Hosted by the AcademyHealth Long-Term Services and Supports Interest Group.

Overview

Currently, more than 3 million of the approximately 9 million Veterans enrolled in VA care are over age 65 and receive some care from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Several studies have shown that more than 80% of enrolled Veterans will eventually need some type of assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs); and more than 55% of enrolled Veterans will eventually need nursing home care. It is projected that by 2024, the number of Veterans 65 or older will rise to more than 4.5 million and the number of Veterans eligible for nursing home care that needs to be paid by VHA will double to over 1 million. This poses a challenge to VHA in planning its programs to serve those needs while maintaining a balanced budget, not unlike the challenges faced by many states’ Medicaid programs.

The VA Office of Geriatrics and Extended Care (GEC) offers a comprehensive array of programs and services with a unique responsibility for programs in all care settings. In addition, GEC has programs that support the transition of Veterans between each of these settings. This is particularly important for Veterans facing challenges of aging, disability or serious illness. The Geriatrics & Extended Care Data & Analysis Center (GECDAC) works with GEC to support its data needs and conduct evaluations of the effectiveness and impact of its programs.

This webinar will provide an overview of VA and GEC Services. We will address the question of how the VA can better serve Veterans at home as they age and how data is used to guide GEC in its development of a maintainable balance of services and needs. We will share information on data resources and measures (of frailty) that have been developed and implemented by GECDAC to help GEC better serve our nations’ Veterans as their healthcare needs increase with age. 

Watch Online Webinar

 

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to:

  • Explain the challenges faced by the VA and programs offered by Geriatrics and Extended Care
  • Understand the rapidly increasing needs that our aging Veterans will have in the years to come; and the challenge that presents to the VA and GEC
  • Understand data being used by GECDAC and how it is used to evaluate programs in terms of effectiveness and cost; and how measures of frailty may be used to predict current and future needs of aging Veterans and to appropriately target services
  • Identify how interested participants can get involved in the work that GEC, GECDAC and other related VA research entities are doing

With support from:

GEC

Speaker List

Moderator:

Phibbs
Presenter

Ciaran Phibbs, Ph.D.

Associate Director - Geriatrics and Extended Care Data and Analysis Center

Dr. Ciaran Phibbs is an Associate Director of Geriatrics and Extended Care Data and Analysis Center, and a res... Read Bio

Speakers:

Orna
Presenter

Orna Intrator, Ph.D.

Director - Geriatrics and Extended Care Data and Analysis Center

Dr. Orna Intrator is the Director of the Geriatrics and Extended Care Data and Analysis, and a long-term care ... Read Bio

Bruce Kinosian
Presenter

Bruce Kinosian, M.D.

Associate Director - Geriatrics and Extended Care Data and Analysis Center

Dr. Bruce Kinosian is an Associate Director of Geriatrics and Extended Care Data and Analysis Center, a genera... Read Bio

leykum
Presenter

Luci K. Leykum, M.B.A., M.Sc., M.D.

Director - VA Elizabeth Dole Center of Excellence for Veteran and Caregiver Research

Luci K. Leykum, MBA, MSC, MD is the Director of the new VA Elizabeth Dole Center of Excellence for Veteran and... Read Bio

O'Toole
Presenter

Tom O’Toole, M.D.

Senior Medical Advisor - Veterans Health Administration

Dr. Tom O’Toole is the Senior Medical Advisor for the Office of the Assistant Deputy Undersecretary for Health... Read Bio

James Rudolph
Presenter

James Rudolph, M.D.

Director - Center of Innovation on Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS COIN)

Dr. James Rudolph is the Director of LTSS COIN. Prior to that, Dr. Rudolph served as the Boston Site Director ... Read Bio