Administration on Aging - More Federal Action Needed to Promote Service Coordination for the Elderly: Hrd-91-45 (Paperback)

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Administration on Aging's (AOA) efforts to promote service coordination for the elderly. GAO found that: (1) consistent with the growth in the elderly population between 1980 and 1990, state and federal programs serving the elderly grew rapidly, but AOA did not keep pace with the growing coordination needs; (2) poor service integration in many states hindered the elderly and their families in obtaining services; (3) AOA substantially reduced information dissemination and technical assistance activities, leaving state and local governments on their own to develop ways to coordinate services; (4) AOA did not maintain its knowledge base about state and local advances in service coordination, resulting in a weakened capacity to provide assistance; and (5) between 1981 and 1989, AOA staff decreased from 252 to 162, travel funds decreased from $238,000 to $45,000, and research and demonstration funding dropped from $54 million to $26 million.