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UMass Boston and LeadingAge Announce LTSS Research Center

Data and Reports, News and Updates

A first-in-the-country research center is being established thanks to a partnership between LeadingAge and the Gerontology Institute at UMass Boston.

According to an announcement from UMass, the LTSS Center @UMass Boston will “combine the expertise of applied and academic researchers with the unique perspectives of providers and consumers of long-term services and supports (LTSS). The center will conduct research aimed at transforming the way LTSS are financed, delivered, and experienced by older adults and their families.”

LeadingAge has posted an FAQ with details on the research center and a press release from the Gerontology Institute is available here.

Independence—It’s What Older People Want

Data and Reports

Cross-posted from Health Affairs Blog
By Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, President of the John A Hartford Foundation

We already know what older people want.  A study from the National Conference of State Legislatures and AARP, as well as other studies, confirm, time and again, that the vast majority of us want to live in our homes and communities as we age, and, if possible, to avoid dependence on others and institutionalization. Continue reading →

How Community-Based Organizations Can Support Value-Driven Health Care

Data and Reports, News and Updates

Cross-posted from HealthAffairsBlog
By Anand Parekh, MD, MPH, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Robert Schreiber, MD, Hebrew SeniorLife

As our health care system transforms more quickly than ever from paying for volume to paying for value, providers have strong incentives to ensure that their patients’ care plans are reinforced and supported outside the clinical setting in people’s homes and communities. Continue reading →

50 Years In, the Older Americans Act is at a Turning Point

Data and Reports

By MA Healthy Aging Collaborative

Update: On July 16, 2015, the Senate passed the bill to reauthorize the Older Americans Act (OAA). This is an important milestone that will help ensure the continuation of vital programs and services for older Americans and their caregivers. Here is Assistant Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee’s statement on Senate passage of the OAA reauthorization.

In July 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Older Americans Act into law. For the past 50 years, the OAA has supported healthy aging by funding a national network of social and nutrition services such as home-delivered and congregate meals, preventive health services, caregiver support, transportation, job training, elder abuse prevention, and more. Continue reading →

Assessing the Age-Friendliness of Your Community

Data and Reports

By Angel Bourgoin, PhD, JSI | MA Healthy Aging Collaborative website

A crucial step in improving the age-friendliness of your community is to identify its current strengths and areas for improvement. Conducting a community assessment can help you to engage community members, highlight problems as well as their potential solutions, challenge assumptions, and offer credibility to important stakeholders. Conducting a baseline assessment is also one of the first steps to applying to join the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities. Examples of age-friendly assessments from New York City, Washington D.C., and Portland, Oregon are available online. Continue reading →

Three New Features in the 2015 Healthy Aging Data Report

Data and Reports, News and Updates,

By Beth Dugan, PhD, Associate Professor of Gerontology, McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston

I was proud and excited to present the work that the research team at the Gerontology Institute of the University of Massachusetts Boston completed this year.  The 2015 Healthy Aging Data Report was released at the Building Age-Friendly Communities Summit, which was convened by the Tufts Health Plan Foundation in partnership with The Boston Foundation. Continue reading →

Healthy eating across the lifespan: What the 2015 dietary guidelines may mean for older adults

Data and Reports
My Plate for Older Adults

By Elizabeth Costello, MPH, JSI | Project Manager, MA Healthy Aging Collaborative website

Most of us know the healthy diet drill by now: Eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and less sugar, sodium, and saturated fat. But if you have been avoiding eggs in order to limit your cholesterol intake, you may be interested in the recent advisory report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which suggests that within the context of current intake levels, dietary cholesterol is no longer a “nutrient of concern” for overconsumption. However, this does not mean you can eat all the eggs you want – one a day or two every other day is fine. Continue reading →

Using the MA Healthy Aging Data Report to Understand, Engage and Act

Data and Reports, News and Updates, Stories from the Field

By Elizabeth Costello, JSI; Project Manager, www.mahealthyagingcollaborative.org

Have you explored the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report or downloaded your city or town’s Community Profile? How are you using the data report to improve the health of older adults in your community? Learn how members of the Healthy Aging Collaborative are taking action in their communities.
Continue reading →

Meet the Team Behind the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report

Data and Reports
data report

By Elizabeth Dugan, PhD, Associate Professor of Gerontology, McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston
The Healthy Aging research team at the Gerontology Institute of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston is so excited to release our research reporting nearly 100 indicators for 367 communities in Massachusetts. For the first time ever, every city and town, plus the 16 Boston neighborhoods, have a unique report of healthy aging and can compare their scores to state averages. Continue reading →