FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: ACL Press Office
202-357-3507
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Assistant Secretary for Aging and Administrator of the Administration for Community Living Kathy Greenlee announced more than $8.5 million for states to provide education and tools to help older adults and adults with disabilities, including those with Medicare, better manage their chronic conditions. The 22 states receiving the awards will use these resources to provide 87,000 individuals with more information about steps they can take to improve their health.
“We know these programs work. These funds help empower individuals so they can take better care of themselves, feel better, and perhaps avoid extra doctor visits and trips to the emergency room,” said Greenlee. “That, in turn, will help control Medicare costs. These grants will help more people access these tailored workshops and—just as importantly—help states embed the programs into their public health and wellness infrastructures for years to come.”
Older people tend to have more chronic conditions, such as diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, and depression, than younger individuals. Chronic disease can negatively affect quality of life and threaten one’s ability to live independently, in the community. Two-thirds of Medicare spending is for beneficiaries with five or more chronic conditions.
The new grants build on the Recovery Act’s Chronic Disease Self-Management Program grants awarded in March 2010, which had an initial goal of reaching 50,000 older adults. As of August 28, 2012, 47 of those first-round states had reached 111,272 seniors.
The 22 states awarded the competitive cooperative agreements are: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
The funding will support a variety of programs, all evidence-based and licensed from the Stanford University Patient Education Research Center. The Stanford programs emphasize the individual’s role in managing their health and improving their quality of life. The grants will also support evidence-based self-management programs for people with diabetes, arthritis, HIV/AIDS, and chronic pain, including internet-based courses and programs specifically developed for Spanish-speaking adults with chronic conditions.
To learn more about the Stanford University Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, go to http://patienteducation.stanford.edu/programs/.
To find workshops, visit the NCOA Center for Healthy Aging at http://www.ncoa.org/improve-health/center-for-healthy-aging/chronic-disease-1.html.