Building Bridges: Making a Difference in Long-Term Care, a strategic initiative supported by the Commonwealth Fund and conducted by AcademyHealth, provides an opportunity for long-term care stakeholders to exchange information, debate the issues, seek solutions, and identify where additional research is needed. The initiative fosters development of a network of long-term care researchers, policy leaders, providers, consumer representatives, and funders through a series of annual colloquia, policy seminars, and ongoing workgroups discussions among conference participants and others.

On February 8th, in conjunction with AcademyHealth’s National Health Policy Conference, Penny Hollander Feldman and Peter Kemper co-chaired the first policy seminar under the initiative. Judy Feder, professor and dean of Georgetown’s Public Policy Institute, opened the meeting by encouraging participants to keep their eyes on the problem. She noted it was the job of researchers to use evidence to demonstrate ways we can improve the system and speak truth to those in power, while avoiding the pretense of easy solutions. Randall Brown, of Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., then discussed consumer-directed initiatives in long-term care financing and delivery, including findings from his evaluation of the Cash and Counseling program. His research showed that Cash and Counseling improved access to home based care, improved or maintained quality care, and improved satisfaction among consumers. The research also indicated that costs of Cash and Counseling could be controlled through careful design of the program. Dr. Brown emphasized the implications of his findings for federal and state policy, as well as for long-term care practitioners. Following the Feder and Brown presentations, a panel of experts placed the research evidence in a “real world” policy and operational context and discussed how current problems in long-term care financing might be addressed. Panelists included:

• Bard Hill, director of the Information and Data Unit at Vermont's Department of Aging and Independent Livin
• William Scanlon, Ph.D., a consultant with Health Policy R&D and Georgetown's Public Policy Institute
• Lee Goldberg, policy manager at the Service Employees International Union's Long-Term Care Division
• Nelda Barnett, a member of the AARP Board of Directors

Over 100 attendees participated in this first policy seminar, far exceeding our projections. The attendees included a mix of state and federal policymakers, providers, researchers, and funders of research. The Web cast and transcript for this session are available through the Kaiser Network.

Wednesday, February 8, 2006
8:30 am to 12:30 pm
Embassy Suites Hotel Washington, DC - Convention Center
900 10th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001

Agenda

Presenter Biographical Sketches

For more information about the policy seminar, contact ltc@academyhealth.org.