday, April 17, 2023
3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Policy Update: Medicare Home Health and Hospice
2022 was a big year for Medicare home health and hospice, and 2023 promises to bring even more change to this important sector. Whether you have a robust program of home-based services or are considering branching out into this service line, you’ll want to attend this policy update and discussion. Policymakers will join LeadingAge members to discuss pressing issues affecting home health and hospice providers, such as benefit oversight, reform and expansion, reimbursement, telehealth, and workforce. The session will also feature LeadingAge members who have partnered across the continuum to offer hospice or home health services. Discuss how hospice and home health benefits are evolvingu2014and should evolve. Explore how LeadingAge members can use our collective resources to serve older adults in the place they call home.
Jon Baselice
- 30-F. Policy Update: Workforce
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Policy Update: Workforce
LeadingAge member organizations are posting job openings that attract no applicants and turning away potential residents and clients because there are not enough employees to provide the care those older adults need. Turnover is increasing across aging services organizations and leadership positions are vacant. What’s the solution to these growing workforce challenges? During this session, members of the LeadingAge Policy Team will consider how federal action to expand the pipeline of workers and increase immigration could help address workforce challenges in the field of aging services. Policy Team members will review LeadingAge’s workforce policy priorities for the 118th Congress and their hopes for action from Congressional committees with influence over workforce policy. Explore the role that immigration reform could play in stabilizing the aging services workforce. Learn how to make sure policymakers understand your workforce concerns.
Mark Beggs
- 21-E. Diverse Approaches to Expansion and Growth
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Diverse Approaches to Expansion and Growth
As 2023 begins, nonprofit providers of aging services find themselves in a dynamic era of expansion and growth. Some single-site communities are planning second campuses, while others are adding to existing campuses. Some residentially focused organizations are expanding into home and community-based services (HCBS), while those already in the HCBS marketplace are growing their service lines to reach new consumers. During this session, a diverse panel of providers will discuss these and other opportunities for expansion and growth. Panelists will also explain their reasons for pursuing expansion and growth opportunities, including their desire to serve more older adults, keep their organizations strong and financially solvent, and benefit from the added security that comes with a larger client base, a diversified menu of service offerings, and the resulting economies of scale.
Fred Bentley
- 29-F. Strategies for Shaping Medicare’s Next Decade
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Strategies for Shaping Medicare’s Next Decade
Managed care plans are becoming the dominant source of payment for the care provided to Medicare beneficiaries. As a result, however, many providers of aging services are receiving inadequate reimbursements while also feeling the pressure of heightened expectations and increased administrative burdens. This session will offer an overview of the managed care-related challenges outlined in a 21-page comment letter that LeadingAge sent to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in 2022. Panelists will review the changes that LeadingAge and its members believe must be made to Medicare and Medicare Advantage and Special Needs Plans to ensure provider survival and beneficiary access to care. LeadingAge members will be on hand to describe their experiences in managed care programs and to explain how they are adapting to the growing number of accountable care models. Hear how policymakers view the future of Medicare and accountable care.
Adam Berman
- 24-E. How Poverty May Be Affecting Your Workforce
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
How Poverty May Be Affecting Your Workforce
Direct care workers play a vital role in helping aging services organizations fulfill their mission to care for a growing older population. Yet, despite their importance to our field, these caregivers are often overworked and underpaid, and more than half live in or near poverty, according to recent research. This session will examine how poor job quality drives poverty among direct care workers and how it affects both their health and financial well-being. Gain an understanding of the challenges facing the direct care workforce and discover how providers and policymakers are making a difference in the jobs and lives of team members with low incomes. Hear from LeadingAge members who are addressing the disparities that team members experience by offering food and financial assistance programs, access to health clinics, and financial stewardship classes.
Juliana Bilowich
- 4-A. Policy Priorities: Technology Access
Monday, April 17, 2023
3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Policy Priorities: Technology Access
Technology continues to play an essential role in how we deliver timely long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) to older adults. Access to care-enabling technologiesu2014including interoperable electronic health records, telehealth, and affordable broadband connectivityu2014has expanded considerably over the past few years, thanks to regulatory flexibility, emergency authorizations, and new funding opportunities. Yet, the LTPAC sector still struggles with technology access challenges. This session will examine those challenges and will explore needed legislation and regulations that could ensure technology can continue to enhance support service delivery models. Discover the steps LeadingAge has taken to advocate for technology-related policies and learn how providers from different care settings can advocate for the technology priorities most relevant to them.
Bill Bojan
- 26-F. Leveraging Data and Tools to Navigate Unprecedented Risk and Opportunity
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Leveraging Data and Tools to Navigate Unprecedented Risk and Opportunity
The viability of aging services organizations depends on the ability of their leaders to navigate the growing complexity, shifting markets, and economic uncertainty of our current operating environment. Successful leaders can address these challenges by integrating data metrics and diagnostic insights into their core systems for strategy development and execution, risk appetite and taking, and operational alignment, clarity, and focus. This session will drive home the necessity of unlocking the right data to help you understand key industry trends and your own internal performance, and tools to carry out better and faster decision making. Presenters will help you identify key insights, industry analytics, and diagnostic tools that are most relevant to the health of your organization. Learn how to establish decision-making processes that are rooted in data. Discover how this shift could improve organizational outcomes today while establishing a path for future success.