Welcome, New Partners
The Marion Police Department is one of LifeCare Alliance’s newest partners in the SixtyPlus program! We’d like to welcome them and thank them for joining forces with our Agency to address important needs for seniors and people with medical challenges or disabilities in Marion.
Here’s what Officer BJ Gruber said about the new partnership:
“Marion PD chose to partner with LifeCare Alliance because the officers come into contact every day with people who have a host of different needs. In order to be more efficient it is important that they have partner like LifeCare Alliance throughout the community that they can connect with.”
Referral Training
As we continue in our efforts to increase partner referrals, we have developed a partner referral training! Please email Fannisha Page at Fpage@lifecarealliance.org to register your department for the referral training. This can be done in person or via zoom!
Thank you, London Fire Department, for being the first to attend this training!
Let’s get Referring
Starting in August we are asking our current partners to send over data for any runs made on seniors 60 and older. We will take care of the rest!
Frailty Scale Data: What’s New
Since June 2020, LifeCare Alliance staff members have been administering the Home Care Frailty Scale (HCFS) to all new clients over the age of 60. The HCFS is a 30-point instrument used to evaluate the following six domains: function (e.g., ability to perform housework), movement, cognition and communication, social interaction, nutrition, and clinical diagnoses. The purpose of administering the HCFS is to collect data from clients that represent their current levels of frailty and their specific health needs. LifeCare Alliance staff members complete the HCFS with clients every three months in order to routinely monitor frailty levels and determine the extent to which LifeCare Alliance services help minimize the risk of worsening frailty.
Preliminary analyses (see figure below) of HCFS data have indicated that LifeCare Alliance services may play a key role in helping older adults maintain and/or improve their frailty levels over a three-month time period. HCFS data will continue to be routinely collected from clients and analyzed by the LifeCare Alliance team to examine trends in frailty levels among older clientele.
A full description of the HCFS can be found here.
Dr. Juckett will be presenting frailty data at the Gerontological Society of America conference in Phoenix this November. She has also submitted an abstract depicting LifeCare Alliance’s efforts implementing the Home Care Frailty Scale to the 2021 AcademyHealth Virtual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health.
Dr. Lisa Juckett
New to the team
Dr. Govind Hariharan will be serving as our health economist and will estimate the cost savings of LifeCare’s programs for local community agencies and the greater healthcare system.
Dr. Govind Hariharan specializes in the field of health economics and has multiple decades of experience as an award winning researcher, teacher and consultant. He is also the founder of NEO Advisory LLC, a policy and strategic and economic advisory firm.
Dr. Hariharan is often sought after as an advisor for his keen insights and has provided strategic advice on health care, technology, investments and global expansion to companies and governments. He serves or has served on many advisory boards including the American Diabetes Association, WellStar Institute for Better Health, as well as various health care related task forces in Georgia and New York. He has consulted for numerous organizations such as the World Bank, Council for Quality Growth, University of Texas- San Antonio and Life University.
Dr. Hariharan’s research is extensively cited, especially in the areas of health care, public policy and technology of older adults. He has taught or lectured around the world including major U.S., Chinese, Indian and Singaporean Universities. He has been interviewed or quoted in many media outlets including the Financial Times, Investors Daily, O Globo, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Money Talks and National Public Radio.
Dr. Govind Hariharan
This project was supported, in part by grant number 90INNU0016, from the Administration for Community Living, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.
