Building healthy, livable communities that provide opportunities for older adults to thrive is the goal of New York state’s first master plan for aging, adopted Friday.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed an executive order in advance of Older New Yorkers’ Day to create the new plan, directing the State Department of Health and the state Office of the Aging to create a Master Plan for Aging Council to gather input from relevant stakeholders to draft guidance for the plan.
“This Master Plan for Aging will provide us with tools to ensure our aging New Yorkers have access to quality long-term care in healthy, livable communities where they can thrive,” Hochul stated in a release.
New York claims the fourth largest population of older adults in the United States, with 3.2 million New Yorkers aged more than 65 years — 16% of its population. Its population of adults aged more than 60 years is projected to grow to 5.3 million by 2030, when those over 80 are expected to exceed 1.2 million.
The plan will coordinate existing and new state policy and programs for older adults and their families while working to address challenges related to communication, coordination, caregiving, long-term care financing and new care models.
Along with the health and aging departments, members will include healthcare and support service providers, consumers, informal caregivers, older adults, health plan companies, labor and community-based organizations, employers, aging experts and academic researchers.
Lisa Newcomb, executive director of the Empire State Association of Assisted Living, told McKnight’s Senior Living that she intends to participate in the initiative once the state announces details on how stakeholders can provide input. In the meantime, she said, she will be serving on the newly formed Reimagining Long Term CareTask Force created by legislation passed earlier this year. That group will examine the state of long-term care in New York, as well as long-standing problems that limit quality.
Earlier this year, the state health department established the Office of Aging and Long-Term Care to develop policies and programs to meet the needs of older adults and people with disabilities requiring long-term services and support. That office is working with the state Office of Health Insurance Programs, Office of Primary Care and Health Systems Management, and Office for the Aging to coordinate health department activities related to older New Yorkers.
The master plan builds on New York’s status as the first age-friendly state in the nation, as designated by the AARP and the World Health Organization in 2017. This status recognized eight domains of livability: outdoors spaces and buildings, transportation, housing, social participation, respect and social inclusion, work and civic engagement, communication and information, and community and health services.
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