Center for the Future of Aging: Fall 2022 Newsletter

In This Newsletter

Improving Dementia Care
Advising States on the Future of Aging
Advancing Healthy Longevity
Strengthening Financial Security
Building the Center’s Team
The Latest From Our Advisory Board

Improving Dementia Care

• Director Diane Ty and Associate Director Raj Ahuja are helping to develop the next edition of the Healthy Brain Initiative Road Map, a series of guidebooks developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Alzheimer's Association to help state and local health departments address brain health across the lifespan. Diane is on the National Leadership Committee and co-chairs the Health Equity work group. Raj and Diane are both members of the work group on Early Detection, Diagnosis, and Care Management.

• Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer Howard Fillit, MD, wrote an article for the Milken Institute’s "Stories from the Field" series about how simple and effective diagnostic tools will aid physicians in earlier diagnosis, helping people and their caregivers better understand the disease and prepare for the future. Earlier diagnosis allows for care and disease management planning, adoption of science-proven lifestyle changes, and more options for clinical trial participation.

• On September 15, Diane Ty joined Tracy Chadwell, founder of 1843 Capital, and Kristi Meyer, executive director, strategic planning—office of the president at Aetna, a CVS Health Company, to discuss innovation opportunities to move the needle on dementia care. Watch their timely conversation.

• Diane Ty was recently selected to serve as one of seven members on the External Advisory Panel of the National Institute on Aging Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratories for Aging Research program. Center collaborators Susann Keohane, global research leader for the aging initiative at IBM, and Hon Pak, chief medical officer of Samsung Electronics, will also serve on the External Advisory Panel.

• The Alliance to Improve Dementia Care hosted a virtual roundtable on September 16 to identify opportunities to improve care navigation for individuals with dementia and their caregivers by exploring the responsibilities, training, and payment policies within traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage to scale access to a care navigator. A forthcoming report will detail the path forward to improve care navigation based on input from this convening and research. This roundtable continues the Alliance’s workstream on building workforce capacity.

• Diane Ty facilitated a workgroup contributing to a strategic plan for Los Angeles County’s CDC BOLD (Building Our Largest Dementia) infrastructure.

• On October 13, Raj Ahuja, Diane Ty, and Associate Mac McDermott attended the National Adult Day Services Association’s (NADSA) annual conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and hosted a focus group. Adult day centers provide essential medical and social services for individuals with dementia and caregivers. Earlier this year, a series of key opinion leader interviews pointed to adult day services as a critical opportunity for delivering dementia-friendly care and caregiver respite.

• In August our former executive director, Nora Super, presented our work to build a dementia-capable state at the HCBS ADvancing States national conference. She was joined by leaders from the Ohio Department of Aging and the California Department of Aging, who are collaborating with the Alliance to Improve Dementia Care in developing state-specific goals and recommendations in advancing care.

Advising States on the Future of Aging

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan appointed Diane Ty to serve a four-year term on the Maryland Commission on Aging. The Commission on Aging advises the secretary of aging about the needs of older adults in Maryland and the work of the Department of Aging.

Diane Ty during her swearing-in ceremony for the Maryland Commission on Aging.

Advancing Healthy Longevity

• Save the date for the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit, December 6–8, 2022, in Washington, DC. Set in the nation’s capital just weeks after the mid-term elections, the Future of Health Summit will feature the insights of hundreds of speakers, including top leaders in public health, biomedical research, philanthropy, science, and policy.

• Director Lauren Dunning spoke to The Associated Press about the recent United Nations General Assembly meeting. She shared that “while older adults are enmeshed in the crucial issues of our time and often face disproportionate impacts, they are all too often left out ... A focus on one generation without the consideration of other generations impedes the progress of all.”

• Lauren Dunning joined a cross-sector panel of experts for AARP Innovation Labs’ “Smart Home Innovation for 50+ Pitch Event.” The event featured six startups with one shared goal: to enable older adults to live more active, independent, and safer lives while retaining a healthy connection to their community.

• To drive progress on how to fund long-term care in the US, the Center leveraged the Milken Institute’s Financial Innovations Lab to bring together key stakeholders and examine the complexities of the long-term care landscape. The ideas generated through the Lab were incorporated into a bill called the Technology-Enabled Care in the Home (TECH) Act and the bipartisan Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) Expanded Act. Watch a quick recap of the progress.

• Diane Ty represented the Milken Institute and its “Feeding Change” initiative on September 28 at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Feeding Change supports the broader implementation of Food Is Medicine policies and interventions. Specifically, the work aims to have health-care dollars, such as Medicare and Medicaid, directed toward purchasing medically appropriate foods and meals for a particular chronic condition, similar to how the health system pays for pharmaceuticals. The Milken Institute provided comments that focus on investing in the intersection of food and health care to achieve nutrition equity to Ambassador Susan Rice, director of The White House Domestic Policy Council.

Strengthening Financial Security

• The Center for the Future of Aging and Center for Financial Markets are hosting an event on October 19 titled “A Framework for Action: Enhancing Retirement Security.” This half-day event will discuss the future of retirement security and focus on potential changes to financial vehicles and methods of investing that would lead to greater financial security, including public policy and private-sector innovations. We will develop consensus-based policy and practice recommendations and a framework for analyzing future recommendations from the convening.

• Senior Fellow Paul Irving spoke about ageism, the challenges for older workers, and the opportunities for an intergenerational workforce with the National Press Foundation "Living Longer: The New Age for Aging" Journalism Fellows in Washington, DC, during their three-day program in mid-September.

• Paul Irving was the recipient of The Center for Workforce Inclusion 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his efforts to advance healthy, productive, and purposeful aging.

• Paul Irving was a featured speaker at the Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education’s 2022 Virtual Summit: Celebrating 20 Years of Innovation in Retirement Organizations on September 22. He was joined by Helen Dennis, a nationally recognized scholar at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. They discussed the upside of aging, dispelling ageism, and the possibilities as we age.

Building the Center’s Team

• The Center welcomed Priyanka Shah, based in our Washington, DC office, as associate director. Shah came from the Tiber Creek Group, a bipartisan government relations firm in Washington, DC, where she handled a wide-ranging policy portfolio, including issues related to health care, cannabis, and education, in addition to coordinating the firm’s research department. Shah began her career as a health policy analyst at the Maryland Department of Health in Baltimore, where her primary focus was on population health improvement, delivery system reform, and program and policy development and implementation.

• Avery Wallace joined the Center as an intern. Wallace is currently a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania and will graduate with a Master of Public Health this December. She joins us from High Lantern Group, a consulting firm in Philadelphia, where she supported clients in the health-care, aging, and pharmaceutical sectors. Wallace has several years of experience with older adults, serving in various roles in long-term care and case management. Wallace began her career in caregiving, primarily supporting older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

The Latest From Our Advisory Board

• Richard Ashworth, president & CEO of Tivity Health, spoke at the AHIP Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum on the importance of building trust to drive healthy behaviors and the power of social connections among older adults.

• The Annenberg Foundation's GenSpace hosted a virtual event, "Good for Business," exploring how to support older workers and embrace intergenerational workplaces.

• Bank of America Retirement Research & Insights team released a study highlighting the business imperative of attracting, retaining, and supporting Neurodiversity in the Workplace.

• Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, released new research examining the workforce's retirement outlook and the urgent need for action.

• Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, joined Jean Chatzky on Your Money Map to discuss how a financial professional can guide your spending habits as you age.

• Jisella Dolan, chief advocacy officer of Honor, was named by the United Nations and World Health Organization as one of the Healthy Ageing 50, an initiative of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing. This award recognizes fifty global leaders who are transforming the world to be a better place to grow older.

• Ken Dychtwald, founder and CEO of Age Wave, was interviewed by Forbes on his new book Sages of Aging: A Guide for Changemakers. Our advisory board members are featured as sages, including Fernando Torres-Gil, Linda Fried, Marc Freedman, Terry Fulmer, and Jennie Chin Hansen. Watch the associated documentary on your local PBS station.

• Ric Edelman, founder, Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, participated in a cryptocurrency panel at the Future Proof AC conference on the staying power of crypto assets.

• Ruth Finkelstein, executive director of the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging at Hunter College, participated in a panel discussion at the 2022 Equity Summit on reimagining DEI and the intersection of age, race, and gender.

• Linda Fried, dean of the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, served as co-chair of the National Academy of Medicine's International Commission on a Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity. The recently released report by the commission envisions an all-of-society transformation to ensure aging societies worldwide are poised to thrive by 2050.

• Teresa Ghilarducci, director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, co-authored an article on the critical role of unions for older workers and economic security in the American Society on Aging's Generations Today.

• Lynn Goldman, dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, moderated a virtual panel in July that provided information on monkeypox.

• Jennie Chin Hansen, the former CEO of the American Geriatrics Society, received the American Academy of Nursing's Health Care Leader Award for her dedication to improving the health of the nation through contributions to organizational excellence. She also received the UCSF Campaign Alumni Award for her remarkable accomplishments and leadership in health and care for older adults.

• Jeff Huber, CEO of Home Instead, spoke to Fortune about their work to “create an entirely new profession around home care.”

• Mike Hodin, CEO of the Global Council on Aging, released a report that reflects on lessons learned from the pandemic and the opportunity to reimagine health-care systems to meet the needs of healthy aging.

• Becca Levy, a professor at Yale University, was featured in the American Medical Association's Moving Medicine video series. She discussed the hidden stereotypes of aging and how our beliefs about age influence health.

• Jennifer Molinsky, project director at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, testified in a Senate hearing on the growing demand for affordable, accessible housing, in-home services, and neighborhood supports.

• Nexus Insights, founded by Bob Kramer, recently released a report, "Where Am I, Where Do I Go: The Missing Entry Point to Long-Term Care Solutions for Older Adults and Their Caregivers," which highlights the need for navigation hubs to help older adults and their families navigate long-term care options.

• Penny Pennington, managing partner of Edward Jones, spoke with Fortune to share the best career advice she has received.

• Eisner Foundation and Becca Levy were cited in a Next Avenue article on intergenerational relationships on television and older adult representation in the entertainment industry.