Purpose: This article provides a detailed description of a telephone-based care coordination intervention, Partners in Dementia Care (PDC), for veterans with dementia and their family caregivers. Essential features of PDC included (a) formal partnerships between Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers and Alzheimer's Association Chapters; (b) a…

Purpose: Better Jobs Better Care (BJBC) was a long-term care workforce demonstration that sought to improve recruitment and retention of direct care workers by changing public policy and management practice. The purpose of this article is to document and assess BJBC's implementation, analyze factors affecting implementation, and draw lessons from…

Describes On Lok, a long-term care approach which has assumed responsibility for providing all services needed by a functionally dependent adult population. Based on the first two years of operation, descriptive data on the service system, its development, participants served, services given, and costs are presented and interpreted. (JAC)

The Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock is addressing one of the most pressing policy issues facing the United States: how to care for the burgeoning number of older adults. In 2001, the Institute created the Arkansas Aging Initiative, which established seven satellite centers on…

Purpose: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality sponsored a nationwide study to evaluate the federal paid feeding assistant (PFA) regulation that allows nursing homes to hire single-task workers to provide feeding assistance to nursing home residents. Organizers designed the PFA regulation…

Purpose: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has adopted two functional assessment systems that guide care planning: one for nursing home residents (the Resident Assessment Instrument [RAI]) and a compatible one for home care clients (RAI-HC). The purpose of this article is to describe the RAI-HC (often referred to as the Minimum Data Set-Home…

Describes the process of implementing the New York State Long-Term Home Health Care Program (LTHHCP) during its initial three years of operation. Sponsors of similar programs should be aware of the need for program flexibility and the length of time required for start-up and implementation. (JAC)

Employs an "implementation estimate" technique to identify potential fiscal, administrative and political consequences of implementing the 100,000 minimum population provision for designating planning and service areas (PSAs) under the 1978 amendments to the Older Americans Act. Findings suggest implementation estimating is useful for…

Suggests geriatric foster care is among the least restrictive alternatives to institutional placement. Outlines the basic prototype principles, including broadly defined client population, maximum accessibility in referral sources, flexible use of existing local services, and uniform statewide quality guidelines. Discusses indicators of success…