INFLUENCE HEALTH POLICY

Institute of Medicine Healthcare Workforce Consensus Report for an Aging Society (Retooling for an Aging America Report)

2007-2009 Seeking to attract attention to the nation’s continuing lack of preparation to care for its growing older adult population, the Foundation and the American Geriatrics Society led a coalition of funders to commission a major Institute of Medicine (IOM) study of the health care workforce and its readiness for the aging of the baby boom generation. Many of the Foundation’s grantees participated on the committee and the University of Cincinnati’s workforce data (co-funded by the Hartford and Reynolds Foundations) was instrumental in informing the analysis.

In their report, Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce, the IOM committee challenged the health care community to:

• Enhance the competence of all individuals in the delivery of geriatric care.
• Increase the recruitment and retention of geriatric specialists and caregivers.
• Redesign models of care and broaden provider and patient roles.

The IOM report, backed by a coalition of ten funders, provided the most solid evidence to date on the dire need for a better prepared workforce and brought the urgent issue to national prominence. To move the IOM report recommendations forward, the Hartford Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies supported the formation of a national coalition called the Eldercare Workforce Alliance (Eldercare Workforce Alliance).