Volume 2, Issue 8

Network Spotlight

Meet Shannon Gabriel, Registered Dietitian and Healthy Aging Coordinator with the Dane County Area Agency on Aging.

Shannon Gabriel, RD & Healthy Aging Coordinator with Dane County Area Agency on Aging.

News From ACL

Promising Practices in Food Insecurity

August 31, 2022

On August 31, join ACL’s Office of Nutrition and Health Promotion Programs (ONHPP) for a webinar on State Units on Aging Promising Practices in Food Insecurity. Many states are implementing ways to improve food insecurity in their states. Some states are starting to make major efforts to change the way their program addresses food insecurity. Join us to hear successful solutions that have been implemented in states to combat food insecurity within the aging program.

Presenters:

Kathryn Tucker, MS, RD, LD, Contractor, ACL;

Carmen Clutter, MS, RDN, LD, Assistant Chief in the Elder Connections Division at the Ohio Department of Aging;

Ophelia Steppe, State Nutritionist for the Aging and Long-Term Services Department for New Mexico.

Registration

News From the Nutrition and Aging

Resource Center

Register Today for our August 26 Webinar

"Making Your Meal Program THRIVE"

This presentation will discuss a University of Arizona Center on Aging project called THRIVE. Project THRIVE focused on how independent and assisted living facilities could ensure an emotionally safe, supportive, and inclusive environment. The project was funded by the American Seniors Housing Association and was done in partnership with Watermark Retirement Communities and Mather Life Ways.

Similar to senior centers and congregate meal sites, the communal living environment in these facilities opens the door to opportunities for older adults to develop new and rewarding social relationships and to engage in activities that promote personal growth and satisfaction. However, whenever groups of people of any age have close, frequent, and ongoing interactions with each other, there can be tension that may interrupt these opportunities.

When tension, microaggressions, and even bullying occurs in these settings, it can be especially hard for older adults who have the additional challenge of having to navigate aging-related conditions in a community where everyone is growing older differently and where each person may have different perceptions of their own aging as well as others around them.

Project THRIVE adapted successful public school-based interventions to optimize the quality of life of older adults and increase staff satisfaction through an intentional focus on culture change. We will discuss identification and implementation strategies that can be used in any communal setting to help build a safe, supportive, and inclusive culture.

Objectives:

- Identify socialization challenges older adults encounter in communal settings.

- Describe the evidence-based public-school program, Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS).

- Explain how to adapt evidence-based school strategies to communal settings to build a safe and inclusive culture.

Title III-C Funding

Did you know that Title III-C of the Older Americans Act (OAA) offers inherent flexibilities for how meals are offered? These flexibilities were already in place prior to COVID. The Nutrition and Aging Resource Center created a resource to help us better understand which flexibilities exist within the Older Americans Act for delivering congregate and home-delivered meals in regards to nutrition guidelines and service delivery methods. Additionally, a decision tree was created to help determine which funding source (C1 or C2) within Title III-C is most appropriate for our service delivery model.

Nutrition and Aging News From the Network

INNU Grantee Award

The Oasis Institute, a 2020 Innovations in Nutrition Programs and Services (INNU) grantee, recently won a 2022 National Mature Media Award. The grantee earned silver distinction for the Virtual Healthy Habits in the Consumer Education Program category. Congratulations, Oasis Institute! Learn more about the National Mature Media Awards.

Senior Center Month

Senior Center Month is just around the corner. September is the time to celebrate Senior Centers, and now is the time to make plans to promote your senior center and the work you do. Find resources to do so with help from NCOA.

Defeat Malnutrition Today Announcement!

Don't miss this important announcement from Defeat Malnutrition Today (DMT):

" 'Yesterday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) included the Global Malnutrition Composite Score (GMCS) eCQM in their final rule for fiscal year (FY) 2023 Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS). The GMCS will begin in FY2024 and include screening for malnutrition risk at admission, nutrition assessment of patients at risk for malnutrition, appropriate malnutrition diagnosis documentation, and nutrition care plan documentation in the medical record.

This action by CMS is both welcome and warranted as it expands access to proper nutrition care. Per the CMS, “The policies in the IPPS and LTCH PPS rule build on key priorities to advance health equity, including by better measuring health care quality disparities, and to improve the safety and quality of maternity care.” The GMCS represents an opportunity for supporting Medicare beneficiaries and the underserved populations in this country and meets four health equity priorities that CMS identified for reducing disparities in health.

As malnutrition is increasingly identified in the inpatient setting, DMT will be working to help identify community nutrition entities and connect them to hospitals. Our national coordinator, Bob Blancato, spoke to the importance of community connections in a recent Health Affairs article, “to further reduce inequities, hospitals also need to coordinate with community organizations, public agencies, and outpatient nutrition services so patients can receive continuity of care and seamless nutrition interventions after discharge.” Read more about how this rule can connect the dots for quality malnutrition care here.

DMT commends the quality measure stewards, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and Avalere Health, for their tireless work. DMT also commends the bipartisan group of 28 members of Congress led by Representatives Danny Davis (D-Ill) and Rodney Davis (R-Ill) for the letter they sent to CMS urging the adoption of the malnutrition quality measure. DMT has been a long-time advocate for inclusion of the malnutrition quality measure in the inpatient rule.' "

Additionally, Defeat Malnutrition Today is hosting a webinar on

Monday, August 15, at 12 PM ET,

“Lessons Learned: State Actions and Advocacy to Address Malnutrition.”

Webinar speakers will discuss state policy research and actions on older adult malnutrition. Dr. Matthew Smith from Texas who works with the Oasis Institute, a 2020 ACL Innovations in Nutrition Programs and Services grantee, will speak along with Brittany Woodbury from Utah.