Dear USET/USET SPF Family,
The Administration for Community Living (ACL) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has initiated consultation on a proposed rule to modify the implementing regulations of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (OAA). The proposed rule aims to improve consistency and quality of adult protective services (APS) across states and support the national network that delivers APS services with the goal of better meeting the needs of adults who experience, or are at risk of, adult maltreatment. This proposed rule would establish the first-ever federal regulations for APS programs.
In pursuit of its goal, the proposed rule contains several key provisions, some of which include:
- Establishes a set of national standards for the operations of APS programs that all state APS systems must meet
- Establishes common definitions for the national APS system to improve information sharing, data collection and standardization between and within states
- Requires state APS systems to develop policies and procedures, consistent with state law, for coordination and sharing of information to facilitate investigations with other entities, such as state law enforcement and state Medicaid agencies
- Establishes requirements for data collection, retention, and reporting
These are only a fraction of the proposed provisions. More detailed information can be found in the full proposed rule. ACL has also created a plainer-language overview of the provisions in the rule.
ACL will hold a Tribal Consultation on this topic on October 12, 2023 from 2:30 - 4:30 pm ET, and interested participants may join using this Zoom link. Written comments on the proposed rule may be submitted until November 13, 2023 to olderindians@acl.hhs.gov.
For more information, please contact Ashton Martin, USET SPF Health Policy Analyst, at amartin@usetinc.org.
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