Florida has the highest percentage of aging persons in the United States. As a part of the FSU College of Social Work’s Health and Aging Initiative, the Gerontological Society of America and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education awarded a grant to Amy L. Ai, Ph.D., Professor and Associate Dean for Research, and Stephanie Grace Prost, MSW, a social work doctoral student to host a series of events as a part of the 2013 Careers in Aging Week (CIAW) (April 4-13, 2013).

Careers in Aging Week began with a career exhibition and roundtable discussion held on Thursday evening, April 4th, at the FSU Claude Pepper Center. Participants included interdisciplinary professionals from several agencies, including: Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Rehabilitation, Tallahassee Senior Center, Elder Care Services, Covenant Hospice, and the Alzheimer’s Project. The roundtable discussion consisted of the participating agency representatives and the Keynote Speaker Dr. Larry Polivka, executive director and Scholar-in-Residence of the FSU Claude Pepper Center. The discussion focused on recent healthcare reform and its impact on service prevision for the elderly in the Big Bend community.

The second major event hosted Dr. Polivka at the FSU College of Social Work to present on the current health care reform and its impact on social work professionals.  Following Dr. Polivka’s presentation, faculty members and students activity engaged in a lively discussion related to policy and practice implication.

Dr Polivka’s presentation noted the elderly population is expected to double by 2040 and the younger impaired will almost double by 2040. This population increase combined with health care reform (The Affordable Care Act) and the rapid expansion of new models of long-term care will drive the growth in jobs, in both the direct delivery of medical care (nurses, doctors, etc.) and those related to the administration and coordination of services.

The mechanisms for this increased coordination-integration of care will include accountable care organizations (ACO) based on bundled payments for episodes of care and quality of outcomes rather than fee-for-service reimbursement and the expansion of managed care in the administration and funding of long-term care services, which Florida will implement this year in most of the state.

The Affordable Care Act also includes several new initiatives designed to expand the availability of home and community-based services (HCBS) and reduce the use of nursing home care.

All of these changes will increase the demand for jobs designed to coordinate care through care (case) management and to ensure greater accountability for the quality of care and its efficiency.  Social workers are often trained in care management techniques and should benefit substantially from the increased demand for these skills in the health care system.

These job growth opportunities will occur in both the public and private sectors of the healthcare systems. Health care policy reform and revisions will increase the need of various professionals, including those in social work, to meet the needs of aging Americans.

Overall, Careers in Aging Week helped in increase awareness of the burgeoning aging population and the need for social work professionals. The Health and Aging Initiative hopes to make CIAW an annual event at the FSU College of Social Work in the future.

For more information on the College of Social Work’s Health and Aging Initiative, contact Amy L. Ai, Ph.D. at aai@fsu.edu.