The National Collaboratory to Address Elder Mistreatment

The National Collaboratory to Address Elder Mistreatment

Project Director:

Funded by:

The John A. Hartford Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York

Partners:

University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and Weill Cornell Medical College

Duration:

2016-Present

Challenge

The prevalence of elder mistreatment has consistently, and intractably, been estimated at 1 in 10 older adults. During the COVID-19 pandemic, one study documented an increase in this prevalence rate to 21.3%. The pandemic also exposed and exacerbated ageist attitudes about the value of older people.

New urgency often brings new opportunity. In this case, the pandemic has forced a needed reckoning with the shortfalls in systems of health care for older adults and a growing interest in age-friendly health systems. Since 2016, EDC has led the National Collaboratory to Address Elder Mistreatment, bringing together leading national experts to design, test, and implement a model for more effective identification and management of elder mistreatment in emergency departments.

Key Activities

The project is carrying out the following activities:

  • Launch a toolkit to enable health settings to better screen and refer older adults for mistreatment, including resources to train staff and strengthen connections with community resources
  • Recruit up to 45 new institutions to adopt the elder mistreatment care model, offering technical assistance to ensure fidelity and impact
  • Expand and support a diverse talent pipeline of clinicians and researchers through an elder mistreatment mentorship program
  • Convene national experts in policy and payment reform to develop and publish recommendations for systems change in support of measures to address elder mistreatment
  • Host a national summit on the intersection of elder mistreatment, dementia, and other risk factors

Our Impact

  • 15,000 older adults screened in emergency departments for elder mistreatment during a feasibility trial
  • Six health systems adopting the care model and maintaining its use throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Co-editing and co-authoring multiple articles in a special issue of Generations, Journal of the American Society on Aging