What's New | May 23, 2012

Coordinating Community Care for Seniors

An increasing number of older adults have physical and mental problems that require assistance with daily living. Most seniors prefer to live independently for as long as possible in their homes. Outreach workers, who know their communities and can connect seniors to available health care and social services, play an important role in helping seniors maintain their independence.

The Featured Innovations describe two programs that provide seniors with care coordination and support, which reduced hospital and nursing home admissions, and a third program that provides care coordination to adults with serious mental illness, which reduced emergency department visits.

The Featured QualityTools provide resources for health care professionals to collaborate with community organizations and to identify services and supports that can be provided at home.

Featured Innovations:

• Affordable Housing Community Offers Seniors Onsite Health Care Coordination and Support, Reducing Hospital Admissions and Falls and Improving Resident Health

• Care Coordination, Peer Support, and Discretionary Fund Improve Quality of Life and Reduce Costs for Adults with Serious Mental Illness
with Story

• Outreach Workers Connect Low-Income Individuals Living in Rural Areas to Home- and Community-Based Services, Reducing Costs and Nursing Home Placements
with Story
with Expert Commentary

Featured QualityTools:

• MD Link: Partnering Physicians with Community Organizations: A Toolkit for Physician Champions
Developed by National Council on Aging

• Support and Services at Home (SASH) Evidence-Based Practices Directory
Developed by Cathedral Square Corporation; University of Vermont, Center on Aging

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Also in This Issue:

Innovations >

• Engaging Patients as Observers Represents Low-Cost, Accurate Way to Monitor and Improve Hand Hygiene in Outpatient Settings

• Web-Based Service Helps Runaway and Homeless Adolescents Feel More Empowered About Health, Enhances Access to Quality Care

QualityTools >

• Advancing Pharmacy Health Literacy Practices Through Quality Improvement: Curricular Modules for Faculty
Developed by Abt Associates

• Exercise & Physical Activity: Your Everyday Guide from the National Institute on Aging
Developed by National Institute on Aging; National Institutes of Health

• Transportation and Health Toolkit
Developed by American Public Health Association