The U.S. Administration on Aging Awards the Strengthening the Aging Network Cooperative Agreement to NASUAD

October 13, 2010

The U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA) awarded an 18-month cooperative agreement to the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD) to increase the capacity of State Units on Aging (SUA) across the country in playing stronger leadership roles in the development and implementation of modernized systems of long term services and supports (LTSS). NASUAD’s key partners on this cooperative agreement are AoA, AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI), the Center for Health Care Strategies, Elder Justice Coalition, The Lewin Group, Meals on Wheels Association of America, the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, the National Council on Aging, the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Programs, and the National Council on Independent Living. In collaboration with its key partners, NASUAD plans to design and implement an intensive training for SUA directors and their senior staffs. This will be timely as there are 37 gubernatorial elections in 2010 with an estimated number of 30 new governorships that will potentially result in 30 new SUA directors. Topics for the training program include, but are not limited to, the administration of programs under the Older Americans Act, Titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA); the legislative and budgeting processes; fostering strategic partnerships with the disability community; civic engagement; and system reengineering strategies to rebalance LTSS.

Under this cooperative agreement, NASUAD and its key partners will also gather information about current performance standards used by states to measure the impact of their LTSS systems. This activity will be valuable in identifying how states’ evaluation methodology reflect the current Administration priorities in assessing a plethora of areas including single point of entry systems, options counseling, and core competencies for senior level policy and program staff.

Lastly, NASUAD and AARP PPI will design and administer an evaluation tool that will assess SUA’s progress in key areas of systems change. Such an understanding of systems change progress in SUAs would inform AoA and the Administration’s efforts in the planning and implementation of the various provisions of PPACA.

NASUAD looks forward to collaborating with its key partners and SUAs during the next 18 months as it carries out this cooperative agreement.

Click here for the official press release