From Expertise to Impact: Partnering With State and Federal Stakeholders to Change the Lives of Older Adults

Published: | 11:30 am | Posted in: Uncategorized

Dr. Kunkel’s talk focused on the important role that aging experts can play in shaping the well-being of older adults. She described critical problems facing older people, and policy, program, and clinical practice solutions that can lead to improved quality of life. This presentation included examples of applied research studies that Dr. Kunkel’s team conducted […]

FSU researchers use AI to prompt older adults’ participation in research

Published: | 6:38 am | Posted in: Uncategorized

In a new study, Florida State University researchers explore the challenges of recruiting and retaining older adults to participate in research.  The study also marks the first step of a broad, interdisciplinary FSU effort to increasingly use artificial intelligence in research.  In the study, published in The Gerontologist, Associate Professor of Sociology Dawn Carr identified core “motivation clusters” […]

The Future of Long-Term Care and the Aging Network

Published: | 4:00 pm | Posted in: Archives, Long-Term Care, Research

By Larry Polivka and Jung Kwak. Originally published by Generations, the Journal of the American Society on Aging in 2014.  Before concluding that proprietary organizations should provide LTC services, we should analyze the effectiveness of the existing community-based LTC system. Our long-term-care (LTC) system should be an asset in our efforts to build strong local and regional communities […]

The Neoliberal Economy and Erosion of Retirement Security

Published: | 2:22 pm | Posted in: Archives, Research, Retirement Security

By Larry Polivka and Baozhen Luo. Originally published by the Gerontological Society of America in 2015. Abstract The origins and trajectory of the crisis in the United States retirement security system have slowly become part of the discussion about the social, political, and economic impacts of population aging. Private sources of retirement security have weakened […]

Neoliberal Long-Term Care: From Community to Corporate Control

Published: | 1:17 pm | Posted in: Long-Term Care, Managed LTC, Research

By Larry Polivka and Baozhen Luo. Originally published by the Gerontological Society of America in 2017. Abstract Publicly (mainly Medicaid) funded long-term care (LTC) services have evolved from a nursing home dominated system of service to a much more balanced system including home- and community-based services (HCBS) programs over the last 30 years. The HCBS […]

Neoliberalism and the Future of Retirement Security

Published: | 9:47 am | Posted in: Research, Retirement Security

Originally published by the Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics in 2020 By Larry Polivka Abstract The main questions addressed in this article are: (a) what is the economic status of current retirees and the projected status of future retirees; (b) how does the status of current and future retirees vary by race, gender, socioeconomic […]

A Focus on the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly

Published: | 1:25 pm | Posted in: Uncategorized

Originally published by the Journal of Aging and Social Policy in 2017 By Lori Gonzalez Abstract For over four decades, the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) has been operated by nonprofit organizations. Research has demonstrated that nonprofit PACE provides quality, cost-effective community-based care to older adults who would otherwise require a nursing […]

Predicting Racial Disparities in Nursing Home Admission: The Role of Discrimination, Stressors, and Neighborhood Context

Published: | 1:10 pm | Posted in: Long-Term Care, Research

Originally published by The Sociological Quarterly in 2019 By Lori Gonzalez ABSTRACT Although the overall trend in nursing home use has declined, this has not been the case for racial and ethnic minorities. This article elucidates the role of stressors and neighborhood context in nursing home admission. The analysis fits several regression models to predict […]

Culture Change in Skilled Nursing

Published: | 12:05 pm | Posted in: Long-Term Care, Research

Originally published by the Journal of Housing for the Elderly in 2019 By Lori Gonzalez and Lisa Rill Abstract The culture change movement has pushed for reform for more than two decades to align policy, the long-term care industry, and resident preferences with regard to care. Evidence from research indicates that culture change has the […]

Will For-Profits Keep Up the Pace in the United States? The Future of the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly

Published: | 11:39 am | Posted in: Uncategorized

Originally published by the International Journal of Health Services in 2020 By Lori Gonzalez Abstract The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) has provided, for more than 4 decades, high-quality, cost-effective medical and social care to older people in the United States under nonprofit ownership. Recent rulings by the Centers for Medicare & […]

Long-Term Care Options in Florida: Their Availability by County Demographics

Published: | 11:32 am | Posted in: Long-Term Care, Research

Originally published by the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities By Lori Gonzalez Abstract Older people express a preference for home and community-based care over skilled nursing, realizing that preference, however, is dependent upon having those options available. The present exploratory study uses publicly available data to understand if the geographic availability of long-term […]

Women and the Crisis of Care in the United States

Published: | 11:05 am | Posted in: Long-Term Care, Research

Originally published in 2018 by Gender and Age: A Focus on Women By Larry Polivka Women are much more involved in long- term care (LTC) than men, as caregivers and care recipients. This is true in the formal system of paid care and in an “informal” system that relies upon unpaid caregiving by relatives and […]

The Changing Role of Non-Profit Organizations in the U.S. Long Term Care System

Published: | 10:14 am | Posted in: Long-Term Care, Research

Originally published in 2019 by the Journal of Aging & Social Policy By Larry Polivka and LuMarie Polivka-West Abstract The American long-term care system has changed dramatically over the last several years as the need for care has increased steadily with the aging of the boomer generation. Arguably, the most important change has occurred in […]

An Ethic of Care Needed in Our Long-Term Care System

Published: | 9:58 am | Posted in: Ethics in Aging, Research

This article was originally published in 2021 by Generations Today, a publication by the American Society on Aging. By Larry Polivka The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating multidimensional impact on the world, especially among older adults, and specifically nursing home residents. More than 130,000 nursing home residents have died and for untold thousands their […]

Failures of Regulation and Policy in Medicaid-Managed Long-Term Care and Medicare Advantage

Published: | 9:50 am | Posted in: Managed LTC, Research

This article was originally published by the Public Policy & Aging Report in 2021. By Lori Gonzalez, Larry Polivka, and LuMarie Polivka-West We, like many long-term care (LTC) researchers and policy analysts, are concerned about the chronic inadequacy, from a LTC recipient perspective, of the LTC regulatory framework at the federal and state levels. Our […]

Retirement Security

Published: | 10:42 am | Posted in: Research, Retirement Security

By Lori Gonzalez Introduction Retirement security—being able to transition out of the workforce without severe financial devastation or serious risks to health—was first formed in the U.S. by the New Deal programs enacted in the 1930s which included Social Security and unemployment insurance.  Assistance for older people prior to the New Deal was largely absent save […]

Why Do Late Boomers Have So Little Retirement Wealth?

Published: | 9:11 am | Posted in: Retirement Security

Over the last 40 years, the retirement system has shifted from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, primarily 401(k)s and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). This shift has been accompanied by a decline in Social Security benefits relative to pre-retirement earnings as the program’s Full Retirement Age has moved from 65 to 67. Thus, the […]

Institute Talk: A Conversation with Dan Reingold on Leading a Nursing Home in America’s Worst COVID-19 Hot Spot

Published: | 1:24 pm | Posted in: Covid-19 Public Policy

Dan Reingold is the chief executive of RiverSpring Health and a prominent national figure in the field of aging services. RiverSpring includes The Hebrew Home at Riverdale, a 750-bed nursing home in the Bronx, N.Y. The New York State Department of Health reported on March 30 that more than 1,000 residents of state nursing homes, […]

Harnessing Our Humanity — How Washington’s Health Care Workers Have Risen to the Pandemic Challenge

Published: | 1:23 pm | Posted in: Covid-19 Public Policy

In early March 2020, Ms. B., a woman in her mid-70s, was admitted from her nursing home to Seattle Harborview’s medical ICU with suspected Covid-19. When she rapidly decompensated, the ICU team resuscitated her as they would any patient: central line, fluids, pressors. But when it became clear that her death was imminent, providing supportive […]