UMASS BOSTON GERONTOLOGY NEWS

JANUARY 2026

New Tool Offers Easy Access to Decades of Long-term Care Financing Proposals

Each year, the long-term care crisis worsens. Yet the main challenge to ease this crisis isn’t the lack of good ideas to reform it. Good ideas already exist. The main challenge to ease this crisis is the political will to address it.



Proposals to reform both public and private long-term care financing have emerged for decades. The new Interactive Compendium of Federal Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Financing Policy Options offers an accessible look at all of them. This tool—created by the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston and ATI Advisory, with support from The SCAN Foundation—allows users to search through nearly four decades of proposals that have been offered to ease the long-term care financing crisis.

Evaluating the Commonwealth Care Alliance: A New Study Examines Its Effectiveness Serving Vulnerable Communities

The Commonwealth Care Alliance serves a vital need in Massachusetts: a managed care company that prioritizes support of vulnerable populations. Yet practically nothing has been published about this program.

Pamela Nadash, an associate professor of gerontology at UMass Boston, and her colleagues researched the question: How well does CCA complete its mission?

UMass Boston Gerontology in the News

Low State Rates Undermine Nursing Home Quality, Especially at Medicaid-Reliant For-Profits. McKnights Long-Term Care News covered the recent Moving Forward Coalition webinar about the influence that Medicaid pay rates have on nursing home quality. The story cites Edward Miller, Liz Simpson, and Marc Cohen of UMass Boston Gerontology.

Implementing Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements: Defining a 'Serious or Complex Medical Condition': What does it mean to be “medically frail” as the result of a “serious or complex medical condition”? This definition holds great consequence for people at risk of losing their Medicaid coverage. This Health Affairs piece--authored in part by Jane Tavares and Marc Cohen of the LeadingAge LTSS Center of UMass Boston--explores the ramification of these definitions.

The CAHM Wellness Survey: Examining Preliminary Results. When Marblehead, Mass. began an initiative to strengthen public health services, they reached out to Caitlin Coyle, director of the Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging at the Gerontology Institute. Learn how the data offered insights (and a few surprises) that will allow the town to align its work with the public’s needs

Stretch Your Benefits: The Best States for Social Security Recipients. The Motley Fool cites the Elder Index, created by the Gerontology Institute, in its reporting about where to retire to maximize Social Security benefits.

Massachusetts Assisted Living Facility Fire Raises Safety Concerns: This AARP story offers advice about how to vet an assisted living facility, with insight shared by Edward Miller.

Here’s What Wellesley Council on Aging-Funded Study About Senior Needs Discovered. The Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging at the Gerontology Institute conducted research that will guide the strategic planning for Wellesley's Council on Aging.