image 2014 Hartford Change AGEnts Policy Institute Participants

Improving the transitional care of frail older adults through better skilled nursing facility reimbursement.

Reducing regulatory barriers to evidence-based care coordination for older adults with multiple chronic conditions.

Advocating for loan repayment/forgiveness initiatives for geriatric psychiatry and other geriatric-care specialty training programs.

Implementing new measures that can be widely adopted by hospitals that receive Medicare funding for surgical care.

These are just a few of the topics proposed as policy projects by the 20 participants in this year's inaugural Change AGEnts Policy Institute, which has been meeting this week in the nation's Capitol.

These Change AGEnts -- representing Hartford affiliated geriatrics professionals in medicine, nursing, social work and other disciplines -- have passion and expertise for ensuring that older adults receive high-quality care, and they have identified policy change as an avenue for creating the improvements in health care delivery they want to see.

Why focus on policy change? Because state, federal, and local policies that dictate reimbursement, set standards, or otherwise guide health delivery and practice can either stop productive innovation in its tracks or help spread it like wildfire. Who paid much attention to care transitions until hospitals began facing financial penalties by Medicare for preventable 30-day readmissions? This is just one of many examples of the power of policy that we need to harness at different levels in different systems.

As many of our readers know, the Hartford Change AGEnts Initiative is our new signature program designed to support the Foundation's community of scholars and grantees in making change in health care practice to improve the health of older adults (through policy, as well as other avenues such as developing and spreading models of care, redesigning health care systems, improving quality measures and tools, and linking education and practice).

Members of the Change AGEnts Community can access other AGEnts through a searchable database (build your profile here!), join free webinars to build their practice and policy change skills, compete for small grants to spur action that improves care for older people, and apply for training, mentoring and networking opportunities through a variety of convenings like this Policy Institute and a Communications Conference later this summer.

The Change AGEnts Policy Institute builds on a highly rated Geriatric Social Work Initiative policy conference, formerly offered to social work Hartford Faculty Scholars (it became more interprofessional over the years) through a grant to the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), our partner in the Change AGEnts initiative. This year, Brian Lindberg, GSA’s policy advisor, and Linda Harootyan, GSA deputy executive director and member of the Change AGEnts leadership team, have moved the program beyond the 101 stage.

In preparation for the Institute, participating Change AGEnts had to identify a specific policy activity they will undertake with assistance from Policy Institute faculty and each other. They are building an understanding of their policy issue, the best avenues for shaping the policy (federal/state, legislative/regulatory, etc.), the right policy audiences, and how to craft a strategy and messages that can help them be successful, given politics and other complicating factors.

image (1) Brian Lindberg introduces Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham to Change AGEnts

They are being offered sessions on how Congress “really” works (I know, I know, it seems like a setup to a joke), how to frame messages in policy parlance, and how to engage with regulatory action, the state legislative process, and grassroots/grasstops coalitions to advance a policy agenda.

They are hearing experts from the Beltway and beyond, including Congresswoman Michelle Lugan Grisham, a champion of aging issues from New Mexico who spoke passionately to the Change AGEnts about caregiving issues and the need to confront the country's inadequate planning for long-term care needs. Several Health and Aging Policy Fellows are also intersecting with these Change AGEnts at the Institute, sharing their experiences and guidance.

Make no mistake, policy change is not easy work and there is no magic formula for making it happen. But we hope with some intensive training, a supportive environment, and a Community of other Hartford Change AGEnts to mobilize, these Policy Institute participants will be poised for action that will move care of older adults in the right direction.