Provision of Title III Services Policy #9: Health Promotion Services

This content is part of a public comment period. For more information, refer to Minnesota Board on Aging – State Plan on Aging.

Authority Reference	OAA, Sec. 102(14), 361, 362 45 CFR 1321.89
Operating Category	Provision of Title III Services

Policy

1. Evidence-based disease prevention and health promotion services programs are community-based interventions as set forth in Title III, part D of the OAA that have been proven to improve health and well-being and/or reduce risk of injury, disease, or disability among older adults. All programs provided using these funds must be evidence-based and must meet the Act’s requirements and ACL guidance.

2. MBA is required to distribute all funds provided under Title III, part D of the Act each year through the Intrastate Funding Formula.

3. The AAAs shall award all new Title III-D (Disease Prevention and Health Promotion) funds each year through grants or contracts with service providers able to provide evidence-based services. Title III-D funding may be used only for programs and activities demonstrated to be evidence-based.

4. There are two ways to assess whether Title III-D funds can be spent on a particular program.

A. The program meets the requirements for ACL's Evidence-Based Definition (see below) or

· i. Demonstrated through evaluation to be effective for improving the health and well-being or reducing disease, disability and/or injury among older adults; and

· ii. Proven effective with older adult population, using Experimental or Quasi-Experimental Design;* and

· iii. Research results published in a peer-review journal; and

· iv. Fully translated** in one or more community site(s); and includes developed dissemination products that are available to the public.

*Experimental designs use random assignment and a control group. Quasi-experimental designs do not use random assignment.

**For purposes of the Title III-D definitions, being “fully translated in one or more community sites” means that the evidence-based program in question has been carried out at the community level (with fidelity to the published research) at least once before. Sites should only consider programs that have been shown to be effective within a real-world community setting;

B. The program is considered to be an "evidence-based program" by any operating division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and is shown to be effective and appropriate for older adults.

C. Lists of evidence-based programs are available from the National Council on Aging and the Administration for Community Living.

5. Health promotion and disease prevention activities that do not meet ACL’s definition for use of OAA Title III D funds, may be funded under other sources such as OAA Title III B or other non-federal funding sources. Activities may include those defined in the OAA (Section 102(14)) for example:

A. health risk assessments;

B. routine health screening;

C. nutritional counseling and educational services for individuals and their primary caregivers;

D. programs regarding physical fitness, group exercise, and music therapy, art therapy, and dance-movement therapy;

E. home injury control services;

F. screening for the prevention of depression, coordination of community mental and behavioral health services, provision of educational activities, and referral to psychiatric and psychological services;

G. educational programs on the availability, benefits, and appropriate use of preventive health services covered under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.);

H. medication management screening and education;

I. information concerning diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation concerning age-related diseases and chronic disabling conditions;

J. gerontological counseling; and

K. counseling regarding social services and follow-up health services based on any of the services described in subparagraphs (A) through (K). The term shall not include services for which payment may be made under titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act.

6. Disease Prevention and Health Promotion services are targeted to persons 60 years of age or older. Priority shall be given to older individuals with greatest economic and/or greatest social need.

7. AAAs shall give priority to providing services to areas that are medically underserved and in which there are a large number of individuals who have the greatest economic need for such services.

Procedures

1. AAAs must include the requirement for programs to be evidence-based in their Requests for Proposals and contract or grant agreement documents.

2 AAAs are strongly encouraged to promote Title III-D activities with their community-based partners to ensure broad participation involving populations with greatest social need and greatest economic need.

3. Services are to be implemented and provided per the fidelity guidelines of the evidence-based program. There are several fidelity hubs and fidelity evaluation tools available from National Council on Aging (NCOA) and ACL, including these resources:

A. ACL Fidelity Worksheet and Fidelity Monitoring Tool

B. NCOA Monitoring Tool.

4. AAAs must report data on persons served and expenditures in Grant Utility by the 15th of each quarter.