Influencing public policy to improve the lives of older Americans.

Aging of the U.S. population raises numerous public policy issues about which gerontological researchers, policy experts, and practitioners have much to contribute.

California Geriatric Education Center logic model: an evaluation and communication tool.

A logic model is a communications tool that graphically represents a program's resources, activities, priority target audiences for change, and the anticipated outcomes. This article describes the logic model development process undertaken by the California Geriatric Education Center in spring 2008. The CGEC is one of 48 Geriatric Education Centers across the nation, funded by the U.

The role of consultant pharmacists in reducing medication problems among older adults receiving Medicaid waiver services.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of an evidence-based, medication management intervention to reduce four targeted medication problems among older adults at risk for placement in a nursing facility.

Design: A pretest-posttest design.

Setting: Three sites of California's Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP), a Medi-Cal waiver care management program.

Characteristics associated with four potential medication problems among older adults in Medicaid waiver services.

Objective: To identify characteristics associated with four potential medication problems among older adults at risk for nursing home placement.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Three sites of California's Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP), a Medi-Cal waiver care management program.

Building an infrastructure to prevent falls in older Californians: the Fall Prevention Center of Excellence.

The Fall Prevention Center of Excellence (Center), a consortium of federal, state, and private organizations, was established in 2005 to guide the implementation of a statewide initiative to prevent falls among older Californians. The process began with the convening of a representative group of recognized leaders in California's health and human services in 2003. This group engaged in a 2-day strategic planning process that culminated in the development of the California Blueprint for Fall Prevention.

Prevalence of potential medication problems among dually eligible older adults in Medicaid waiver services.

Background: Methods for identifying potential medication problems among older adults at risk for nursing home placement have generally not included clinical risk factors in addition to medication lists.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of potential medication problems for older adults enrolled in a Medicaid waiver service using tested Home Health Criteria that combine medication use and clinical risk factors for screening drug regimens.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey screened 615 community-dwelling, dually eligible, functionally impaired adults aged 65 years and older enrolled in a Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid) waiver care management program, California's Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP).

Reduced mortality: the unexpected impact of a telephone-based care management intervention for older adults in managed care.

Objective: This analysis evaluated mortality over 24 months for Medicare managed care members who participated in the Care Advocate Program (CA Program) designed to link those with high health care utilization to home- and community-based services.

Data Source: Secondary data from the CA Program, part of the California HealthCare Foundation's Elders in Managed Care Initiative.

Study Design: Randomized-control trial in which participants (N=781) were randomly assigned to intent-to-treat (ITT) and control groups.

Gerontology's future: An integrative model for disciplinary advancement.

Scholars have debated the legitimacy of gerontology as a discipline since Metchnikoff coined the term more than 100 years ago. Recent developments such as the emergence of interdisciplinary aging theories and consensus on longitudinal research methods suggest that gerontology is materializing as a unique discipline, rather than a subset of another more established disciplinary tradition. In this article we review substantive evidence from gerontological theory and scholarship to suggest orienting principles for the emerging discipline of gerontology.

Implications of translating research into practice: a medication management intervention.

Through programs such as the Administration on Aging's Evidence-Based Prevention Initiative, researchers and practitioners are developing translational research studies seeking to implement rigorously tested, evidence-based interventions in new practice settings and evaluate the continuing effectiveness of these interventions. One such translational study is the Community-Based Medications Management Intervention (CBM Intervention), a collaborative effort to implement a medication management screening and intervention protocol in community-based waiver care management programs. The overall goals of the CBM Intervention are to implement an evidence-based medication management intervention in a California Medicaid waiver care management program, and to evaluate the effect of client-, intervention-, and organizational-level characteristics on resolving identified medication problems.

Characteristics associated with home- and community-based service utilization for Medicare managed care consumers.

Purpose: We identified the types of home- and community-based services (HCBS) that high-risk older adults in Medicare managed care used, and we examined participant characteristics associated with service use in six areas: overall service use, four specific categories of HCBS, and referrals to insured medical services.

Design And Methods: We used service data from the Care Advocate Demonstration Program, a telephone-based care-management intervention that linked chronically ill older adults to HCBS. Two hundred and twenty-four high-risk older adults who were enrolled in a southern California-based Medicare managed care plan received an assessment, service referrals, and 12 months of telephone follow-up by master's level social service professionals.

Using interagency collaboration to serve older adults with chronic care needs: the Care Advocate Program.

This article describes the Care Advocate Program, an interagency collaborative effort that involved health care organizations, social service agencies, and an academic research center to improve chronic care service delivery to older adults. The article discusses existing barriers to effective chronic care delivery as well as concepts for successful collaboration. The article describes the multiple and often competing demands of stakeholders who undertake collaborative projects.