HISTORY OF OLDER AMERICANS ACT PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
- In 1965, President Johnson signed the Older Americans Act.
The U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA) was created within the Department of Health and Welfare to implement:
- community planning;
- services training;
- research and development; and
- training projects through State Agencies on Aging.
- In 1969, Areawide Model Projects were funded.
- In 1972, amendments to the Older Americans Act were enacted:
- creating the National Nutrition Program for the Elderly to address dietary inadequacies
and social isolation; and
- establishing a national network of congregate nutrition projects in senior centers and
other locations.
- In 1973, Older Americans Act amendments authorized:
- federal grants to 57 states and territory agencies enabling them to designate 655 planning and service areas and their area agencies on aging (AAA) that now fund thousands of elder
service providers;
- awarding federal funds to the states according to a formula based on a state’s relative
share of persons age 60 and over;
- awarding OAA funds within a state to area agencies on aging on the basis of an intra-state funding formula; and
- multi-purpose senior center grants.
- In 1975, Older Americans Act amendments authorized:
- grants to be made to Indian Tribes for persons age 60 and over; and
- Title V, a senior community service employment program, administered by the Secretary of
Labor.
- In 1977, an amendment authorized:
- the Department of Agriculture to establish a surplus food commodities program for elder
nutrition programs;
- funded home delivered meals;
- provided a wide variety of community-based supportive services; and
- made the Administration on Aging the effective and visible advocate for older persons
within the federal government.
- In 1984, the Older Americans Act was amended to:
- fund institutions of higher education to enable them to develop programs of health
education and training in multi-purpose senior centers;
- prioritize legal, access, and in-home services; and
- allow increased state flexibility in funds transfer allocation.
- In 1988, Amendments:
- authorized states to submit a two, three or four year State Plan;
- funded non-medical in-home services to frail elders;
- established preventive health services programs;
- mandated offices of the State Long Term Care Ombudsman; and
- stressed the advocacy role for the Administration on Aging, the States and Area Agencies
on Aging.
- In 1992, Older Americans Act Amendments:
- authorized a fourth White House Conference on Aging;
- separated elder rights programs into Title VII; and
- elevated the Administration on Aging Commissioner to Assistant Secretary within the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
- In 2000, Older Americans Act Amendments:
- authorized a fifth White House Conference on Aging;
- clarified the ability of area agencies on aging to provide case management and information and referral services;
- amended the Title III funding formula to include a FY 2000 hold harmless and a guarantee
growth factor of 20%;
- required that the state plan shall provide assurances that special needs of older
individuals residing in rural areas will be taken into consideration;
- increased the flexibility of the states to transfer funds (up to 40%) between Congregate
and Home-delivered Nutrition programs;
- maintained the flexibility of states to transfer funds (up to 30%) between Supportive
Services and Nutrition Services Programs;
- permitted states to implement cost sharing by recipients for certain services funded by
the Act;
- allowed voluntary contributions that may be solicited for all title III services,
(including those services where cost sharing is not permitted), as long as the method of
solicitation is non-coercive;
- established the National Family Caregiver Support Program to aid families in caring for
their frail elderly relatives and for grandparents caring for grandchildren and other related
children;
- amended the Title V funding formula to include a FY 2000 hold harmless “level of effort”
and 30% guaranteed growth factor;
- required the Governor of each state to submit to the Secretary of Labor an annual state
senior employment services plan;
- established performance measures for all Title V grantees and established sanctions for
non-performance;
- established links and improves coordination between Title V of the Older Americans Act and the Workforce Investment Act of 1999;
- included a provision to prevent financial conflicts of local ombudsmen representatives;
- required coordination between the Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman and state and
local law enforcement agencies and courts of competent jurisdiction;
- clarified that programs to prevent the exploitation of the elderly includes financial
exploitation; and
- required coordination of elder abuse prevention programs with state and local law
enforcement systems and courts of competent jurisdiction.
- In 2006, Older Americans Act Amendments:
- established the authority for AoA to implement “Choices for Independence” by conducting
research and demonstrations on model state long term care systems;
- authorized Aging and Disability Resource Centers;
- provided support for State and community planning to address the long-term care needs of
the baby boom generation;
- provided greater focus on prevention and treatment of mental illness;
- expanded the Nation Family Caregiver Support Program services to older adults caring for
children of any age with a disability, individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, and grandparents
or relative caregivers, age 55 and older, caring for children of any age;
- increased authorization of funds for the National Family Caregiver Support Program to $187 million over five years;
- made changes to the Title III funding formula for allocating grants to states by updating
the “hold harmless” from 2000 to 2006 levels and by phasing out the “guaranteed growth”
provision over five years;
- increased focus on civic engagement and volunteerism;
- improved access to programs and services by addressing the needs of older individuals with limited English proficiency;
- required state and local agencies on aging to coordinate activities and develop
long-range emergency preparedness plans;
- enhanced coordination of elder justice programs and direct the AoA assistant secretary to
designate an individual responsible for elder justice activities and develop a plan for
collecting national data on elder abuse;
- encouraged nutrition service providers to solicit voluntary contributions from
participants with incomes at or above 185 percent of the federal poverty level;
- provided that the Institute of Medicine conduct a study on the effectiveness of the
nutrition programs;
- established five key measures of performance in the Title V employment program and hold
states and national grantees accountable for meeting performance measures, including possible
loss of grant funds for states; and
- changed the timing of sanctions applied to Title V grantees that fail to meet performance
measures.
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