```

[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 116 (Wednesday, August 1, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S5872]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KERRY:
  S. 3465. A bill to amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to define 
care coordination, include care coordination as a fully restorative 
service, and detail the care coordination functions of the Assistant 
Secretary, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, for the past 47 years, the Older Americans 
Act, OAA, has provided a wide array of services to improve the lives of 
older Americans, family caregivers, and persons with disabilities. 
Through the Act, millions of Americans receive critical home and 
community-based services including, home-delivered meal programs, 
transportation, adult day care, legal assistance and health promotion 
programs. The National Aging Network delivers these vital services to 
local communities through the Administration on Aging, State Units on 
Aging, SUAs, and over 600 Area Agencies on Aging, AAAs.
  The aging network supports a number of health, prevention and 
wellness programs for older adults, such as, chronic disease self-
management programs, alcohol and substance abuse reduction, smoking 
cessation, weight loss and control, and health screenings. Despite this 
focus on health promotion, currently, there is no definition of care 
coordination included in the Older Americans Act. In fact, the unique 
coordination needed for an older adult with multiple chronic conditions 
is absent from the definition of the OAA case manager role.
  The inclusion of care coordination in the OAA is necessary to prepare 
the aging network for their role in linking medical care to community 
long-term services and supports. The Affordable Care Act is 
transforming the health care delivery system through medical home 
demonstration, Accountable Care Organizations, and the Partnership for 
Patient-Care Transitions. But to be truly successful, these reforms 
will require the coordination of care between state and federal health 
care programs and the aging network.
  Today, I am introducing the Care Coordination for Older Americans 
Act, a bill that would integrate care coordination in the long-term 
services and supports system. My legislation would include a definition 
of care coordination in the declaration of objectives of the Older 
Americans Act and would require the aging network to develop and 
implement a care coordination plan to address the needs of older 
individuals with multiple chronic illnesses.
  I would like to thank a number of aging organizations who have been 
integral to the development of this legislation and who have endorsed 
it today, including: Aging Services of California, the American 
Geriatrics Society, the American Society on Aging, the Benjamin Rose 
Institute on Aging, the Center for Medicare Advocacy, the Consumer 
Coalition for Quality Health Care, the Easter Seals, The Gerontological 
Society of America, LeadingAge, the National Association of Area 
Agencies on Aging, n4a, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, 
the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs, the 
National Association of the Professional Geriatric Care Managers, the 
National Center on Caregiving, the Family Caregiver Alliance, PHI 
Quality Care through Quality Jobs, the Social Work Leadership Institute 
/ New York Academy of Medicine, and the University of Illinois College 
of Nursing Institute for Health Care Innovation. In addition, the 
National Coalition for Care Coordination was pivotal in their 
assistance developing a definition of care coordination which 
adequately addresses the needs of the aging network.
  Since being enacted in 1965, the OAA has evolved over time to meet 
the ever-changing needs of our aging population. As we work to 
reauthorize this successful program that has allowed millions of 
seniors to remain independent in their homes and communities, we should 
incorporate new initiatives that reflect the current challenges facing 
seniors, such as the lack of care coordination between health programs 
and community long-term services and supports.
  For all of these reasons, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this 
important legislation and to support its inclusion in the 
reauthorization of the OAA.
                                 ______
```