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.
Linda Couch
- 10-B. Policy Update: Innovations in Medicaid Service Delivery
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Policy Update: Innovations in Medicaid Service Delivery
How can LeadingAge members continue fulfilling their missions by offering Medicaid services, especially considering the challenges associated with participating in the program? This session will answer that question by exploring the challenges facing providers in the Medicaid program, including low reimbursement, program design variability across states, workforce shortages, and the need to comply with the Home and Community-Based Settings Rule. Find out how LeadingAge members are becoming innovators as they engage with the Medicaid program while providing home and community-based services (HCBS) through adult day, the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, and home care. Learn how these providers are advocating for policy changes that would make participation in Medicaid more viable. Discuss innovations in Medicaid service delivery and hear updates on policies affecting HCBS providers and the broader Medicaid program.
Sarah Daly
- 14-C. Methods for Expanding Your Workforce Pipeline
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
1:45 – 3:15 p.m.
Methods for Expanding Your Workforce Pipeline
Recent estimates suggest that the field of aging services will need an additional 1.2 million caregivers within the next 10 years to provide the services and supports that a growing older population will need. Given demographic shifts and the impact of COVID-19 on team members, providers of aging services have no choice but to explore every avenue possible to bolster their workforces. This session will explore a variety of methods for building the workforce pipeline, such as recruiting students and refugees, establishing and nurturing community partnerships, and implementing innovative staffing models. Presenters will review recruitment messaging for each audience, identify key influencers who can deliver those messages, and offer tips on the best way to talk to potential employers, as demonstrated by research conducted through LeadingAge’s Opening Doors to the Aging Services Workforce initiative.
Kenneth Daniel
- 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.
Thomas Davis
- 15-C. Policy Update: Affordable Housing Policy and Operations
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
1:45 – 3:15 p.m.
Policy Update: Affordable Housing Policy and Operations
The affordable senior housing sector just completed a year filled with ups and downs. Washington, DC insiders will be on hand during this policy update to help you make sense of it all. They’ll offer their take on housing development and preservation resources available from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), describe how LeadingAge is working to expand senior housing as a platform for service delivery, share opportunities for investments in multifamily housing, and discuss opportunities to offer residents greater broadband internet access. Speakers will offer updates on HUD’s Section 202, Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance, and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit programs. They’ll also provide a glimpse of future legislation and guidance, discuss appropriations and operations strategies, and explore HUD’s oversight of its housing portfolio and Congress’s oversight of HUD.
Diana Delgado
- 14-C. Methods for Expanding Your Workforce Pipeline
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
1:45 – 3:15 p.m.
Methods for Expanding Your Workforce Pipeline
Recent estimates suggest that the field of aging services will need an additional 1.2 million caregivers within the next 10 years to provide the services and supports that a growing older population will need. Given demographic shifts and the impact of COVID-19 on team members, providers of aging services have no choice but to explore every avenue possible to bolster their workforces. This session will explore a variety of methods for building the workforce pipeline, such as recruiting students and refugees, establishing and nurturing community partnerships, and implementing innovative staffing models. Presenters will review recruitment messaging for each audience, identify key influencers who can deliver those messages, and offer tips on the best way to talk to potential employers, as demonstrated by research conducted through LeadingAge’s Opening Doors to the Aging Services Workforce initiative.
Jim Dellapa
- 19-D. Making Sense of Infection Control Technology
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
3:45 – 5:15 p.m.
Making Sense of Infection Control Technology
The coronavirus pandemic focused attention on the importanceu2014and the challengesu2014of controlling the spread of infection in residential care settings. There are a host of technology solutions that can help aging services settings meet the highest standards of infection control. Unfortunately, the number, variety, and complexities of these technologies can be overwhelming for providers. Presenters of this session will explain the full range of available infection control technologies, including systems that address hand-hygiene compliance, surface/object cleaning and disinfection, air filtration and disinfection, staff and resident screening, contact tracing, and infection control reporting. Listen as providers describe how they implemented a technology-enabled infection-control strategy and the lessons they learned along the way. Get familiar with a new resource from the LeadingAge Center for Aging Services Technologies that will help you make sense of infection control technologies.
Rebecca Dosch Brown
- 3-A. Untangling Ageism and Ableism to Promote Inclusion
Monday, April 17, 2023
3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Untangling Ageism and Ableism to Promote Inclusion
Examples of the stigma associated with aging and disability abound in the field of aging services. Older adults may suggest that their peers shouldn’t bring walkers into a community’s dining room; people of all ages may underestimate the abilities of older adults and people living with dementia. Negative attitudes toward aging (ageism) and negative attitudes toward different physical and cognitive abilities (ableism) are closely connected and can affect our beliefs about growing older or living with a disability. Join this engaging exploration of ageism and ableism and discover ways to identify, understand, and then disrupt these common forms of discrimination. Consider how ageism and ableism affect our ability to promote meaningful inclusion and belonging in senior living communities.
Anne Doyle
- 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.
Robert Espinoza
- 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.
Jacqueline Evans
- 13-C. It’s Past Time to Think About Solo Agers
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
1:45 – 3:15 p.m.
It’s Past Time to Think About Solo Agers
All of us, because of choice or circumstance, may find ourselves without the support of a spouse, adult children, or close family members. Solo aging is a universal issue that LeadingAge members are in a unique position to be an important resource to solo agers, through social networks, programs, and services, providing them the security and support they will need in their later years.rnrnWhile some solo agers believe that congregate living is the preferred setting to meet their needs, there are also many solo who either prefer to age in their existing homes or are unable to afford market-rate senior living communities. Hear from the expert who wrote the seminal book on solo aging, along with a panel of diverse providers and older consumers on how your organization can empower solo adults aging alone to make decisions about their future and thrive while aging solo.
Nicole Fallon
- 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.
Jeffrey Farber
- 23-E. How Vulnerability Helps You Become an Authentic Leader
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
How Vulnerability Helps You Become an Authentic Leader
Being an authentic leader means allowing yourself to be vulnerable, even when you’re uncomfortable. Authentic leaders recognize their unique leadership attributes, but they also let go of the assumption that they must have all the answers. Instead, they exercise genuine curiosity in their approach to leadership, and aren’t afraid to call on others to fill gaps they cannot fill. How can you lead as your most authentic self in a way that is sustainable and brings you joy? In this session, a diverse panel of providers will help you answer that question by describing their own paths to authenticity and the important role vulnerability played in shaping their leadership style. Learn how your authenticity can benefit your aging services organization and how vulnerability can teach you the most important lessons of your career.