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Opinion
Long-Term Care Spurs Strong Recommendations from
White House Conference Group
White House Conference on Aging's Long-Term Care
Mini-Conference issues final report
By Tucker Sutherland, editor
Aug. 11, 2005 Frankly, I was skeptical of any
meaningful recommendations coming from the White House Conference on
Aging's Long-Term Care Mini-Conference held last April, because many of
those who organized and financed it were companies and organizations
with a vested interest particularly in selling insurance for long-term
care. The final report was released today and I have to admit I was
wrong. It
is
a frank and strong call for action by government and the
private sector in meeting the long-term care crisis in America.
The goal of the summit was to ensure the nation's
long-term care needs will be met in the future by developing proposals
specific to long-term care that could be considered for incorporation
into final policy recommendations for the President and Congress.
The findings concluded that a crisis exists in the
country regarding the state of elder care, and the needs of our nation's
rapidly aging population will not be met unless the issue is brought to
the forefront.
Conference participants concluded that there is a
need for all Americans to have long term care coverage through public
and private means, they said in releasing the final results.
Currently, nearly all Americans lack long term care coverage.
There was an unequivocal call for the White House
and Congress to immediately address the state of elder care with the
same commitment and energy devoted to other national crises, says their
report.
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The recommendations also suggest that strong political leadership is a
necessity in order to elevate social and cultural issues related to
aging and disability, and that a need exists to enact evidence-based
policies to improve quality of care.
There was consensus, they say, that without
strong leadership in developing long-term care solutions and policy from
the highest levels of government and the private sector, the needs of
this nations rapidly aging population will, undoubtedly, not be met in
the decades to come. Strong political leadership was also seen as
necessary to elevate social and cultural issues around aging and
disability while enacting evidence-based policies to improve quality.
In addition to the need for national institutions
to lead the reform debate, two of the three policy development groups
also called for creation of a new federal long-term care agency within
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or a bi-partisan,
federally chartered and funded national commission with strong
centralized leadership and the authority needed to implement necessary
reforms, according to the report.
Titled Creating a Comprehensive National Long-Term
Care Policy, the conference brought together 125 participants from
public and private long-term care stakeholder groups. Recommendations
fell into three overarching categories: Economic Security and Long-Term
Care Financing, Health and Independence, and Supportive Services. A
summary of the recommendations are as follows:
Economic Security and Long-Term Care Financing
Congress and the Administration must:
-- Provide coverage for all Americans through
public and private mechanisms.
-- Use current public dollars more efficiently and
intelligently.
-- Launch a national long-term care education
campaign.
Health and Independence
Congress and the Administration must:
-- Create financial incentives and otherwise
provide for workforce training and service delivery enhancement.
-- Establish a unified quality agenda for long-term
care in collaboration with private sector stakeholders.
-- Fund a broad initiative to incentivize and
support self-directed consumers.
-- Reform public and private funding programs, in
concert with states, to remove institutional biases.
-- Establish a Federal office to address long-term
care workforce issues.
Supportive Services
Congress and the Administration must:
-- Fund and prioritize recruitment, training and
retention of the long-term care workforce.
-- Establish a new agency within the U. S.
Department of Health and Human Services to focus solely on long-term
care.
"The Long-Term Care Mini-Conference successfully
focused our undivided attention for two days on issues that are critical
to the future of long-term care in the United States," said Todd Smith,
chairman of the mini-conference planning committee. "I believe the
participating groups have come away confident that our recommendations
to Congress and to the President will undoubtedly help prepare long-term
care for the coming years."
The 2005 White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA)
will be held December 11-14, 2005 in Washington, D.C. This is the fifth
conference and the first held during the 21st century.
Organizations planning the WHCoA Long-Term Care
Mini-Conference included: AARP, American Council of Life Insurers,
American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted
Living, America's Health Insurance Plans, National Alliance for
Caregiving, and National Association for Home Care and Hospice.
Funding for the conference came from contributions
provided by Beverly Enterprises, Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan
Society, Genworth Financial, Golden Rule Insurance Company, MetLife,
Mutual of Omaha, New York Life Insurance Company, Prudential Financial,
UHS-Pruitt Corporation and Vetter Health Services.
Official White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA)
Mini-Conferences are coordinated by a variety of partner agencies,
organizations and the WHCoA on a key topic area identified by the Policy
Committee. WHCoA Mini-Conferences provide the Policy Committee with
focused information on a specific issue and are intended to generate
recommendations and solutions from the public and private sectors for
use in the development of resolutions and implementation recommendations
for delegates to the 2005 WHCoA. Policy Committee members and/or staff
participate in official WHCoA Mini-Conferences.
If the other mini-conferences are as effective as
this one, we can expect a White House Conference on Aging that is not
just window-dressing to appease the large senior citizen population, but
is a meaningful look at some of the major challenges facing America.
For a pdf copy of the final report -
Click Here
For more information on this mini-conference,
including the original draft of the final recommendations, as well as
information on other mini-conferences being held by the White House
Conference on Aging
Click Here
Home Page of White House Conference on Aging
Click Here
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