Advancing Comprehensive Care and Redefining Retirement
Newsletter

Advancing Comprehensive Care and Redefining Retirement - Center for the Future of Aging: February 2022

Executive Director's Note

Happy New Year! I am delighted to announce that I have been named executive director of the Center for the Future of Aging. We are grateful to Paul Irving, founding chairman of the Center, for his leading efforts to change aging. Paul will continue his advocacy as a Milken Institute senior fellow and in organizations including the USC Davis School of Gerontology, Encore.org, Stanford's Distinguished Careers Institute, and the National Academy of Medicine.

As I reflect on 2021, we all had to be more flexible as we navigated the uncertainties of a global pandemic. We saw more infections and deaths related to COVID-19, especially for older adults, despite the availability of vaccinations. Political unrest was a theme across the globe, as citizens reacted to economic disruption and restrictions on travel, work, and seeing loved ones. All of us were ready to kick the door shut on the tumultuous year.

Yet we also saw glimmers of hope as we witnessed resilience and ingenuity. At the Milken Institute, we were able to hold our Global Conference this past October in person in Los Angeles, with masks, vaccinations, and negative COVID tests required. In December, the Center hosted a roundtable on “Tech-Enabled Health and Home Care” from the Institute’s new conference space in Washington, DC. We were glad to reconnect to seek a brighter future for all generations. This newsletter provides a snapshot of our accomplishments, from efforts to improve dementia care to advancing technology to bridge gaps and support new models of care. We are thankful for our network and sponsors that helped us achieve these goals. I am looking forward to working with you all to broaden the positive impact of the Center for the Future of Aging. I would love to hear from you about what you think are the most critical issues related to population aging—a demographic shift that is changing the world. Please write me at [email protected].

Read, Watch, and Share the Latest from our Center leaders

"If they do nothing, then we're guaranteed that the costs are going to skyrocket." - Nora Super spoke with Modern Healthcare about the need to create a nationwide comprehensive dementia care program.

"Our health-care system is not set up to deliver person-centered services to people living with dementia and their caregivers. Rather, our traditional Medicare program is designed to reward volume over value—to discharge patients ASAP to make room for another paying patient—to order unnecessary tests, prescriptions, and procedures even if the patient cannot benefit from them." - Nora Super outlines how to improve care for people living with dementia in The Hill.

"I decided to share my story because I think so many of us who live with depression live in the shadows. We're afraid to tell our stories because of the tremendous stigma associated with depression and afraid something might happen to our career or our personal lives if others around us know that." - Nora Super shares her story and calls for better treatments in November's Health Affairs.

"Place plays a significant but often unacknowledged role in health and happiness. The right place elevates personal well-being." Paul Irving wrote a foreword for Right Place, Right Time: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Home for the Second Half of Life by Ryan Frederick.

"This notion that older people are less capable learning new skills, new technologies, and adapting to new norms is just nothing but ageist." Paul Irving discusses the dangers of discounting potential in WorkingNation Overheard.

"Difficulty managing finances can be an early sign of dementia. More and more leading financial institutions are emphasizing the need to assist clients who may have cognitive decline." - Nora Super delivered a keynote for Grove Point Financial on the role of financial advisors in helping people with dementia.

"We are just at the beginning of recognizing the possibility and potential these additional years provide."- Paul Irving argues that society still has too many fixed ideas about older adults’ capabilities in MarketWatch.

"Racial, gender, and age gaps must be narrowed and equitable policies and practices advanced. By building bridges to work, learning, health and hope, we can ensure that all in our communities look forward to their later years with a sense of possibility rather than fear." - Paul Irving explains how the pandemic is a turning point towards a better retirement future in MarketWatch.

Scaling Comprehensive Dementia Care

Eight Core Elements of Comprehensive Dementia Care

 

The Alliance to Improve Dementia Care's latest report advocates for comprehensive care models to improve the quality of life and reduce costs for people living with dementia and their caregivers. The report includes actionable recommendations to advance comprehensive dementia care models with effective payment policies. Alliance members Debra Cherry, David B. Reuben, and Sarah Lenz Lock contributed "Stories from the Field" about the barriers and opportunities in the delivery of comprehensive dementia care.

Advancing Tech-Enabled Health and Home Care

Sarita Mohanty and Zia Agha
Front (l-r): Sarita Mohanty, President and CEO of The SCAN Foundation, and Zia Agha, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, West Health; Back: Lewis Levy, Chief Medical Officer, Teladoc Health, and Lauren Dunning, Director, Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging.

The Center brought together experts in Washington, DC, to build consensus on how best to use technology to integrate health and home care. Building upon insights from our recent research, we explored gaps, identified promising initiatives, and formulated recommendations as we look toward the post-pandemic horizon. We appreciate our sponsors CVS Health, Home Instead, The Permanente Medical Group, Teladoc Health, and The SCAN Foundation for helping launch this new project.

Global Conference 2021

The Center's sessions at Milken Institute’s Global Conference, held in Los Angeles in October focused on financial security, intergenerational relationships, and the possibilities of extending healthy longevity. You can (re)watch all of the sessions from October's #MIGlobal here.

Boomerang: The Intergenerational Dependencies Impacting Financial Security

“Boomerang: The Intergenerational Dependencies Impacting Financial Security” with (from left to right) Ric Edelman of Edelman Financial Engines, civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, Caroline Servat of the Milken Institute (moderator), Aaron Smith of Savi, Jeff Huber of Home Instead, and Angela F. Williams of United Way Worldwide.

 

Bots, Bytes, and Brains

“Bots, Bytes, and Brains: Extending Longevity Through Technology” with Rhoda Au of Boston University, Shai Efrati of Tel-Aviv University, Susann Keohane of IBM, Carol Massar of Bloomberg (moderator), DJ Patil of Devoted Health (pictured), and Grant Verstandig of Red Cell Partners.

 

Age-Less: How Scientific Advances Will Upend 21st Century Aging

“Age-Less: How Scientific Advances Will Upend 21st Century Aging.” This invite-only session sponsored by BrightFocus Foundation featured (from left to right) Jim Mellon of Juvenescence, Nancy Lynn of BrightFocus Foundation, Pinchas Cohen of USC, Deepak Chopra of the Chopra Foundation, Nora Super, and Shai Efrati of Aviv Clinics.

From Our Board