Webinar

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE. Community Health Workers (CHWs) serve as a connection between medical and social services and their communities. Community health workers typically come from the community they work in, and they may be called different titles such as peer health educators, lay health advocates, community health representatives, or promotoras. Community-based organizations are also using CHWs to screen for social determinants of health and to deliver evidence-based programs, such as the Chronic Disease Self-Management Programs.  This webinar series will: Raise awareness about the role of Community Health Workers to implement evidence-based programs and help drive referrals Discuss avenues for sustaining and reimbursing CHWs Highlight how CHWs can help organizations reach diverse populations and address social determinants of health factors Registration Details: This series includes 4 live 60-minute webinars on February 22, March 9, 16, and 24th.  Registration is FREE, and registrants will have access to both the live webinars and the recordings.  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email, as well as email reminders prior to each live webinar with a link to join the event.

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE. Older adults have suffered more illness and death from covid-19 than any other group. How are they faring as the pandemic enters its third year? KFF’s Kaiser Health News (KHN) and The John A. Hartford Foundation will explore that question in depth in a 90-minute interactive web event beginning at Noon ET on Wednesday, Feb. 23. Judith Graham, KHN’s Navigating Aging columnist, will moderate the discussion among a panel of nine older adults from diverse backgrounds, bringing to light their experiences in their own words. Too often, voices like theirs are not featured prominently in stories about the pandemic. Rani Snyder, Vice President, Program at The John A. Hartford Foundation will make introductory remarks. Questions will include: How have people handled the persistent stress? How have their lives changed? What are their most significant challenges? What needs are not being met? What sources of strength and comfort help sustain them? What are their hopes for the year ahead? The panel will include African American, Latino, White, and LGBTQ+ older adults. Among them are a nursing home resident in Maryland, a couple living in a retirement community in Pennsylvania, a man with Alzheimer’s disease from Nevada, a divorced couple who live together and help each other from North Carolina, a single woman living alone in Minnesota, an activist who cares for his bedbound wife in Dallas, and a woman who lives in affordable housing in New York City.

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE NCSL Webinars allow attendees to participate in meetings taking place around the world from the comfort of their desk. They are collaborative, interactive and easy to use. Most webinars will be recorded for those who are unable to attend the live meeting. To improve the health of individuals experiencing homelessness and reduce associated health care costs, many states are leveraging COVID-19 relief and other funds to provide permanent supportive housing. This type of low-barrier, affordable housing provides health care and support services, such as case management, child care and employment assistance. Featuring national and state perspectives, this webinar will explore the landscape of permanent supportive housing and highlight several state legislative actions.

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE. This webinar introduces a new S4A study investigating the impact of a novel independent practice association (IPA) formed among community-based social service organizations (CBOs) to address social determinants of health among residents of upstate New York. The Healthy Alliance IPA allows diverse CBOs offering services for housing, transportation, food, and other social needs to join together in a shared-governance association that facilitates referrals, care coordination, and performance-based contracting with health plans and medical providers. A quasi-experimental research design is used to compare patients residing in counties served by the Healthy Alliance IPA with a matched comparison group of patients from other counties, using measures of healthcare utilization, social service utilization, and total cost of care. The study focuses specifically on the outcomes experienced by racial and ethnic minority populations and also examines the roles played by CBOs led by Black, Indigenous, Latino and other persons of color. The research team is led by Stanford University School of Medicine in partnership with the Healthy Alliance IPA, Albany County Department of Health, Rensselaer County Department of Health, and other community partners.

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE. Community-based organizations (CBOs) play an important role in meeting the needs of individuals living with dementia and their families. This webinar will discuss the need to build dementia care models to support this growing population. Nora Super of the Milken Institute will present the findings of the new Alliance to Improve Dementia Care report, “Scaling Comprehensive Dementia-Care Models.” The webinar will explain recommendations to enhance dementia care and payment policies in traditional Medicare, with a particular focus on the need to develop mechanisms to pay CBOs for services provided to individuals living with dementia and their caregivers. Mark Cullen from Trellis, a AAA in Minnesota, will discuss Juniper, a statewide network of CBOs that delivers evidence-based health promotion programs. Cullen will describe the development of the network, including challenges and lessons learned, and discuss how they are evolving their network to deliver dementia-focused services. Participants in this webinar will be able to: Understand the recommendations of the Scaling Comprehensive Dementia-Care Models report, Identify the challenges and benefits of developing a CBO network, and Explain the role of payment mechanisms to compensate CBOs in scaling dementia care. Presenters: Mark Cullen is the vice president of Strategy and Business Development at Trellis, responsible for Trellis’ home- and community-based services strategy that focuses on assisting older adults in maintaining their independence and thriving as they age. Cullen led the development of Trellis’ management services organization, including programs operating under the brand name Juniper. This effort creates a pathway for healthcare organizations (providers and payers) to access home- and community-based services for their patients/members. Dawn Simonson, MPA, is the president and CEO of Trellis. Simonson’s priorities are to develop networks and other partnerships that support older adults to live healthy and secure lives at home via services and programs that benefit them and their families in the Twin Cities region and throughout Minnesota. She is a respected voice in the aging policies and practices arena through her voluntary lead roles with the Minnesota Leadership Council on Aging, Minnesota Association of Area Agencies on Aging, Minnesota’s ACT on Alzheimer’s initiative, and Dementia Friendly America. She is a past president of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging and of the Minnesota Network of Hospice and Palliative Care. Nora Super is the executive director of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging. In this role, Super provides strategic direction for two primary focus areas: Healthy Longevity and Financial Wellness. In 2020, Super launched the Milken Institute Alliance to Improve Dementia Care, which seeks to transform and improve the complex health and long-term care systems that people at risk for and living with dementia must navigate. Super is a respected thought leader, frequent speaker and prolific writer on healthy longevity and the economic and social impact of global population aging. From 2014 to 2016, Super served as the executive director of the White House Conference on Aging, where she received wide recognition for her nationwide efforts to improve the lives of older Americans. She has also held leadership roles at the US Department of Health and Human Services, AARP, Kaiser Permanente, and USAging.  

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is pleased to invite the public to attend its upcoming webinar: “Rural Health Quality: How CMS Initiatives Improve How We Measure and Address Gaps in Care.” This presentation will highlight the unique challenges surrounding quality measurement in rural settings, and how CMS is working to address these issues to ensure equitable care is provided to all Americans regardless of where they reside.

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is pleased to invite the public to attend its upcoming webinar: “Rural Health Quality: How CMS Initiatives Improve How We Measure and Address Gaps in Care.” This presentation will highlight the unique challenges surrounding quality measurement in rural settings, and how CMS is working to address these issues to ensure equitable care is provided to all Americans regardless of where they reside.

USAging members report that one of the biggest challenges facing the Aging Network is the struggle to attract and retain its workforce. In this 30-minute webinar, Traci Wilson, USAging’s Director of Research, will share results from our recent survey of AAAs on their workforce challenges and the impacts they have on agencies and the older adults they serve. Amy Gotwals, USAging’s Chief of Policy and External Affairs, will discuss how you can use these findings and resources to advocate for your agency. Presenters: Traci Wilson, USAging, Director, Research Amy Gotwals, USAging, Chief, Policy and External Affairs

Indiana University (IU) was awarded grant funding in 2020 under the Administration for Community Living Alzheimer’s Dementia Programs Initiative to implement the Caregiver Stress Prevention Bundle (CSPB) for people living with dementia and their informal caregivers. The CSPB is delivered through five area agencies on aging (AAA) by trained care coaches who are community health workers employed by the AAAs and supported by IU dementia care experts. Presenters will share how the university partnered with AAAs to implement the dementia care program and results-to-date. Reasons why AAAs partnered with IU to launch a dementia care program and plans for sustainability will also be discussed. Participants in this webinar will: Describe how IU partnered with five of Indiana’s AAAs to scale a dementia care program developed and tested at IU. List three key elements of the IU/AAA partnership leading to successful program implementation and process improvement. Identify three reasons why the AAAs partnered with IU to launch a dementia care program. Discuss plans for sustainability and statewide expansion of the IU/AAA dementia care program.