INFLUENCE HEALTH POLICY

Eldercare Workforce Alliance

2009-present Following up on the publication of the Institute Of Medicine’s Retooling for an Aging America report (Institute of Medicine), the Hartford Foundation supported the formation of the Eldercare Workforce Alliance. This coalition of 28 national organizations—representing consumers, health professionals, and provider organizations—is advancing a common agenda around the health care workforce needed for an aging society.

The American Geriatrics Society also received a grant to establish a new Geriatrics Workforce Policy Studies Center. This complements the work of the Alliance and serves as a credible and timely source of data, supporting a range of efforts aimed at expanding the number of health care professionals prepared to care for an aging population.

The Alliance was fully launched early in 2009 with grants from the Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies, just as the early dissemination efforts of the IOM were drawing to a close. Operating in the run-up to health reform and subsequent implementation, the Alliance was able to get a number of valuable IOM recommendations into the law or regulation. For example, geriatric academic career awards from the federal government were openedto faculty beyond physicians, $10 million in workforce development grants were made for training of direct-care workers, and geriatrician physicians were made eligible for 10 percent primary care bonus payments under Medicare.